#Fiona Whelan Prine family

[utexaspress]

Remembering John Prine

By Eddie Huffman

One friend had a Spanish teacher in high school who sang and played John Prine songs on her guitar after class. Another learned about Prine as an exchange student in Canada when a guy sang “Hello in There” between slugs from a whiskey bottle. One sang “Paradise” a capella with his buddies as they backpacked across Guatemala. COVID-19 killed John Prine, but his death Tuesday pushed pandemic news – and almost everything else – off my social media feeds. Decades after Prine’s music spread turntable to turntable, guitarist to guitarist, the people who loved him honored him with fond memories and favorite songs. Keenly observed character sketches like “Angel from Montgomery” and “The Oldest Baby in the World.” Raucous novelty tunes like “Dear Abby” and “The Bottomless Lake.” Songs of hard-won romance like “Unlonely” and “Boundless Love.” Meditations on death both somber (“Sam Stone”) and serene (“When I Get to Heaven”). Eight years ago, when I started researching the book that would become John Prine: In Spite of Himself, the protagonist seemed well past his prime. He was a beloved cult figure meandering to the finish line after years of hard living, pushing through divorces and bouts with cancer. He toured regularly, but his years as a vital songwriter seemed far behind him. Or so I thought. Prine got his start at the dawn of the 1970s, when the music business was a star-making colossus overflowing with cash. That business model did little for Prine, though. His songs captured the small-but-telling details of life, from the chain-smoked Camel cigarettes in “Grandpa Was a Carpenter” to the melting snowmen in “All the Best.” Appropriately, his music rippled out into the world via similar moments in the lives of ordinary people, in dorm rooms and coffeehouses, on porches and beaches. So Prine left Atlantic and Asylum behind, started his own little record label, and kept right on doing what he had always done. He had his biggest hit album to date in 1991 at the unlikely age of 45. That was thanks in small part to contributions from friends and admirers like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. But the real stars of The Missing Years were the brilliant songs inspired by his second divorce and new romance with Fiona Whelan, the Irishwoman who would become the mother of his sons, his third wife, and his final manager. He ended the millennium with a bang, a delightful album of duets, In Spite of Ourselves, that inspired the title of my book. He went through his first bout with cancer while making that album. After he quit smoking and had part of his neck cut out, he emerged with a clean bill of health and a voice even more ragged than before. Prine released a second album of charming duets in 2016, For Better, or Worse. Otherwise he mostly marked time and toured, delighting audiences with his classic songs and bone-dry sense of humor. His family did the world a huge favor when they ordered him to write material for a new album. He checked into a hotel in downtown Nashville and checked out a week later with the songs that would make up 2018’s The Tree of Forgiveness. Prine hit the studio with a hot modern producer, Dave Cobb, and created a mordant reflection on death and dying that’s great fun to listen to. If the success of The Missing Years when Prine was 45 seemed implausible, the success of The Tree of Forgiveness at 71 seemed inconceivable. But the record put Prine in the Top 10 of the Billboard album chart for the first time in his career, and he began an extended victory lap that included launching his own festival in the Dominican Republic, signing new artists to Oh Boy Records for the first time in years, and winning a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Daffodils and wisteria have exploded across my part of North Carolina recently, pandemic or no pandemic. Since 1988 their colors have signaled the approach of MerleFest. Organizers announced in December that Prine would make his fourth appearance in 2020, joining Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, Billy Strings, and the usual horde of pickers and fiddlers. But COVID-19 canceled MerleFest and everything else in sight before it started cutting down beloved musicians, from Ellis Marsalis and Manu Dibango to Adam Schlesinger and Joe Diffie. The first red flag for Prine went up three weeks ago when Fiona Whelan Prine announced that she had coronavirus. By March 28 her husband had pneumonia in both lungs and a ventilator to help him breathe. Fiona recovered. John did not. He died at Vanderbilt Medical Center on Tuesday, April 7. He was 73. Nashville will undoubtedly throw a hell of a party in Prine’s honor when the pandemic that took him from us finally subsides. In the meantime, tributes have poured in from people in self-isolation around the world. Like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash before them, a generation of younger artists loves Prine’s music, including Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, and Brandi Carlile. On Thursday Stephen Colbert posted a video from home where he spoke fondly of Prine before introducing Carlile, who delivered the most gorgeous version of “Hello in There” I’ve ever heard. Last night my partner and research assistant, Gwen Gosney Erickson, said there seemed to be no middle ground with Prine: People had either never heard of him or loved him. She was shocked to find her Facebook feed as flooded as mine with tributes from people she had no idea even knew Prine existed. There are dozens of good reasons for that, songs and performances that boil life down to its essentials. Prine may have used up all nine of his lives, at long last, but his music will live as long as people strum guitars and sing about love, loss, and all the funny little things that make us human.

