John Prine 80th Birthday Celebration

About This Event

This is a daytime tribute gathering, not a concert with a single headliner — musicians and fans coming together at Old Town School of Folk Music to mark what would have been John Prine's 80th birthday, a genuinely fitting venue given Prine studied there himself before he was anyone.

Prine grew up in Maywood, worked five years as a Chicago mail carrier, and wrote songs as a hobby while doing it. In 1970, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert happened to catch him performing at the Fifth Peg, a student hangout near Old Town School, and wrote the very first review Prine ever received — not a music critic discovering him, a movie critic. Fellow Chicago songwriter Steve Goodman later insisted Kris Kristofferson come hear Prine play; Kristofferson did, invited Prine to open for him, and Prine had a record deal within the year. He died in April 2020 from COVID-19 complications, one of the era's most mourned losses in American songwriting.

Worth knowing: this starts at 10:30 AM, genuinely a daytime event rather than an evening show — check oldtownschool.org for exact pricing and whether it's ticketed or open.