 Photo: Oh Boy Records by Julian Spivey
When legendary singer-songwriter John Prine died on April 7 from complications of COVID-19 at the age of 73 it ripped a hole through the heart of the Americana singer-songwriter community as Prine was truly the father figure of that community. A couple of months later Prine’s family and friends have come together for a nearly two-hour tribute film, “Picture Show: A Tribute Celebrating John Prine,” that debuted on Prine’s YouTube and Facebook pages on Thursday, June 11 and will remain up on those platforms until Sunday evening (June 14). ‘Picture Show’ was a mixture of tribute performers from many of Prine’s friends and those who have been greatly inspired and influenced by him, as well as remembrance from family and friends and some archived performances and interviews. The special also doubled as a fundraiser for causes to help fight COVID-19 and to raise money for NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness). The YouTube portion of the special raised nearly $150,000 for NAMI at the time of this writing. The Facebook portion raised over $70,000. The special began with what was perhaps the best performance of the entire program with Jason Isbell performing potentially Prine’s all-time greatest song “Hello in There,” accompanied by his wife Amanda Shires on fiddle and backing vocals. Shires was then accompanied on guitar and backing vocals by her husband as she performed a beautiful rendition of “Clocks and Spoons,” from Prine’s 1972 album Diamonds in the Rough. Grammy-winner Kacey Musgraves performed her original “Burn One with John Prine,” which she actually got the chance to perform with Prine in concert, even though she never got to partake with him as he told her “I don’t do that stuff anymore.” It’s a terrific song that has never been recorded on one of her albums, but I truly hope appears on one someday. She also performed Prine’s memorable “Spanish Pipedream,” from his self-titled debut album. Margo Price was accompanied by her husband and musician Jeremy Ivey on guitar as they performed the incredible “All the Best” from Grimey’s record store in Nashville. Eric Church took to Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame for a performance of “She’s My Everything,” that sounded terrific. Brandi Carlile and her guitarists Tim and Phil Hanseroth looked like they were having an absolute blast on “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore.” Vince Gill performed his original “Some Things Never Get Old,” from his 2006 album These Days, that features the lyrics: “Makin’ sweet love to that gal of mine/My first taste of bluebird wine/Eatin’ watermelon down to the rind/Any old song by brother John Prine” as the titular things that never get old. One of the truly touching moments from the special was seeing Prine’s youngest sons, Jack and Tommy, performing his classic “Paradise,” which was an ode to Prine’s father and a song Prine’s wife Fiona said he dearly loved to see and hear his sons perform. Prine’s band featuring musicians Jason Wilbur, Dave Jaques and Fats Kaplin appeared multiple times during the special both performing with Wilbur on vocals and backing other artists. Wilbur led the band on “Far From Me,” off Prine’s self-titled debut, with backing vocalist from Sara Watkins. They also performed “Unwed Fathers,” off Prine’s 1984 release Aimless Love, as a duet with Kelsey Waldon (who’s on the Prine family owned Oh Boy Records) and backed Todd Snider on “Illegal Smile,” also on Prine’s debut. The band also performs “That’s the Way the World Goes Round” during the special’s end credits. One of my absolute favorite moments of ‘Picture Show’ was Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, truly one of Hollywood’s great couples, perform the hilarious duet “In Spite of Ourselves,” which Prine recorded with Iris DeMent. Bacon played mandolin and Sedgwick played ukulele during their performance, which they seemed to truly be having a blast at. One of Prine’s most famous buddies was actor-comedian Bill Murray who shared a touching story of how Prine invited him to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville as a guest so they could see the bluegrass band The Steeldrivers and when Murray arrived at the Opry House he was surprised to learn that Prine would be joining in with the band and that Prine was tasking him with doing background vocals on “Paradise.” Murray shared a framed photo of the performance that he obviously cherishes. Other great performances on the special included Sturgill Simpson doing “The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” Kurt Vile and friends being wacky with “Crazy as a Loon,” Dan Auerbach (who produced Prine’s final album The Tree of Forgiveness) performing “Caravan of Fools” from that album with Prine’s co-writer Pat McLaughlin and David Ferguson, and a touching performance by The Secret Sisters with their father Ricky Rogers of “Souvenirs.” There was no better way for ‘Picture Show’ to end than with Bonnie Raitt performing “Angel from Montgomery,” which she famously recorded in 1974 for her album Streetlights and has become one of her signature songs.
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