[ntannenbaum]

From Fiona Whelan Prine... Our beloved John died yesterday evening at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville TN. We have no words to describe the grief our family is experiencing at this time. John was the love of my life and adored by our sons Jody, Jack and Tommy, daughter in law Fanny, and by our grandchildren. John contracted Covid-19  and in spite of the incredible skill and care of his medical team at Vanderbilt he could not overcome the damage this virus inflicted on his body. I sat with John - who was deeply sedated- in the hours before he passed and will be forever grateful for that opportunity. My dearest wish is that people of all ages take this virus seriously and follow guidelines set by the CDC. We send our condolences and love to the thousands of other American families who are grieving the loss of loved ones at this time - and to so many other families across the world. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the outpouring of love we have received from family, friends, and fans all over the world. John will be so missed but he will continue to comfort us with his words and music and the gifts of kindness, humor and love he left for all of us to share. In lieu of flowers or gifts at this time we would ask that a donation be made to one of the following non profits: thistlefarms.org roomintheinn.org nashvillerescuemission.org • Posted @withregram @john_prine https://www.instagram.com/p/B-unvPOgwo5/?igshid=8mbvnelb0zsl

[dailywikis]

Fiona Whelan Prine Bio, Age, Wiki, Jhon Prine's Wife, Children, Instagram, Net Worth

Fiona Whelan Prine Bio, Age, Wiki, Jhon Prine’s Wife, Children, Instagram, Net Worth

Whelan Prine Bio – Wiki

Fiona Whelan Prine is the wife of John Prine, American folk and country music singer-songwriter. Whelan is Prine’s third wife. Together with their son stepson Jody Whelan, they run Prine’s independent record label, Oh Boy.

She manages the career of her husband, revered singer-songwriter John Prine – has announced she has the coronavirus and is urging everyone to stay home…

[musicpromoapp]

John Prine’s Oh Boy Records Gets New Documentary: Watch the Trailer

John Prine’s Oh Boy Records Gets New Documentary: Watch the Trailer

Oh Boy Records, the independent, family-run record label started by John Prine and his longtime manager Al Bunetta, is getting a new documentary. The film celebrates the label’s 40th anniversary, and includes archival footage of John Prine as well as interviews with Todd Snider, Prine’s wife and Oh Boy president Fiona Whelan Prine, members of the Oh Boy staff, and more. Check out the trailer…

[viralnewstime]

Fiona Whelan Prine, the widow of late country musician John Prine, has attacked President Donald Trump for his apparent glibness towards coronavirus following his diagnosis of the virus.

Earlier this week, Prine took to Twitter to criticise the president’s decision to go on a surprise joyride outside the Walter Reed hospital where he was being treated for COVID-19.

//

“I wish I could just have visited with [John Prine] in the hospital while he was still awake – we would not have needed a joy ride,” Prine wrote, calling the president’s actions “excruciating to witness” and “so disrespectful” to the hundreds of thousands of grieving families.

A day later, Prine slammed Trump after the president urged people to not be “afraid” of COVID or let it “dominate” their lives.

“You are wrong again,” Prine tweeted at Trump. “I am very afraid of Covid-19. The disease has broken my heart and changed my family forever. It has killed 210,000 Americans. You are a sad selfish man. We deserve so much better.”

John Prine, the legendary country/folk songwriter, died at the age of 73 in April due to complications related to coronavirus.

//

Amanda Kloots, the widow of Nick Cordero, also criticised Trump for his remarks, recalling spending “95 days watching what COVID did” to the Broadway star, who died in July after contracting the disease in March.

“To all the over 208,000 Americans who lost loved ones to this virus — I stand by you, with you, holding your hand,” Kloots wrote on Instagram. “Unfortunately it did dominate our lives didn’t it? It dominated Nick’s family’s lives and my family’s lives. I guess we ‘let it’ – like it was our choice?? Unfortunately not everyone is lucky enough to spend two days in the hospital.”

