Author changes approach to John Prine book after musician’s death
Singer/songwriter John Prine had already survived two bouts of cancer and hip replacement surgery, but his death at age 73 from COVID-19 in 2020 came as a shock to his legion of fans.
Just two years earlier he’d released “The Tree of Forgiveness,” his first album of new music in 13 years. It debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart and received nominations and awards from the Grammys and the Americana Music Awards. In January 2020 he headlined the 30A Songwriters Festival in South Walton, Florida, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys. But by late March he was in ICU, and less than two weeks later he was gone.
Among those who mourned his death was author Tom Piazza, 70, who had befriended the musician in 2018 while working on a profile for Oxford American magazine.
Their friendship deepened over time, forged over dinners with their wives and visits to Prine’s home in Nashville and Piazza’s in New Orleans. In late 2019, Prine asked Piazza to help him write his memoir. They got in one good interview session and had another one scheduled when Prine died.
“Living in the Present with John Prine” (W.W. Norton, $27.99) is not the book Piazza originally set out to write. Instead, it’s Piazza’s memoir about their friendship.
Much has been written in recent years about the dearth of quality friendships among adult men. “Living in the Present with John Prine” delivers the antidote. Written in an intimate, conversational tone, it lovingly captures how these two men of a certain age bonded over their shared interests in music, history and storytelling.
Reading this book is like being a fly on the wall as the men cruised Florida in a 1977 Coupe DeVille, shopped for shoes and antiques, and traded Bob Dylan stories, recalling the first time they met one of their musical heroes. According to Prine’s recollection, they were at Carly Simon’s house swapping songs on a guitar. Prine’s first record was still a couple of months away from being released, but Dylan already knew the lyrics and sang along.
With the exception of a couple of chapters near the end that read like verbatim transcripts of that first interview session about Prine’s early days in Nashville, the book stays true to the title. Its focus is on John Prine living his best life in the present, singing songs and telling stories until the end.
This month also sees the publication of two more new books about music. The first, from NewSouth Books and the imprint newly acquired by the University of Georgia Press, “Meridian Rising” (NewSouth Books, $28.95) by Paul Burch is a fact-based but fictitious account of the real country music legend Jimmie Rodgers. It combines a faux memoir; imagined recollections from family, friends and colleagues; and black-and-white illustrations to tell a colorful story of possibilities about the Mississippi native known as the Father of Country Music. A recording artist and music producer in his own right, Burch brings an authenticity to this inventive tale about the birth of country music.
Meanwhile, National Book Critics Circle Award winner Sam Quinones takes a break from writing about the opioid crisis to focus on something more upbeat with “The Perfect Tuba” (Bloomsbury, $28.99). This inspiring collection of essays focuses on the players, makers, instructors and innovators who elevate the big brass instrument that provides the ballast to marching bands and orchestras across the nation.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She can be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.
