Two years after the legendary John Prine died in 2020 of complications from COVID, dozens of artists gathered at Nashville’s storied Ryman Auditorium to remember the beloved songwriter and his music – from Brandi Carlile, to Tyler Childers, to Prine’s longtime friend and collaborator Bonnie Raitt. A new documentary, “You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine,” features many of those performances, alongside interviews and archival footage of Prine. And it’s now coming to select theaters around Rhode Island and across New England.
For this edition of the Weekend 401, Ocean State Media afternoon host Mareva Lindo spoke with John’s son, Jack Prine, one of the producers of the documentary.
Interview highlights
On how the film came about
Jack Prine: It was kind of like a long time coming, just due to the circumstances of my father’s passing in 2020 with the COVID pandemic. We weren’t able to really get together, either as a family or as a community, to mourn his loss. … And so it all kind of culminated into this tribute concert in 2022, where we were finally able to all gather at one of my dad’s favorite venues in Nashville, at the Ryman Auditorium. We had two nights of just amazing performances by artists who spanned from every generation that my father got to interact with. And he had such a long, storied career that the best thing about this was that we got to see older artists and younger, newer artists all come together and just show how influential and important his music was. And many of these artists were also good friends of his and good friends of our family. And so it just kind of made sense to have this, you know, this big celebration of his life and songs, and have all the John Prine fans get to attend, and just have a big love fest.
On what it meant to produce this film about his dad
Prine: As much as I miss my dad every single day … I’m also incredibly lucky that, you know, I have so many memories and music and photographs and people who just genuinely loved him, that I get to constantly remember him on a daily basis. And I also feel just an immense kind of responsibility to do the best that I can to take care of his memory and his legacy, and kind of do right by that. And I guess, also, in a way, we feel good about being able to be the ones tasked with doing that, just because we knew him better than anyone. And so, yeah, I just feel very lucky to be able to be a part of that.
On how he hopes his dad is remembered
Prine: He was such a caring and thoughtful person. And I think it’s one of the big reasons why Christmas was his favorite holiday of the entire year, because he was always so excited to just, you know, get gifts for other people, and to spread joy, and make people smile. And I think that was one of his many great gifts, was just uplifting anyone who he came in contact with.
Upcoming local screenings of ‘You Got Gold’
- Jan 9 & 10 at the Avon Cinema in Providence
- Jan 11 & 14 at All South County Luxury Cinemas in South Kingstown
- Jan 11 & 14 at Mystic Luxury Cinemas in Mystic
- Feb 5-7 at The JPT Film & Event Center in Newport
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