The city of Chicago, Illinois, has supported a diverse arts and entertainment landscape, including singer-songwriter John Prine. Recorded on October 8, 2023, during the annual “You Got Gold: Celebrating the Life and Songs of John Prine” event, this program shares the impact Chicago had on Prine’s career.

During a panel moderated by the Museum’s RJ Smith, banjo player Greg Cahill, a founding member of the Chicago-based bluegrass band Special Consensus; Mark Guarino, a journalist and the author of “Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival”; singer-songwriter Bonnie Koloc, an influential member of the 1970s Chicago folk community; Oh Boy Records President Fiona Whelan Prine, John Prine’s wife; and Oh Boy Records Director of Operations Jody Whelan, John Prine’s oldest son, discuss the environment that nurtured Prine’s music, including the time he spent at both the Old Town School of Folk Music and the Earls of Old Town nightclub, which connected him with friends and collaborators such as Koloc and Steve Goodman. The panelists also share the story of how Goodman and Prine wrote “the perfect country and western song,” “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” which resulted in Goodman’s gift to Prine of a Wurlitzer jukebox loaded with 78s of many of the country songs the two listened to when they were young. A prized possession of Prine’s, the jukebox was donated to the Museum in 2023. Accompanied by guitarist Andy May, Cahill performs the Special Consensus instrumental “My Kind of Town” in homage to Chicago, and Koloc performs Prine’s “Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone” and her original song “Way Down.”

Prine began his career in Chicago, but even before he was performing his songs at open mics around the city, he took guitar lessons at the Old Town School of Folk Music, which placed him in the center of the city’s thriving folk revival. Surrounded by stringband and country music traditions, poetic expression, and political protest, Prine broke out from local clubs to the national stage with his 1971 debut album—which features the now-classic songs “Angel from Montgomery,” “Paradise,” and “Sam Stone”—and became one of Chicago’s most lauded and successful songwriters.

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