See Prine and Kloots’ responses below.

I wish I could just have visited with @JohnPrineMusic in the hospital while he was still awake – we would not have needed a joy ride. This BS is excruciating to witness and so disrespectful to the 207,000 grieving families.

— Fiona Whelan Prine (@FionaPrine) October 4, 2020

You are wrong again @realDonaldTrump I am very afraid of Covid-19. The disease has broken my heart and changed my family forever. It has killed 210,000 Americans. You are a sad selfish man. We deserve so much better.

— Fiona Whelan Prine (@FionaPrine) October 5, 2020

Trump: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” Me: Covid-19 is terrifying. It devastated my life.

— Fiona Whelan Prine (@FionaPrine) October 5, 2020

View this post on Instagram

To all the over 208,000 Americans who lost loved ones to this virus – I stand by you, with you, holding your hand. Unfortunately it did dominate our lives didn’t it? It dominated Nick’s family’s lives and my family’s lives. I guess we “let it” – like it was our choice?? Unfortunately not everyone is lucky enough to spend two days in the hospital. I cried next to my husband for 95 days watching what COVID did to the person I love. It IS something to be afraid of. After you see the person you love the most die from this disease you would never say what this tweet says. There is no empathy to all the lives lost. He is bragging instead. It is sad. It is hurtful. It is disgraceful.

A post shared by AK!

(@amandakloots) on Oct 5, 2020 at 9:07pm PDT

The post John Prine’s Widow Fiona Prine Slams Donald Trump For COVID Tweets, Joyride Around Hospital appeared first on Music Feeds.

from Music Feeds https://ift.tt/36FJ7Vu

[2plan22]

RT @FionaPrine: How dare you tell me your handling of this epic disaster is a success. My husband died. 60,000 + American families are devastated tonight, with who knows how many more deaths right around the corner. How sad for America the Beautiful. You have ruined the Dream for all of us. 2PLAN22 http://twitter.com/2PLAN22/status/1256060662985437191

How dare you tell me your handling of this epic disaster is a success. My husband died. 60,000 + American families are devastated tonight, with who knows how many more deaths right around the corner. How sad for America the Beautiful. You have ruined the Dream for all of us.

— Fiona Whelan Prine (@FionaPrine) May 1, 2020

[rbbox]

Country folk singer and songwriter John Prine passed away on April 7 at the age of 73. The musician died due to complications from COVID-19 at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

In the month of March, John Prine was admitted to the hospital due to coronavirus. "This is hard news for us to share,” his family wrote in a statement on March 26. “But so many of you have loved and supported John over the years, we wanted to let you know, and give you the chance to send on more of that love and support now. And know that we love you, and John loves you."

Fiona Whelan Prine, his wife of 23 years, was also diagnosed with the novel Coronavirus in March. She had also been updating the fans over John Prime's health. On April 2, in her latest Instagram post, she revealed that she could not be in the hospital with her husband in order to keep everyone safe. “As you know, John was put on a ventilator last Saturday,” she wrote. “He still needs quite a bit of help with his breathing. Like many patients currently in ICU beds all around the world, John has pneumonia in both lungs. He has also developed some peripheral issues that are being treated with meds, including antibiotics.”

She thanked everyone for the support. “It means the world to us to have your love and support at this difficult time,” she wrote. “John loves you and I love you too.❤️."

April 08, 2020 at 11:19AMCountry singer John Prine passes away at the age of 73 due to Coronavirus complications https://ift.tt/39S3QDl

[phooll123]

New top story from Time: John Prine, Legendary Singer-Songwriter, Dies From Coronavirus at 73

John Prine, the resilient singer-songwriter who imbued his tales of American working-class life with both bleak despondence and uproarious wit, died on April 7 from complications of the coronavirus. He was 73.

On March 20, Prine’s wife Fiona announced that she had tested positive for the virus. Prine himself was hospitalized six days later and intubated shortly thereafter, leading his family to share the news of his critical condition in a Twitter post. On March 30, Fiona announced that her husband was stable but added, “that is not the same as improving… He needs our prayers and love.”

Over half a century, Prine churned out heartfelt and unforgettable songs like “Angel From Montgomery,” “Sweet Revenge” and “In Spite of Ourselves,” gaining the respect of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler and many other music legends. After starting his own label in the 1980s, he became a symbol of fierce independence for younger musicians who longed to forge their own way, whether in between genres or outside the major label system.

