This morning we woke to the news that John Prine had died due to complications arising from Covid-19. Prine is so revered for his song-writing and story-telling that many feel devastated by his passing and there has been a huge response from the music community, led by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jason Isbell, Margo Price and Sturgill Simpson. At this time of deepest sadness, our thoughts are with his family and close friends. Prine leaves a wonderful legacy: both a body of work that will live on and huge numbers of artists influenced by his songs.
The Grammy-winner will be forever remembered for his great contribution to music and for the characters that populated songs like ‘Sam Stone’. His most recent album, ‘The Tree of Forgiveness’, was full of humility, wit and wisdom. And full of songs that are deep pools of meaning. One of the finest is ‘Summer’s End’, which is performed for you today by singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh, whose delicate voice fits the gently, wistful song perfectly. Sital-Singh has just released an EP, ‘New Haze’, and had agreed to record a ‘mini-gig’ for us. He opted to do a cover of ‘Summer’s End’ as John Prine was unwell. Fate had it that the video arrived today when we learned that Prine had passed.
“Summer’s end came faster than we wanted.”
