Contributed by Mike McKormick
On April 7th music lovers throughout Alaska were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of John Prine after being hospitalized with the COVID-19 Virus. The 73 year old Nashville based singer-songwriter touched thousands of Alaskans with his recordings and in at least four Alaska concert tours that included shows in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Homer.
Prine and his Chicago friend, Steve Goodman (best known for writing “City of New Orleans), dazzled Alaska fans with a twin bill concert at the Sheraton Ballroom about 40 years ago. After the show, many buzzing patrons streamed out of the hotel towards watering holes all over town for nightcaps. My friends and I decided to party at the hottest, newest joint in town – Mr. Whitekeys’ Fly-By-Night Club.
We climbed into vehicles and drove to the east edge of Lake Spenard where Whitekeys’ joint sat in the spot currently occupied by the Lakeshore Hotel. By the time we reached the entrance, the line to get in stretched into the parking lot.. It was a freezing cold night. I was shivering and impatient. I suggested we head back to downtown.
We ended up at the Sheffield House (then owned by our future governor, now the Westmark on 5th and G). As we headed to the Penthouse, the bar that sprawled across the top of the building, I wondered if perhaps Prine and Goodman might be partying there.
The place was packed. I got a beer and perused the place. If Prine and Goodman were there, I surely couldn’t see them.
Before I had half drained my drink, the lights in the bar started going out. The rowdy crowd hushed, wondering what was going on. The bartender announced that there was a stunning aurora visible out the window and he was shutting the lights so we could enjoy the display.
Twenty odd years later, in 2002, my family’s concert promotional company, Whistling Swan Productions, brought John to the Atwood Concert Hall. As I drove to the airport to pick John and his 3-person entourage up for the trip to the hotel, I wondered what John and Steve Goodman had done that evening after their show.
I didn’t get the chance to ask John about that long ago night. As we pulled away from the airport, John began reminiscing about how he and Goodman had a blast drinking and watching the monkeys at the Monkey Wharf Bar on his last visit. John couldn’t wait to see the place again. I told him that the joint, which featured a glass cage where monkeys cavorted to the delight of drinkers who sat at a long bar, had been torn down a few years after his visit. He was disappointed.
John’s show mixed his most popular songs with little known cuts. Drawing from music from throughout his career, he gave Alaskans a performance that pleased long-time and novice fans alike. He performed more than 20 songs over the course of two hours. He culled at least a half dozen numbers from his classic first album, cuts from five or six other recordings, and a number or two that he hadn’t yet recorded. Ace sidemen, Jason Wilber (guitar) and Dave Jacques (stand up bass, occasional guitar), framed Prine’s words with subtle, sensitive notes.
I complimented John after the show. He laughed. He accepted my compliment, but he was thinking about the fact that he’d stumbled over lines in one of his most well-known songs, “Sam Stone”. When he reached the line that says, “with a monkey on his back,” he’d hesitated. Even though he’d been performing that number for close to 40 years, he’d never bumbled a lyric.
John was a gentleman who gave everyone he met great respect. I’ve never met a musician who was more loved and respected by fans and fellow musicians alike. His death brought an outpouring of remembrances and tributes, testimonials and memories.
I’ve never seen so much pain, love, and respect on Facebook.
Local musicians including Libby Roderick, Hannah Yoter and others offered heartfelt performances of his songs. So did national stars who have played Anchorage and the Valley including Josh Ritter, Lucy Kaplansky and Tim Easton. Brandi Carlile offered a sensitive reading of his “Hello In There” on Steven Cobert’s show. Colbert himself shared the story of how his girlfriend (now his wife) introduced him to John’s music with a homemade cassette tape of his song “Paradise”. Colbert also put up a filmed performance of John and him performing a touching duet “That’s the Way the World Goes Round”. These performances and more are readily available on YouTube and Facebook sites.
John was drafted during the Vietnam War and completed his army service in Germany. He wrote some of his early songs during breaks and after work when he made a living as a mailman. He never forgot his working class roots.
Prine was one of the easiest stars to work with we ever presented. He had no star demands, no special juices or extravagant meal requests. The one thing that his tour manger Mitchell insisted we needed for him was a hot pepperoni pizza when he came off stage.
He walked alone from the hotel to the Atwood Concert Hall with his stage suit slung over his shoulder in 2008. When I asked why he hadn't waited for us to pick him up, he responded that he didn't want to wait. He wanted to hang out with the guys in his band.
After the show, our volunteer, Bill Mohlwinkel, offered him a ride in a 1956 restored Ford pickup. John recognized the make of the vehicle right away and started telling Bill tons of details about the truck. He said to Bill, "Let's not go back to the hotel. Let's take a ride. I want to hear that engine prrr." He and Bill drove into the night, cruising silently for long stretches, listening to the motor and enjoying the beauty of the moon and the peaks along Turnagain Arm.
Now that John has passed, all we have left are the memories and the music.
Unlike other singer-songwriters such as Gordon Lightfoot and James Taylor, Prine had no AM radio hits. Some people stumbled across him in a newspaper or a magazine article, other people learned about him from a friend. His songs changed lives.
Anchorage retired realtor, Butch Jacques, first read about Prine in 1971. At that time Prine, who was drafted and served in Germany in the mid-1960s, had recently released a single about a returning Vietnam vet with a serious drug addiction and PTSD. “Sam Stone, when I heard it, changed my life. I quit being angry at the guys that went to ‘Nam and tried to be more understanding.”
“Sam Stone” was one of 13 songs on Prine’s legendary self-titled first album. Anyone who heard the release was blown away by the poignant, often humorous lyrics and catchy melodies. Legendary New England folk singer Tom Rush summed up Prine’s appeal in an April 8th letter to the “Boston Globe”: “ He saw truths that never occurred to us before and offered them up in a brand-new, loving way that could not be denied.”
I had the good fortune to watch John perform eight times, including twice with Steve Goodman, once with Bonnie Raitt, and in the 150-seat Passim Coffeehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts a few weeks after he released his first album. It was fun talking to him briefly about those gigs when I asked him to sign a copy of that first album backstage in Anchorage. He played 12 of the 13 cuts off that album and a half a dozen from what turned out to be his second album during two sets that night. Just him - solo acoustic! Unforgettable.
For the past week, I’ve been playing John’s songs over and over. There are literally hundreds of great tunes. Again and again, I rediscover the joys and genius of his music. Even though I’ve heard some of these songs for close to 50 years, I’m still discovering – to paraphrase Tom Rush – “Truths that have never occurred to me before.”
I am so thankful for John Prine’s music and that I had the opportunity for the time I spent with him. While his music will of course live on, I will miss his living presence in our world deeply.