Prine endured two bouts with cancer that forced him to re-learn how to sing and deepened his idiosyncratic voice. But he pressed on, achieving his highest-selling album in 2018 and criss-crossing the country to perform and impart wisdom onto younger musicians. This summer, he planned to tour North America and Europe.

He was an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. He was invited to perform at the Library of Congress by U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser in 2005. In 2015, Kacey Musgraves wrote a song saluting him and his iconoclastic spirit: ”I ain’t good at being careful / I just say what’s on my mind / Like my idea of heaven / Is to burn one with John Prine.”

With a heavy heart, but deep love and gratitude for his gift he gave us all- Goodbye, John Prine. https://t.co/kGkNJYl3hI

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) April 8, 2020

The Singing Mailman

Prine was born in 1946 in Maywood, a blue-collar suburb of Chicago; he was the grandson of a Kentucky miner and the son of a tool-and-die maker. As a young man he served in the army in Germany, working as a mechanical engineer, before heading back home to become a mailman. The mentally unstimulating job allowed him to dream of a music career and write songs in his head while on his route: “Once you know you’re on the right street, there really wasn’t that much to the job,” he said in 2014. “There wasn’t much to do but use your imagination.”

Prine began playing open mic sessions at Chicago bars, where word-of-mouth buzz about his wrenching lyricism quickly spread. One night in 1970, the movie critic Roger Ebert walked into the Fifth Peg where Prine, still a mailman, was playing a set that included soon-to-be-classics like “Angel from Montgomery” and “Sam Stone.” Impressed, Ebert penned Prine’s first ever review, writing, “You wonder how anyone could have so much empathy and still be looking forward to his 24th birthday.”

The next year, the country superstar Kris Kristofferson saw him play at another club. “It must’ve been like stumbling onto Dylan when he first busted onto the Village scene,” Kristofferson said later. He invited Prine to New York, where the pair shared the stage at the Bitter End in front of an industry crowd. The next day, Prine signed to Atlantic Records.

Musical Shapeshifter

Prine quickly enmeshed himself in the ’70s folk scene and became revered among musicians for his songwriting prowess. He brought to life despondent war heroes (“Great Society Conflict Veteran’s Blues”), lonely elders left behind by society (“Hello in There,” “Angel from Montgomery”), towns destroyed by corporate greed (“Paradise”). “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree,” Dylan said in 2009. “And he writes beautiful songs.”

Musically, Prine’s sound pulled from country, roots, and rock and folk traditions. “I never fit in with straight country. I never really fit in with rock ’n’ roll,” he told GQ in 2018. While his sonic explorations mystified his label and country radio stations—his ’70s Atlantic albums never climbed above 66 on the Billboard 200—they instead became beloved by a rising generation of songwriters who refused to be pinned into one lane.

“I know the record companies had no idea what to do with John Prine,” John Mellencamp, who was scuffling as a failing rocker named Johnny Cougar at the time of Prine’s rise, said in 2017. “And he said, ‘To hell with it. I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do.’ And he did. John taught me a lot, whether he knew it or not.”

Soon enough, artists across genres began covering Prine’s songs. Bruce Springsteen covered “Paradise”; Bette Midler covered “Hello in There”; Johnny Cash sang “Sam Stone.” Bonnie Raitt and Carly Simon would each make “Angel From Montgomery” their own.

Eventually, the walls between genres began to come down, paving the way for Americana, a catch-all term for musicians drawing from many traditions. More recently, Prine has become a mentor to a younger flock of rulebreakers, from Musgraves to Sturgill Simpson to Brandi Carlile. Justin Vernon, who performs as Bon Iver, called Prine his favorite songwriter and led a Prine tribute concert at his own festival Eaux Claires in 2017.

It hurts so bad to read the news. I am gutted. My hero is gone. My friend is gone. We’ll love you forever John Prine.

— Margo Price (@MissMargoPrice) April 8, 2020

“Right now it seems like, without changing anything I ever did, I fit right into the Americana thing because it’s stuff mixed together: all different American musics mixed together,” Prine said in the 2018 GQ interview.

The Original Indie Rocker

Prine was nearly as influential as a businessman as he was as a musician. Years before “indie” became a term, Prine was fed up with being creatively stifled by labels and decided to found his own, Oh Boy Records, in 1981.

