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May 05, 2020 By Samantha Small John Prine

The death last month of the Grammy-Award winning artist John Prine hit the music community hard. But, his legacy of endearing folk-country classics is eternal. One of the ways Prine’s influence lives on is through that of Kurt Vile. Now Vile has covered Prine’s “Sam Stone.”

The two singer/songwriters often played and collaborated together. In a recent interview with Vulture, as part of a larger tribute to Prine, Vile recounted just how nervous he was to share the stage with the legendary musician.

“I’d get starstruck and kinda awkward around John,” Vile said. “He’d be talking, and telling me all these wonderful stories from way back, and it was like everything he said was just rushing by me. I couldn’t hear any of it, because my brain was flying. I was so nervous, but everything he said hit me later.”

But, Prine was just as impressed with Vile as Vile was with him.

“I was in the studio with him recently, and he said, ‘You know I love singing with you, Kurt,’ as if it was something we did all the time. That was really wild, and it meant a lot to me,” revealed Vile

This past weekend, Vile closed out the Love From Philly livestream fundraiser—which also featured 70 other musicians including The War on Drugs, Man Man, and surprise guest Amos Lee. As his final song, Vile covered Prine’s tale of a drug-addicted Vietnam soldier living with PTSD, “Sam Stone,” a song he previously played with Prine himself at a Philly show back in 2018.

“Love John Prine,” Vile said. “Rest in peace and take it easy.”

Watch the full set below.

Read our tribute to John Prine.

Read our 2019 interview with Kurt Vile.

(Via Stereogum)

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