NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Legendary musician and songwriter John Prine died from complications of COVID-19 Tuesday night. Prine didn't grow up in Nashville, but it became his home in the 1980s and the love affair with Music City lasted until his passing.
If you gathered all the musicians inspired by Prine, they might just fill the Mother Church of Country Music. If that's true, Ketch Secor of the band Old Crow Medicine Show would certainly find a pew at the Ryman Auditorium.
"I thought when I heard those songs on that first album I thought I had discovered the voice I wanted to model myself after and wanted to be like," Ketch told us over a video conference call.
John Prine was born just outside of Chicago. For years, he was a mailman that wrote songs as a hobby. Those songs would eventually give him his big break. "You know like Sam Stone. Did John Prine deliver mail to a Vietnam era vet that had a heroin problem? Probably, it was Chicago in the 1970s," said Secor.
Ketch believes Prine will be remembered as a talented musician, but even more as a masterful songwriter. "Just hearing his music was a window into his life because John was so true with his music. He just let you in and helped all of us appreciate the simple things," he said.
To really understand John, Secor suggests play one of his records. His lyrics go far behind simple rhymes; they stir the soul.
"There are very few people who can do that. Preachers can do that sometimes. Sometimes great works of literature can do it but when it can be done by a song, oh you know it’s a divine thing," said Secor.
Prine's love affair with Nashville started in the 1980s and only ended when he left us Tuesday night. "He is beloved in the city of Nashville," he said.
Prine will be missed by a mother church worth of musicians, and all the rest of us who need his words now more than ever. "These are really strange times we’re living in, but John Prine Music has the power to lift us all up," said Secor.
John Prine was just 73 years old.