“People thought we were crazy for starting a record company,” he told Billboard. “They thought I was really shooting myself in the foot.”

Prine sent out records through the mail and relied on crowdsourced funding. But the gambit worked: fans sent in a large enough volume of checks for Prine to record his next album without the need for a label’s advance.

Oh Boy Label now stands as the oldest independent record company in Nashville; in 2015, it became a family business, with his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine, serving as a managing partner and his son Jody Whelan as director of operations. Oh Boy also set a template for the rising crop of artists, from Chance the Rapper to Jack White, who chose to take their music into their own hands.

RIP John Prine. The real deal. Great American singer/songwriter that found the heart and humor in even the darkest of human stories through song. Genius. Very heavy loss.

— marc maron (@marcmaron) April 8, 2020

Late Career Resurgence

The last two and a half decades have not been easy for Prine. In 1998, he was diagnosed with squamous cell cancer, resulting in a surgery that removed a piece of his neck and nerves on his tongue. The surgery deepened his voice to an unrecognizable growl, but Prine took intensive speech therapy and adapted. In 1999, he recorded a duets album that included the song “In Spite of Ourselves” with Iris DeMent, which became one of the biggest hits of his career.

In 2013, Prine was diagnosed with lung cancer and had part of his lung removed. He rebounded and started touring again, taking a younger generation of singers like Jason Isbell and Margo Price on the road with him. In 2018, he hit his commercial peak, when The Tree of Forgiveness hit #5 on the Billboard 200. That album was voted as one of the year’s best by the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop Music Critics Poll. Earlier this year, Raitt presented Prine with his lifetime achievement award at the Grammys, calling him “my friend and hero.”

On his final album, Prine showed off his comedic sensibilities to their fullest, especially on the song “Lonesome Friends of Science,” which bemoaned Pluto’s planetary demotion.

Poor ol’ planet Pluto now /

He never stood a chance no how /

When he got uninvited to the interplanetary dance /

Once a mighty planet there, now just an ordinary star /

Hangin’ out in Hollywood in some ol’ funky sushi bar.

And on “When I Get to Heaven,” Prine contemplated his own mortality with a lofty, personalized vision of heaven. “I’m gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale,” he sang. “Yeah, I’m gonna smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long / I’m gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl / ‘Cause this old man is goin’ to town.”

via Blogger https://ift.tt/2VfphsA

[newstechreviews]

John Prine, the resilient singer-songwriter who imbued his tales of American working-class life with both bleak despondence and uproarious wit, died on April 7 from complications of the coronavirus. He was 73.

On March 20, Prine’s wife Fiona announced that she had tested positive for the virus. Prine himself was hospitalized six days later and intubated shortly thereafter, leading his family to share the news of his critical condition in a Twitter post. On March 30, Fiona announced that her husband was stable but added, “that is not the same as improving… He needs our prayers and love.”

Over half a century, Prine churned out heartfelt and unforgettable songs like “Angel From Montgomery,” “Sweet Revenge” and “In Spite of Ourselves,” gaining the respect of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler and many other music legends. After starting his own label in the 1980s, he became a symbol of fierce independence for younger musicians who longed to forge their own way, whether in between genres or outside the major label system.

Prine endured two bouts with cancer that forced him to re-learn how to sing and deepened his idiosyncratic voice. But he pressed on, achieving his highest-selling album in 2018 and criss-crossing the country to perform and impart wisdom onto younger musicians. This summer, he planned to tour North America and Europe.

He was an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. He was invited to perform at the Library of Congress by U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser in 2005. In 2015, Kacey Musgraves wrote a song saluting him and his iconoclastic spirit: ”I ain’t good at being careful / I just say what’s on my mind / Like my idea of heaven / Is to burn one with John Prine.”

With a heavy heart, but deep love and gratitude for his gift he gave us all- Goodbye, John Prine. https://t.co/kGkNJYl3hI

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) April 8, 2020

The Singing Mailman

Prine was born in 1946 in Maywood, a blue-collar suburb of Chicago; he was the grandson of a Kentucky miner and the son of a tool-and-die maker. As a young man he served in the army in Germany, working as a mechanical engineer, before heading back home to become a mailman. The mentally unstimulating job allowed him to dream of a music career and write songs in his head while on his route: “Once you know you’re on the right street, there really wasn’t that much to the job,” he said in 2014. “There wasn’t much to do but use your imagination.”

