Joan Baez - hello in there cover, 1975

 

"I delivered to a Baptist old people’s home where we’d have to go room-to-room... and some of the patients would kind of pretend that you were a grandchild or nephew that had come to visit, instead of the guy delivering papers. That always stuck in my head."

Bright Eyes - christmas in prison cover, 2023

"Prine, a notoriously huge fan of the Christmas season (the office Christmas tree stays up year-round!!), was a friend and hero to Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)."

John Prine - summer's end, 2018

"The Tree of Forgiveness is the eighteenth and final studio album by American country folk singer John Prine. The album was released on April 13, 2018. It is the last album released by Prine before his death on April 7, 2020." 

 Such a great song!

Roger Waters - hello in there cover, 2015

"Since the great songwriter John Prine died in April — and even since before Prine’s death, when the news came out that he was suffering from COVID-19 — other musicians have been showing their appreciation by covering his songs. Among Prine’s many songs, “Hello In There” has taken on a special weight. Prine wrote the song from the perspective of an old man who’s longing for any kind of connection, and he included it on his self-titled debut album in 1971. Jason Isbell coincidentally released his “Hello In There” cover just before the news of Prine’s diagnosis came out. Joan Baez, who’d released her cover of “Hello In There” in 1975, shared a video of herself singing “Hello In There” before Prine’s death. And now Roger Waters has covered it too."

Billy Bragg And Michael Stipe And Natalie Merchant - hello in there cover live, 1990

"This live performance of John Prine's "Hello in There" is a must-see if you're a fan of Prine, Michael Stipe, Natalie Merchant, or Billy Bragg. I happen to be a huge fan of all of them, so seeing Stipe, Merchant, and Bragg performing one of my favorite Prine songs is a great pleasure—I hope you enjoy it too! According to Natalie Merchant's YouTube site, which uploaded the video, it was recorded in 1990, in Glasgow, Scotland – "a first concert stop before heading to the former Soviet Bloc just after the collapse of the Berlin Wall."