Week Long John Prine Celebration Planned in Remembrance
Before the pandemic, whenever an important artist in country and roots music passed away, it was customary for folks to gather in a remembrance in Nashville. For obvious reasons, that couldn’t happen in a timely fashion for John Prine, who died on April 7th, 2020 due to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 73.
But now that life is returning to normal, fans, friends, family, and fellow performers will be coming together to remember the songwriter, and they’ll do it in a unique way. Instead of congregating at the Bridgestone Arena or some others cavernous venue, “You Got Gold: Celebrating The Life & Songs Of John Prine” will commence across multiple Nashville venues on numerous nights the 2nd week of October.
The first two concerts will take place at The Ryman on October 6 and 7, then another concert will be held October 8 at CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and another will happen October 9th The Basement East. Additional “You Got Gold” events are also expected to be announced at a later date between October 3rd and 10th, which is the week of Prine’s birthday (October 10th). Though no lineups have been revealed just yet, you can bet a who’s who of Americana will be showing up to pay their respects to Prine.
Proceeds from the events will benefit the newly established Hello In There Foundation, which is a non-profit founded by The Prine Family in John’s memory. The October 7th, 8th, and 9th events have already sold out, but tickets are still available for the October 6th event at the Ryman. Tickets and more information is available at www.YouGotGold.JohnPrine.com.
Prine’s record label Oh Boy Records will also be releasing the tribute record Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows Vol. 2 on October 8th. The second volume of Prine covers includes Sturgill Simpson’s cover of “Paradise” and Brandi Carlile’s version of “I Remember Everything,” which have already been released. Further songs are expected to be released monthly leading up to the week of remembrance.
June 1, 2021 @ 8:58 am
Great news!
A fitting way to – in Prine’s words – kiss his ass goodbye!
June 2, 2021 @ 12:43 pm
I’m not a huge fan of the way they rolled this out. Of the four dates they announced no lineups were revealed. Even after tickets went on sale you still didn’t know. Then there were two pre-sales per show. And when they went on sale to the general public it was a mad rush to snag any seats. Multiple times I selected seats but they were gone before they made it to the cart. And don’t even get me started on Tickemaster’s fluctuating price system. Finally got two seats in my cart and one was $50 and the other one, which was right next to it, was $150. I finally gave up given the hassle and not getting to know who I was buying tickets to see. I was the exception apparently since everything came close to selling out by Friday.
I’ll be interested to see what other shows that they announce if any at all.
June 2, 2021 @ 4:30 pm
Jonathan H.,
WTF are you skitzin over??!!!
The whole deal is to raise money for the Non-Profit.
Why not contribute then pay for the FREE YouTube version? Yeah, not the same vibe as being there.
Please let me know if you’re actually going, then I’ll be sure to stay away from your vibe. Hey/Hay – have a heart, if you belong there you will be. If not maybe someone else will be in need of such an experience.
As John said, “When “I” get to heaven…”
Jonathan maybe you will get to spend eternity with him, instead.
Karma, baby
June 3, 2021 @ 10:30 am
All that and you’re whining about *my* vibe? I do appreciate your effort to stay away from me though. Thank you.
June 3, 2021 @ 10:52 am
I tend to agree with you Jonathan. There is an element of high society in Nashville that will splurge $150 a ticket for this lineup unseen assuming Isbell, Sturgill, and Carlile will surely be there, and will be just fine if only one of them shows up. But for average Joe six pack who may want to show his respects to Prine but doesn’t have a mint behind them, it’s hard to pull the trigger on purchasing a ticket.
One of the reasons I waited to post my article on this days after it was announced was to see if lineups materialized, which they still haven’t. But I also wanted to let folks know since the dates are selling out. I don’t think Oh Boy Records is doing anything malicious here. But I do think it would have been helpful to at least reveal partial lineups to let folks know what to expect. I’m sure some bought tickets to every night, or at least every venue, and will sell if there’s ones they don’t find appealing later, locking other folks out.
June 5, 2021 @ 3:23 am
I will be really looking forward to this event. After Prine’s death, I spent many hours watching all the videos of performances that are documented there, both Prine’s own concert appearances as well as the tributes from artists such as Sturgill Simpson and Colter Wall. It will be great for these and whoever else is on the bill for this tribute to finally give John the send-off he really deserved.