Prine began playing open mic sessions at Chicago bars, where word-of-mouth buzz about his wrenching lyricism quickly spread. One night in 1970, the movie critic Roger Ebert walked into the Fifth Peg where Prine, still a mailman, was playing a set that included soon-to-be-classics like “Angel from Montgomery” and “Sam Stone.” Impressed, Ebert penned Prine’s first ever review, writing, “You wonder how anyone could have so much empathy and still be looking forward to his 24th birthday.”

The next year, the country superstar Kris Kristofferson saw him play at another club. “It must’ve been like stumbling onto Dylan when he first busted onto the Village scene,” Kristofferson said later. He invited Prine to New York, where the pair shared the stage at the Bitter End in front of an industry crowd. The next day, Prine signed to Atlantic Records.

Musical Shapeshifter

Prine quickly enmeshed himself in the ’70s folk scene and became revered among musicians for his songwriting prowess. He brought to life despondent war heroes (“Great Society Conflict Veteran’s Blues”), lonely elders left behind by society (“Hello in There,” “Angel from Montgomery”), towns destroyed by corporate greed (“Paradise”). “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree,” Dylan said in 2009. “And he writes beautiful songs.”

Musically, Prine’s sound pulled from country, roots, and rock and folk traditions. “I never fit in with straight country. I never really fit in with rock ’n’ roll,” he told GQ in 2018. While his sonic explorations mystified his label and country radio stations—his ’70s Atlantic albums never climbed above 66 on the Billboard 200—they instead became beloved by a rising generation of songwriters who refused to be pinned into one lane.

“I know the record companies had no idea what to do with John Prine,” John Mellencamp, who was scuffling as a failing rocker named Johnny Cougar at the time of Prine’s rise, said in 2017. “And he said, ‘To hell with it. I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do.’ And he did. John taught me a lot, whether he knew it or not.”

Soon enough, artists across genres began covering Prine’s songs. Bruce Springsteen covered “Paradise”; Bette Midler covered “Hello in There”; Johnny Cash sang “Sam Stone.” Bonnie Raitt and Carly Simon would each make “Angel From Montgomery” their own.

Eventually, the walls between genres began to come down, paving the way for Americana, a catch-all term for musicians drawing from many traditions. More recently, Prine has become a mentor to a younger flock of rulebreakers, from Musgraves to Sturgill Simpson to Brandi Carlile. Justin Vernon, who performs as Bon Iver, called Prine his favorite songwriter and led a Prine tribute concert at his own festival Eaux Claires in 2017.

It hurts so bad to read the news. I am gutted. My hero is gone. My friend is gone. We’ll love you forever John Prine.

— Margo Price (@MissMargoPrice) April 8, 2020

“Right now it seems like, without changing anything I ever did, I fit right into the Americana thing because it’s stuff mixed together: all different American musics mixed together,” Prine said in the 2018 GQ interview.

The Original Indie Rocker

Prine was nearly as influential as a businessman as he was as a musician. Years before “indie” became a term, Prine was fed up with being creatively stifled by labels and decided to found his own, Oh Boy Records, in 1981.

“People thought we were crazy for starting a record company,” he told Billboard. “They thought I was really shooting myself in the foot.”

Prine sent out records through the mail and relied on crowdsourced funding. But the gambit worked: fans sent in a large enough volume of checks for Prine to record his next album without the need for a label’s advance.

Oh Boy Label now stands as the oldest independent record company in Nashville; in 2015, it became a family business, with his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine, serving as a managing partner and his son Jody Whelan as director of operations. Oh Boy also set a template for the rising crop of artists, from Chance the Rapper to Jack White, who chose to take their music into their own hands.

RIP John Prine. The real deal. Great American singer/songwriter that found the heart and humor in even the darkest of human stories through song. Genius. Very heavy loss.

— marc maron (@marcmaron) April 8, 2020

Late Career Resurgence

The last two and a half decades have not been easy for Prine. In 1998, he was diagnosed with squamous cell cancer, resulting in a surgery that removed a piece of his neck and nerves on his tongue. The surgery deepened his voice to an unrecognizable growl, but Prine took intensive speech therapy and adapted. In 1999, he recorded a duets album that included the song “In Spite of Ourselves” with Iris DeMent, which became one of the biggest hits of his career.

