It was quite a week for John Prine fans in the Washington, DC area. On Sunday night, Prine’s widow, Fiona Whelan Prine, brought the rarely-seen concert film John Prine: How Lucky Can One Man Get for a special screening at the beautiful AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD.
Two nights later, Fiona and a stellar array of Americana musical talent staged a tribute to the songwriting legend at the Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia – part of the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.
The concert at Wolf Trap sold out all 7,000 tickets almost immediately after it was announced. It was staged by the Hello in There Foundation, a charity established by the Prine family after his death from COVID in April, 2022.
John Prine’s towering influence was on full display six years after his death
Hello in There, named for one of Prine’s most enduring songs, has staged other benefits in Nashville since its inception. As Fiona told the Wolf Trap crowd on Tuesday, other artists are always eager to show up in support of one of the most influential American songwriters of the past fifty-five years.
The film, which captured a show Prine and his band did back in 2010 to raise money for public school arts programs in Maywood, Illinois, has only had occasional screenings over the past fifteen years due to various rights issues. There is some hope that once those issues are resolved, perhaps in 2027, it may become more readily available.
As Fiona noted in her opening remarks, John Prine first played Wolf Trap in 1972. He returned for about twenty shows over the years. He was scheduled to perform there with Emmylou Harris on June 26, 2020. He died on April 7 of that year.
Emmylou Harris was one of the performers on Tuesday. She came out just before the intermission to sing “In Spite of Ourselves” along with Hayes Carll. The song first appeared as a duet with Iris Dement on Prine’s 1999 album of the same name.
Most of that album was devoted to covers of classic country love songs, sung with a wide range of duet partners. “In Spite of Ourselves” was the one original, putting Prine’s irreverent sense of humor and true appreciation for the offbeat beauty of the world on full display.
Harris would return in the second half of the evening to perform Prine’s heartbreaking “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” and her own “Red Dirt Girl.”
That was the basic pattern of the show. Each performer chose a Prine song to sing and then followed it with one of their own. Since virtually everyone on stage spoke about Prine’s influence on their own songwriting, this setup provided a fine glimpse into Prine's place in the history of Americana music.
Performers ranged from the new – Jobi Riccio and Fancy Hagood – to veterans like Harris and Patty Griffin. Riccio won the John Prine Songwriter Fellowship at the Newport Folk Festival in 2023. Harris and Smith performed alongside him for decades.
A complete set list appears below. Some highlights: Allison Russell and JT Nero’s supple take on “Everything is Cool” and the gorgeous harmonies of I’m With Her singing “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)."
Carll returned in the second half of the show to sing the first song he ever performed publicly – Prine’s ode to weed, “Illegal Smile.” He allowed the audience to sing the final chorus. Former CBS News reporter John Dickerson spoke about Prine’s influence before delivering a lovely spoken word version of Prine’s song “Mexican Home.”
Maybe Margo Price said it best. Before singing Prine’s riotous anti-Vietnam protest “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You into Heaven Anymore,” she began to comment on how these songs are just as relevant today as they were when Prine wrote them. Then she stopped herself and noted, “I’ll just let the song do the talking.”
There were plenty of great non-Prine numbers as well. I’m With Her’s "Wild and Clear and Blue” showed off the Prine influence as did Carll’s “Beaumont.” But the evening was mostly focused on the man himself.
As Fiona noted in remarks prior to the show, her late husband “saw things that a lot of other people missed.” And he captured them beautifully in song. The Hello in There Foundation makes helping the unseen its mission.
It is still astonishing to think that a young mailman, barely past twenty, could conceive of a song as poignant as “Angel From Montgomery,” – told from the point of view of an old woman and given a potent reading by Margo Price on Tuesday.
Or that a 16-year-old could write a doomed love song as precise and affecting as "Far From Me.” The final performer on Tuesday was Prine’s son Tommy, who sang “Far From Me,” after declaring it his favorite of all his father’s songs.
Tommy then sang about his father in his original “Ships in the Harbor,” before inviting everyone back to the stage for a rousing version of Prine’s early classic, “Paradise.”
“Paradise” also closed the 2010 concert captured in How Lucky Can One Man Get. Prine and each of his brothers took one of the song's four verses. It’s a song about family and about America and the environment, and it has been recorded by a who’s who of American musicians. But I don’t think I have ever heard a more joyful version than the one sung by the four Prine brothers in the movie.
That film also has lots of lovely little scenes and memories from both Prine and many of his fans who came out for the show. I never knew he was a pretty good gymnast in his high school days.
Guitarist Jason Wilber and bass player Dave Jacques accompanied him at that benefit in 2010, and they were back on stage as part of the six-piece backing band at Wolf Trap. His fellow musicians, his family, and his many fans seem intent on making sure this music will be around for a long, long time.
Setlist:
Jobi Riccio
“Summer’s End” (Prine, Pat McLaughlin)
“Idaho” (original)
Fancy Hagood
“I Just Want to Dance With You" (Prine, Roger Cook)
“To the Moon” (original)
Allison Russell and JT Nero
“Everything is Cool” (Prine)
A new original, with I’m With Her, I didn’t catch the title
I’m With Her
“Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)” (Prine)
“Wild and Clear and Blue” (original)
Margo Price
“Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” (Prine)
“Screw You and the Horse You Rode in On” (Original)
“Angel From Montgomery (Prine)
Emmylou Harris and Hayes Carll
“In Spite of Ourselves (Prine)
Lucius
“Hello in There” (Prine)
“Dusty Trails” with I’m With Her (Original)
Patty Griffin
“I Remember Everything” (Prine)
“Love Throw a Line (Original)
John Dickerson
“Mexican Home” (Prine)
Hayes Carll
“Illegal Smile” with Margo Price (Prine)
“Beaumont” (Original)
Emmylou Harris
“Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” (Prine)
“Red Dirt Girl (Original)
Tommy Prine
“Far From Me” (Prine)
“Ships in the Harbor” (Original)
“Paradise” with everyone (Prine)
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