John Prine dies from coronavirus at age 73

American folk singer John Prine has died at 73 following complications with the COVID-19 coronavirus, NPR reports. Prine worked as a mailman in Chicago in the 1960s when he began singing at open mic nights. His first review came courtesy of the legendary Roger Ebert, who happened to catch a show of his at the folk club the Fifth Peg. Prine's self-titled debut came out in 1971 on Atlantic Records after he was championed by actor and musician Kris Kristofferson, and his last album 'The Tree of Forgiveness' came out in 2018. In 2010, he was honored with a tribute album that featured artists like My Morning Jacket, the Avett Brothers, Conor Oberst, Drive-By Truckers, and Bon Iver covering his songs. He had a considerable following from musicians, including Roger Waters, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism” - Dylan once said - “midwestern mind-trips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs”. Tennessean published a big biography of the singer, the NPR has a great essay about him, and Alexis Petridis wrote a lovely obituary for "an extraordinarily gifted songwriter. Gruff, funny, empathetic, imaginative, he was a born storyteller". Watch his great performance at Tiny Desk below, and listen to his after-I'm-dead song he wrote to himself here.