In 2013, Prine was diagnosed with lung cancer and had part of his lung removed. He rebounded and started touring again, taking a younger generation of singers like Jason Isbell and Margo Price on the road with him. In 2018, he hit his commercial peak, when The Tree of Forgiveness hit #5 on the Billboard 200. That album was voted as one of the year’s best by the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop Music Critics Poll. Earlier this year, Raitt presented Prine with his lifetime achievement award at the Grammys, calling him “my friend and hero.”

On his final album, Prine showed off his comedic sensibilities to their fullest, especially on the song “Lonesome Friends of Science,” which bemoaned Pluto’s planetary demotion.

Poor ol’ planet Pluto now /

He never stood a chance no how /

When he got uninvited to the interplanetary dance /

Once a mighty planet there, now just an ordinary star /

Hangin’ out in Hollywood in some ol’ funky sushi bar.

And on “When I Get to Heaven,” Prine contemplated his own mortality with a lofty, personalized vision of heaven. “I’m gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale,” he sang. “Yeah, I’m gonna smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long / I’m gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl / ‘Cause this old man is goin’ to town.”

[bluepointcoin]

Singer-songwriter John Prine in stable condition with COVID-19

Musician John Prine is in stable condition after being placed on a ventilator while being treated for COVID-19-type symptoms, his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine said Monday.

The singer-songwriter’s family said Sunday that Prine was critically ill. Fiona Prine’s message Monday on social media, suggested his condition had improved overnight. Prine remains in hospital.

“Please continue to send your…

[luigicappel]

RT @FionaPrine: I have recovered from Covid-19. We are humbled by the outpouring of love for me and John and our precious family. He is stabile. Please continue to send your amazing Love and prayers. Sing his songs. Stay home and wash hands. John loves you. I love you

I have recovered from Covid-19. We are humbled by the outpouring of love for me and John and our precious family. He is stabile. Please continue to send your amazing Love and prayers. Sing his songs. Stay home and wash hands. John loves you. I love you

— Fiona Whelan Prine (@FionaPrine) March 30, 2020

via Twitter https://twitter.com/BluesBro March 31, 2020 at 09:14AM

[imran16829]

Who is John Prine’s Wife? Fiona Whelan Biography, Wiki, Age, Family, Net Worth, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Fast Facts You Need to Know

Fiona Whelan Biography, Fiona Whelan Wiki

Fiona Whelan is the wife of John Prine, an American country folk singer-songwriter. On Sunday, March 29th, Prine’s family in a statement revealed that the legendary singer-songwriter had been hospitalized since Thursday after a “sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms.”  His condition comes days after his wife was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Mr. Prine’s wife is…

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(NEW YORK) — The family of John Prine says the singer-songwriter is critically ill and has been placed on a ventilator while being treated for COVID-19-type symptoms.

A message posted on Prine’s Twitter page Sunday said the “Angel from Montgomery” singer has been hospitalized since Thursday and his condition worsened on Saturday.

“This is hard news for us to share,” Prine’s family added. “But so many of you have loved and supported John over the years, we wanted to let you know, and give you the chance to send on more of that love and support now. And know that we love you, and that John loves you.”

Prine’s wife and manager Fiona Whelan Prine earlier this month said that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.She said the couple were quarantined and isolated from each other.

The 73-year-old Prine, one of the most influential in folk and country music, has twice fought cancer. Most recently, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013 and had part of a lung removed. The surgeries affected his voice but Prine continued to make music and to tour. Before the onset of the virus, Prine had shows scheduled in May and a summer tour planned.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus. As of Sunday, it has killed more than 32,000 people worldwide.

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Legendary singer-songwriter John Prine has been hospitalised and placed on a ventilator after the musician began showing symptoms of COVID-19 – the disease caused by coronavirus – last week.

Prine’s family shared an update on Twitter earlier this morning, confirming that Prine was taken to hospital last Thursday (26th March) after a sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms. The 73-year-old Prine Prine was intubated on Saturday evening and is continuing to receive care, but his situation is currently critical.

“This is hard news for us to share,” reads the post. “But so many of you have loved and supported John over the years, we wanted to let you know, and give you the chance to send on more of that love and support now. And know that we love you, and John loves you.”

