John Prine was one of the most beloved and influential songwriters of the last 50-plus years. His songs, celebrating the small joys and empathizing with the struggles of everyday people, have been widely covered by his fellow artists, and he had a substantial fanbase as a recording artist and as a performer. Over the years, he played many times at Wolf Trap, which he numbered amongst his favorite venues. On Tuesday evening, an all-star lineup, backed by John’s band, gathered to share their favorite John Prine songs, including both some of his best-known songs as well as deeper cuts, and some of their own he inspired, in a moving tribute.
Hailing from Maywood, a suburb west of Chicago, Prine comes from a distinctive midwestern tradition. He and Kurt Vonnegut are the modern-day descendants of Mark Twain, packing great meaning into economical, clean, unpretentious writing, full of humor, in the vernacular voice and dialect. As a writer, I can see some of the fine subtleties of craft in that language; the way “Great Rain” slips from repeating “rain” to the word “train” is a powerful use of both repetition and variety. For all their differences — Prine is light where Vonnegut is often dark — these similarities really come into focus on songs like “Linda Goes to Mars,” where John is pushing toward the science-fictional territory Vonnegut roamed.
We lost John in 2020, in the early stages of the Covid pandemic. His loss was huge for musicians and fans, but we also felt like our time with him was a gift, as he’d gone a few rounds with cancer.
Before the concert, there was a brief panel with representatives of the Hello In There Foundation, including Prine’s widow, Fiona, and Alison Russell, who performed later in the evening. They discussed creating the foundation to promote the causes that were close to John’s heart, serving communities and supporting emerging artists. Fiona also shared a lovely story about how John would call his mother every night to tell her he loved her.
The first artist to play in the concert, Colorado’s Jobi Riccio, benefited from the foundation’s work, earning the John Prine Songwriter Fellowship in 2023. The follow year, she was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2024 Americana Honors. Riccio played “Summer’s End” from John’s final album, 2018’s Tree of Forgiveness and her own “Idaho,” which she described as “a love song.”
Watch the official music video for “Summer’s End” by John Prine on YouTube:
Next up was Fancy Hagood, who introduced himself as a “queer, independent country artist.” He encouraged the audience, if they felt the urge, to get up on their feet and boogie while he played John’s “I Just Want to Dance With You,” followed by his own “To The Moon.”
While she’s been making music for more than two decades as part of Po’ Girl, Our Native Daughters, and Sisters of the Strawberry Moon, Montreal native Alison Russell broke through to wider recognition with her debut solo album, 2021’s Outside Child. The album was nominated for the Best Americana Album Grammy in 2022, and “Nightflyer” was nominated for Best American Roots Performance and Song. (Despite the name, Canadian artists have contributed a lot to Americana, The Band, most notably). Her follow-up, 2023’s The Returner, was equally well-received, with four Grammy nominations, including Best Americana album and Best American Roots Song and Performance for the title track. She was joined on stage by her husband and partner in the duo The Birds of Chicago, J.T. Nero, who played guitar and joined in on vocals. They did John’s “Everything Is Cool,” then were joined by the trio I’m With Her (Sara Watkins, Aoife O’Donovan, a and Sarah Jarosz) for “Really Real,” a song that will appear on her album coming out later this year; Russell will return to Wolf Trap on July 5 to open for Sarah McLachlan.
The three members of I’m With Her have achieved success both in groups (Nickel Creek for Watkins, Crooked Still for Donovan) and as solo artists. That success has carried over to their work together: “Call My Name” was nominated for Best American Roots Performance and Song in 2020, and their second album, Wild and Clear and Blue won Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Song (“Ancient Light”) earlier this year. The trio performed the title track of Prine’s Bruised Orange, as well as the title track from Wild and Clear and Blue.
Margo Price, an Illinois native like Prine, made a perfect choice in his antiwar classic, “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” was a perfect choice, showing how the political themes in John’s work connect to her own. She told a great story about how, some 10 years ago, when she played Wolf Trap with John, she drank with him after the show, leading to her having to scale the fence back into the park at 2 a.m., while drunk, in heels. (Lest anyone worry about her well-being, she’s since gotten sober.) Her own “And the Horse You Rode In On” is firmly in the spirit of his John at his most cutting. Price showed a softer with a stunning rendition of “Angel From Montgomery,” which is perhaps best known from Bonnie Raitt’s cover.
The first part of the show ended with Emmylou Harris and Hayes Carll duetting on “In Spite of Ourselves,” which John recorded with Iris DeMent, followed by a 20-minute intermission that allowed me to stuff myself with salt-and-vinegar potato chips and catch up with a friend.
Lucius (Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe) show how wide-ranging Prine’s influence is: while the evening’s lineup consisted of artists from the folk and country worlds, they are a pop band. “Hello In There” was an apt choice for them, as it’s also been done by the alternative band 10,000 Maniacs. Their gorgeous harmony shined through on that and on their own “Dusty Trails.”
I mentioned the fine craft John employed in his lyrics, and John Dickerson drew attention with a spoken-word recitation of “Mexican Home.” Songs might not quite be poems, but if this one isn’t, it’s awfully close.
Hayes Carll returned to the stage, saying, “Singing ‘In Spite of Ourselves” and dancing with Emmylou Harris wasn’t on my bingo card in life.” Price joined him to sing Prine’s salute to pot, which both are enthusiastic about, “Illegal Smile,” then did his own “Beaumont.”
Watch John Prine perform “Illegal Smile” live at Austin City Limits on YouTube:
For Emmylou Harris, who grew up in this area, playing at Wolf Trap is coming home, and she spoke fondly of the many friends and family in attendance. It’s almost impossible, in article like this, to say anything adequate about her career, which spans more than five decades, has garnered her numerous artists, and has made her a principal influence on what has become Americana; many consider the greatest harmony singer in the history of recorded music. Harris made her cover of “The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” a tribute not only to Prine, but to her late friend Nanci Griffith, who recorded the song as well. You could’ve heard a pin drop when she sang her own “Red Dirt Girl,” which she mentioned was a work of fiction, as her own upbringing and life have been quite positive.
John’s son, Tommy, did his father proud with the melancholy “Far From Me,” from Prine’s self-titled debut. A formidable songwriter in his own right, he stunned with his own “Ships In The Harbor.”
Throughout his career, John ended his concerts with “Paradise,” a song from that celebrated addressing the destruction wreaked by the coal industry on his family’s ancestral home in the mountains of Kentucky. Tuesday evening’s tribute ended with all of the artists on stage singing it, leaving us with a beautiful moment.
It’s a tall order to make a tribute that lives up to the legacy of someone like John Prine, but everyone pulled it off, honoring John’s art and showing how it continues to influences generations of songwriters.
Here are some photos of artists paying tribute to John Prine at Wolf Trap on June 9, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Steve Satzberg.
