Various Artists - Picture Show: A Tribute Celebrating John Prine, Home Concert, 6-11-2020

Singer-songwriter John Prine passed away on April 9, 2020, at the age of 73. He died of the coronavirus. It pains me to admit that I never got into his music, even though I could tell he was a very talented songwriter. The problem I've had is his voice. It just doesn't appeal to me, for whatever reason.

Given that, I've been keen to find instances of other musicians covering his songs, because he is such a top-notch songwriter. So I was very pleased to learn about a home concert on June 11, 2020, entirely dedicated to his songs, featuring lots of well-known musicians, such as Bonnie Raitt, Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile, Vince Gill, Margo Price, Jason Isbell, and many more. Most of them sang just one song, but a few sang two. There's no location for the concert per se, because the various artists performed them in their own homes and then sent in video recordings.

This concert is an hour and 17 minutes long. It contains all the musical performances, but it's far from complete. That's because there was a lot of talking between songs that I cut out. There were a number of famous friends of Prine's who gave spoken tributes as well, such as Bill Murray, Billy Bob Thorton, and Stephen Colbert. While interesting, I don't think those had much repeat listen value, so I edited them out. There also were some snippets of Prine himself talking from when he was younger, but I cut those out as well, for the same reason. There were a few bits of him singing, but only snippets of songs, not complete songs, so those got the axe as well.

I still left in some talking though, when musicians spoke a little bit before playing their songs. I also left in a few cases where Prine's wife, Fiona Whelan Prine, briefly introduced some of the performers. Strangely, she did that for some and not for others, so not every musician gets an introduction.

Anyway, if you're a fan of Prine's music already, you should enjoy these excellent versions. If you're not yet, this could be a good introduction, including most of his best known songs.

As far as sound quality goes, it's variable, based on the recording conditions for each artist. Some are a bit rough. For instance, the Secret Sisters recorded outside, and one can hear birds chirping the whole time. But overall, the sound is pretty good.

01 talk (John Dickerson)
02 Hello in There (Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires)
03 Clocks and Spoons (Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires)
04 talk (Fiona Whelan Prine)
05 Burn One with John Prine (Kacey Musgraves)
06 talk (Kacey Musgraves)
07 Spanish Pipedream (Kacey Musgraves)
08 talk (Kacey Musgraves)
09 All the Best (Margo Price & Jeremy Ivey)
10 talk (Fiona Whelan Prine)
11 Caravan of Fools (Dan Auerbach, Pat McLaughlin & Dave Ferguson)
12 talk (Brandi Carlile)
13 Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You into Heaven Anymore (Brandi Carlile)
14 Mexican Home (John Dickerson)
15 Far from Me (Kenneth Blevins, David Jacques, Fats Kaplin, Jason Wilber & Sara Watkins)
16 talk (Vince Gill)
17 Some Things Never Get Old (Vince Gill)
18 talk (Jody Whelan)
19 Paradise (Jack Prine & Tommy Prine)
20 talk (Secret Sisters)
21 Souvenirs (Secret Sisters with Ricky Rogers)
22 Illegal Smile (Todd Snider)
23 In Spite of Ourselves (Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick)
24 talk (Fiona Whelan Prine)
25 Summer’s End (Rita Wilson)
26 talk (Sturgill Simpson)
27 Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (Sturgill Simpson)
28 talk (Eric Church)
29 She Is My Everything (Eric Church)
30 Crazy as a Loon (Kurt Vile, John Paul White, Jim James, Pat McLaughlin & Courtney Marie Andrews)
31 Unwed Fathers (Kelsey Waldon)
32 talk (Fiona Whelan Prine)
34 Angel From Montgomery (Bonnie Raitt)

https://www.imagenetz.de/aoXGA

For the album cover, I used a photo of John Prine that was included in the promotional material for this concert. For the text, I copied and pasted from more promotional material, then added the line about the home concert plus the date.