The Daily 202: John Prine is the latest great musician killed by the coronavirus

September 2024 · 24 minute read

with Mariana Alfaro

With Mariana Alfaro

There’s a hole in our hearts where the music goes, sweet songs never last too long on broken radios and John Prine died for nothin’, I suppose.

The novel coronavirus has taken another of our greatest singer-songwriters too soon. Prine, 73, beat throat cancer in the 1990s and lung cancer in 2013 but succumbed on Tuesday in Nashville to complications from the contagion known as covid-19. He was supposed to go on tour next month. I had hoped to see him perform at Wolf Trap on June 26.

Prine wrote his first classics like “Sam Stone,” about a Vietnam vet who came home with a drug habit, during his breaks as a mail carrier in the Chicago suburbs, a job he took after serving overseas as an Army mechanic. Johnny Cash would later record the song, omitting the lyric that Jesus died for nothing. Prine recorded more than 20 albums, won three Grammy Awards and defined the genre of music that we now know as Americana.

Prine’s daddy won't take him back to Muhlenberg County in Kentucky, but his body will now float down the proverbial Green River to Paradise. Or maybe he’ll reappear as an angel who flies from Montgomery. Broken hearts and dirty windows make life difficult to see. That’s why last night and this mornin’ always look the same to me.

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He is one of 12,893 American fatalities from the coronavirus, including 1,850 deaths on Tuesday alone, the highest daily death toll so far. The United States now has 398,000 reported cases, including his widow and longtime manager, Fiona Whelan.

Hal Willner, a respected music producer who worked with Lou Reed and was the longtime music supervisor for “Saturday Night Live,” also died Tuesday at 64 with symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, though he had not been diagnosed.

Several talented musicians have been felled by this invisible enemy that attacks the lungs. Adam Schlesinger, the singer-songwriter who co-founded the rock band Fountains of Wayne, died last Wednesday at age 52 after being hospitalized for a week. He wrote the catchy “Stacy’s Mom” (has got it going on) and the title track of the Tom Hanks movie “That Thing You Do!”

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Alan Merrill, the singer-songwriter who co-wrote “I Love Rock 'N' Roll” that Joan Jett made famous, died on March 29 at 69 from the coronavirus. He was a member of the rock band the Arrows. His daughter Laura Merrill wrote on Facebook that her father had been in good spirits, performing a few weeks before he died and posing for a photograph to appear on his new album. “He played down the ‘cold’ he thought he had,” she wrote. “I’ve made a million jokes about the ‘Rona’ and how it’ll ‘getcha’ ... boy do I feel stupid.”

Joe Diffie, the honky-tonk singer who topped the country charts in the 1990s with songs like “Pickup Man,” “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Bigger than the Beatles” and “Home,” died the Sunday before last at 61. Other hits included “Honky Tonk Attitude,” “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)” and “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets).” He shared a Grammy with Merle Haggard for the song “Same Old Train.” Diffie also had writing credits for “There Goes My Heart Again” and “My Give a Damn’s Busted.”

“Diffie made hits that played well as background music, but had hooks that sent you grabbing for the volume knob,” writes David Von Drehle.

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It was not one of his most commercially successful tracks, but Diffie sang the deeply moving “Ships That Don’t Come In,” an ode to men who never got a shot to realize their dreams. The song honors “all the soldiers who have ever died in vain, the insane locked up in themselves, the homeless down on Main,” as well as “those who stand on empty shores and spit against the wind and those who wait forever for ships that don't come in.”

Ellis Marsalis, the legendary jazz pianist, died last week in New Orleans at 85. And Wallace Roney, a Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter and composer who grew up in D.C. and performed with Miles Davis, died in New Jersey at 59. Other musicians in this genre who have reportedly been killed by the coronavirus include saxophonist Marcelo Peralta, 59; Manu Dibango, 86, a Cameroonian afro-jazz saxophonist; Mike Longo, 83, a pianist and musical director for Dizzy Gillespie; and jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, 94.

Several of the musicians who have died from coronavirus complications leave particularly potent legacies through the artists they mentored and inspired. 

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Marsalis was a great musician but an even better teacher. “Through his pupils — especially his famous and highly acclaimed sons — he helped shape the sonic landscape of America,” writes columnist Eugene Robinson. “Beginning in the 1970s, jazz branched into directions that mostly turned out to be dead ends — rock-influenced jazz fusion, which produced more bad music than good; commercial ‘smooth jazz,’ which is numbingly unchallenging. But jazz also has to swing, or else it’s not jazz at all. Listen to music by Ellis Marsalis, any of his sons or any of his well-known pupils, who include trumpeters Nicholas Payton and Terence Blanchard, singer Harry Connick Jr., saxophonist Donald Harrison and many others. They all have that ineffable but unmistakable quality known as swing.”

“Diffie had a huge impact on newer artists,” writes pop culture writer Emily Yahr, “who name-checked him in songs (‘Got my honky-tonk attitude from Joe Diffie,’ Chris Young sang last year on ‘Raised on Country’) and appreciated his old-school country look (‘Joe Diffie man. … Our love for mullets made me feel connected to you in a special way,’ Morgan Wallen tweeted.) Everyone from Luke Bryan to Dustin Lynch to Locash covered ‘Pickup Man’ in concert.” Jason Aldean chanted “Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie!” on the track “1994” from his 2012 album, “Night Train.”

Matt Schudel observes in his obituary of Prine that he had a significant influence on a younger generation of singer-songwriters, including Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell and the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who called him “the closest thing I could imagine to ever being around Mark Twain.”

