John Prine at 80: "He was politically involved, a genius, and still loved people – which is a hard thing to balance"

Phoebe Bridgers:

“He’s so human. He’s one of the smartest songwriters who still doesn’t hate the world. Townes Van Zandt and so many of these people are humanising and amazing songwriters, but John Prine was politically involved, a genius, and still loved people – which is a hard thing to balance." (Speaking to Hot Press in 2020)

Maria Doyle Kennedy:

“I met him years ago at the Cambridge Folk Festival. A session started in a bar, we started singing and playing and I could see him over at the bar eyeing us up. Just seeing could we really play and sing, or was there just too much drink taken or what was the situation. So he stood there listening for a few songs then he came over and joined in. He didn’t remember that. That was a really, really long time ago.

“I found a way to send him [her song 'Yes We Will']. It was amazing, he listened to it and phoned me one day. I always think it’s the kind of phone call that, if it was in a film, you’d be on the Hill of Tara or in the middle of the ocean, on a spiritual retreat or something. I was in the supermarket! In Superquinn up the road from my house trying to bash chocolate biscuits out of children’s hands and stuff!

“And the phone rings and it’s him. I couldn’t believe it. He said, ‘I love that song’. I think I knew that he would like the sentiment of ‘Yes We Will’ because it’s about staying in love. There are millions of songs about falling in love. Very few about staying in love. I knew that he’d been married a long time as well and thought that he might like the sentiment. He did. He said he was coming to Ireland a few months later so we threw our microphones and stuff into the car and went to his house in Kinvara and recorded with him and it was amazing.” (Speaking to Hot Press in 2012)

Gerry Cinnamon

“It’s weird – I thought I’d be sad now listening to John Prine songs, but it makes you happy that the guy just existed. That’s a testament to his talent. A song of his that gets played quite a lot in this house is ‘In Spite Of Ourselves’. ‘Illegal Smile’ is another great one. He’s got a cheekiness about his songwriting. He’s so humble as well. I like that.” (Speaking to Hot Press in 2020)

Mick Flannery

“John Prine was the king of writing tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Like his song ‘When I Get To Heaven’. I just fucking love that song. It’s so clever.” (Speaking to Hot Press in 2023)

Jack O'Rourke

"A lot of the songwriters that I love – like John Prine, who died during Covid – can write from the perspective of other people. He has a song that he wrote about the guy who played the Elephant Boy, where he’s on tour, and is being jeered at. I think that ultimately, all songs come back to yourself... Sometimes you identify with someone." (Speaking to Hot Press in 2021)