Culture
09 Jun 20

Kacey Musgraves and Bill Murray to Headline John Prine Tribute Livestream

The event will support NAMI, Alive and Make the Road New York.

John Prine’s family has announced that Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson and Kurt Vile will perform at a livestream honouring the late folk musician this Thursday.

The star-studded event, called Picture Show, will begin at 7:30 PM ET. Fans of the “Angel from Montgomery” singer will be able to stream the programme on Prine’s Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch pages.

Joining Musgraves, Isbell, Simpson and Church on the lineup are a wide range of musicians and celebrities, including Bill Murray, Kyra Sedgwick and Stephen Colbert.

In alphabetical order, the remaining guests are Courtney Marie Andrews, Dan Auerbach, Kevin Bacon, Brené Brown, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Dave Cobb, Peter Cooper, Iris DeMent, John Dickerson, Mitchell Drosin, David Ferguson, Vince Gill, Jeremy Ivey, Jim James, Pat McLaughlin, Margo Price, Fiona Whelan Prine, Jack Prine, Tommy Prine, Bonnie Raitt, The Secret Sisters, Kyra Sedgwick, Amanda Shires, Todd Snider, Billy Bob Thornton, Kelsey Waldon, Sara Watkins, Jody Whelan, John Paul White and Rita Wilson.

Prine’s backing band will also attend; its members are Kenneth Blevins, David Jacques, Fats Kaplin and Jason Wilber.

23,000 people have already marked themselves “going” or “interested” on the event’s Facebook page. These attendees won’t just listen to music: According to Facebook, they’ll also view “rare and never-before-seen footage of John himself” and help raise money for NAMI, Alive and Make the Road New York.

Fiona Prine, who grew up in Ireland, thanked her late husband’s fans for their support. “We look forward to being with you all to remember and celebrate your friend and our beloved husband, dad, and grandpa,” she said in a statement. “Please keep yourselves safe and healthy until then. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your kind messages — they really help.”

John Prine passed away on April 7 of complications caused by COVID-19. He was 73. Considered one of folk music’s greatest songwriters, Prine won two Grammys and the 2016 PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award; he was also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.