- Culture
- 08 Sep 25
Book Review: Living In The Present With John Prine
The hardback edition will be published on September 18
Living In The Present With John Prine
Tom Piazza
Omnibus Press
Foreworded by John Prine’s widow Fiona Whelan, Tom Piazza has delivered an intimate memoir of one of America’s best-loved singer-songwriters. Prine asked Piazza to help him write a memoir in January 2020, three months before he died unexpectedly from complications related to COVID-19.
“I don’t want to do an autobiography,” he told Piazza. “I don’t want to be stuck on stuff I don’t want to get stuck in. We can just go where it takes us and have fun.”
The two met in 2018 just before the release of Prine’s final album, The Tree Of Forgiveness. The singer shared his extraordinary stories while he and Piazza hung out in his homes in Nashville and Sarasota, staying up late playing guitar together on Steve Goodman’s Martin 000-28. Stories about the artist’s childhood, his experience writing songs with Phil Spector and Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, and meeting his heroes Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan are shared for the first time.
Overall, a poignant memoir full of the humour and humanity found in Prine’s music.
