Remembering John Prine (1946-2020)
January 13, 2022
Hello, this is Peter, the adult audio-video materials librarian at Lindenhurst Memorial Library, with some listening suggestions from the work of a fine musician we recently lost.
Among the victims of the Coronavirus is singer-songwriter John Prine, who passed away from the disease on April 7. A product of the Chicago area folk music scene, along with his friend and contemporary Steve Goodman, one of my favorites, Prine was a US Army veteran and working as a US mail carrier when he gained fame singing in local Chicago clubs. Among his earliest supporters were Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. Prine recorded his first album in 1971.
Although he never achieved the fame of many of his contemporaries, he was an inspiration and mentor to many younger stars, many of whom have covered his songs over the years, and performed until shortly before he was hospitalized in March. Earlier this year, he was awarded a lifetime achievement Grammy. I’m hoping this post wins him a few more fans. Although all of his music is enjoyable, some of my favorite songs of his include “Angel from Montgomery”, “Sam Stone”, “Hello in There”, “Donald and Lydia”, “In Spite of Ourselves”, “Paradise”, and “When I Get to Heaven”.
Until recently, I was familiar with only a small amount of his work. I have been enjoying the rest of his output as downloaded from Hoopla, one of the Library’s digital services available on the home page of our website. Here is the link to the Hoopla page containing most of Prine’s albums, along with a few others on which he or his music appears:
To sign up for a Hoopla account through the Library, you will need to enter the email and password connected to your library card, select your home library of Lindenhurst from a drop-down list, and enter your library card barcode. Click here for your library account. If your card has expired, you may click here for a temporary Library card while the Library is closed. For any other issues that arise, please email the Library at info@lindenhurstlibrary.org for help.