An update on John pic.twitter.com/fPQbv0tLyB

— John Prine (@JohnPrineMusic) March 29, 2020

As The Guardian reports, earlier this month, Prine’s wife and manager Fiona Whelan Prine confirmed she had tested positive for coronavirus. The couple were then quarantined in isolation, away from one another.

Prine, one of the most well-known figures in country and folk music, was set to tour Australia this year as part of Bluesfest. He withdrew from the now-cancelled festival last month on the advice of doctors following a hip injury.

The post Country Music Legend John Prine Is In A “Critical” Condition With Coronavirus Symptoms appeared first on Music Feeds.

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High Notes: Reba McEntire, John Prine, Jason Isbell & More Celebrate 20 Years of Thistle Farms at The Ryman

On Wednesday night (May 3) Nashville’s Mayor Megan Barry officially declared it Love Heals Day, lighting many of the city’s iconic buildings in a radiant purple glow. For the last 20 years, Thistle Farms founder Becca Stevens has lived by one simple, yet powerful mantra: Love Heals. Thistle Farms began in 1997 to help women overcome addiction, trafficking, abuse and other personal battles. Two decades later, the nationally recognized non-profit is celebrating the growth of a special community and hundreds of survival stories. Thistle Farms is setting an example for similar organizations around the country and across the globe, with the philosophy that love is the greatest force for change.

Our friends at the Ryman just opened up a few more seats for tonight's 20th Anniversary party! Get 'em while they're hot. @reba, @john_prine, #shemekiacopeland, @jasonisbell, @amandapearlshires, and the whole Thistle Farms crew look forward to seeing you. Tickets: #LinkInBio. . Also, remember to share your purple photos, including some of Nashville's most iconic buildings and landmarks which will be purple for #LoveHeals Day. Use hashtag #NashvilleGoesPurple today-Friday 5/5 at 6PM to be entered to win a super deluxe Mother's Day Gift.

A post shared by Thistle Farms (@thistlefarms) on May 3, 2017 at 5:56am PDT

Last night, Music City flocked to Ryman Auditorium to throw Thistle Farms the ultimate birthday party. “Love Letters: Thistle Farms Turns 20” brought Reba McEntire, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires and Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland to provide an evening of inspiring, uplifting music, all while fundraising so more women can benefit as Stevens and her “sisters" expand into the future.

The singer-songwriter legend himself, John Prine, kicked off the night telling the audience, “This is always my favorite event to sing at.” He performed three acoustic songs and was joined by the husband and wife pairing of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires. Later in the show, Prine’s wife Fiona Whelan Prine accepted the award for Thistle Farmer of the Year, making the evening a true family affair. Isbell and Shires shined together blending their smooth harmonies, accompanied by acoustic guitar and a beautiful fiddle. Shemekia Copeland made her Ryman debut showcasing a soulful, bluesy sound. It’s safe to say the Windy City native has a handful of new fans in Music City — everyone was up and singing along by the end of her set.

Thanks to the artists, our sponsors, and all of the #ThistleFarmers out there! See today's #LinkInBio for @tennesseannews article on last night's show. #LoveHeals #NashvilleGoesPurple 👏🏻💜

A post shared by Thistle Farms (@thistlefarms) on May 4, 2017 at 8:26am PDT

A longtime supporter of Thistle Farms, Reba McEntire rounded out the night backed by her incredible live band. For every touching love letter read between each performance by past and current “farmers," there was a song that drove home a shared message of love and hope. If anyone’s songs know how to find their way into your heart, it’s Reba’s. The country icon sang the fitting “I’m a Survivor,” “God and My Girlfriends,” the spiritual “Back to God” of her new gospel album and crowd favorite, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” joined by the rest of the lineup.

Artist: Shemekia Copeland, Reba McEntire, John Prine, Amanda Shires & Jason Isbell. Photo: Kyle Dean Reinford, MegaCountry

For more information on Thistle Farms, its mission and the Magdalene residential program, visit www.thistlefarms.org.

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Singer-songwriter John Prine in stable condition with COVID-19

Musician John Prine is in stable condition after being placed on a ventilator while being treated for COVID-19-type symptoms, his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine said Monday.

The singer-songwriter’s family said Sunday that Prine was critically ill. Fiona Prine’s message Monday on social media, suggested his condition had improved overnight. Prine remains in hospital.

“Please continue to send your…