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Last week, as Prine fought for his life, late-night host Stephen Colbert shared a clip from 2016 of the two singing a duet of Prine’s 1978 song “That’s the Way the World Goes Round.” Colbert remembered it as “one of the happiest moments” he has had as a television host. In the original clip, Colbert said they were not planning to broadcast it on CBS. “Unless something terrible happens,” he added, “and we have to cheer up the world on the TV show.”

The federal response

Fallout continues after Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved on April 2 after a letter he wrote to his superiors was published by the San Francisco Chronicle. (Video: The Washington Post)

The acting Navy secretary resigned.

Thomas Modly stepped down after drawing widespread condemnation for insulting the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier who was fired for writing a letter of concern about the Navy's handling of a coronavirus outbreak aboard his vessel. “Modly traveled from Washington to Guam on Monday to give a speech to the 5,000-member crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, whose commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, Modly removed last week,” Dan Lamothe, Paul Sonne and Seung Min Kim report. “In profanity-laced remarks over a loudspeaker, Modly assailed Crozier’s character … By Monday night, Modly had released a statement apologizing for insulting Crozier, who has also tested positive for the virus, but insisting that the captain had written the letter to cause a stir. … [Defense Secretary Mark] Esper had asked Modly to apologize … But instead the pressure for Modly’s resignation increased, including among other players within the Defense Department … President Trump said he had no role in it and did not know Modly, but would not have asked him to resign. … Taking Modly’s place will be Army undersecretary James McPherson, who was confirmed last month as the Army’s No. 2 political appointee.”

Quote of the day

“He didn't have to be Ernest Hemingway,” Trump said on Monday, criticizing Crozier for writing a letter while commanding an aircraft carrier.

Trump removed the chair of the panel created to oversee the spending of the $2 trillion stimulus. 

“In just the past four days, Trump has ousted two inspectors general and expressed displeasure with a third, a pattern that critics say is a direct assault on one of the pillars of good governance,” Ellen Nakashima reports. “Glenn Fine, who had been the acting Pentagon inspector general, was informed Monday that he was being replaced at the Defense Department by Sean W. O’Donnell, currently the inspector general at the Environmental Protection Agency. O’Donnell will simultaneously be inspector general at the EPA and acting IG at the Pentagon until a permanent replacement is confirmed for the Defense Department. Late last month, Fine was selected by the head of a council of inspectors general to lead the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. … Fine is a career official who has served Republican and Democratic presidents. … Because he is no longer acting inspector general, Fine is ineligible to hold the spending watchdog role. He will, however, continue to serve in his current position of principal deputy inspector general at the Pentagon.”

To protect Trump, the White House is using rapid coronavirus test desperately needed by communities. 

Guests visiting Trump and Vice President Pence have been required to undergo the exams since last week, David Nakamura and Josh Dawsey report. Abbott Laboratories, “which is producing 50,000 tests per day, began shipping supplies to the White House last week … One recent visitor to the White House … noticed administration officials, including a couple Cabinet members, waiting to get tested, and he was told that every visitor meeting the president would get a test, even if they felt healthy.” 

The administration still has not settled on a national testing strategy.

“In the absence of a national plan, several states are developing their own testing systems, but the emerging picture varies widely. States with more money and robust medical sectors have devised comprehensive plans, while others lag far behind,” Juliet Eilperin, Laurie McGinley, Steven Mufson and Dawsey report. At a Monday meeting in the Situation Room, White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx and and Brett Giroir, the HHS assistant secretary for health, debated where to send the newest Abbott tests. “Giroir told reporters he was confident this effort would give the United States a reliable tool by next month to determine who had been exposed to the virus and could reenter society safely. … Officials have also indicated they want major laboratories, such as Roche Diagnostics, to provide serology tests. In the meantime, Joe Bresee, deputy incident manager for CDC’s pandemic response, said the agency has begun testing blood samples from people in coronavirus ‘hot spots’ to determine whether those people, whether they know it or not, may have antibodies that give them some immunity.” 

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The administration and congressional leaders are quietly negotiating Phase Four. 

"For all the public signs of discord, communications and coordination between congressional leaders and the Trump administration have hummed along, compensating for the dysfunctional relationship — or the outright lack of one — between Trump himself and the top two Democrats on Capitol Hill,” Seung Min Kim reports.

Dispatches from the front lines

Wisconsin held their Democratic presidential primary on April 7 amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Video: The Washington Post)

Wisconsin proceeded with its primary despite long lines, anger and looming fears of infection. 

“The snaking lines in Milwaukee and other cities illustrated the fallout from the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s controversial order to proceed with Tuesday’s elections over the objections of the governor and public health officials — and showed the ­determination of many voters to participate despite the pandemic,” Elise Viebeck, Amy Gardner, Dan Simmons and Jan Larson report. “The nearly unprecedented challenge for election officials hit hardest in Milwaukee, which opened five voting locations out of the typical 180 because of worker shortages, and Green Bay, which offered only two polling locations instead of the usual 31 and had waits of two to three hours. … Voters cast ballots in thousands of local elections, as well as in the race between former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … The results will not be released until Monday, according to the state election commission.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s cooperation orders are vexing New York hospitals afraid to surrender ventilators. 

“Officials at some major health-care systems have struggled to balance support for the governor with fears that his directive risks undercutting their ability to treat the patients they already have,” Frances Stead Sellers, Ben Guarino, Josh Dawsey and Shane Harris report. “Cuomo’s announcement late last week that, should it become necessary, the state would round up hospitals’ ventilators has amplified anxieties and, in the words of Jody L. Lomeo, chief executive of Buffalo-based Kaleida Health, ‘pit upstate versus downstate.’ … State officials have aggressively defended the strategies, while insisting that any materials diverted to New York City will be redistributed once the crisis there abates and as needs emerge elsewhere.” 

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Other states are scrambling to set guidelines dictating who gets a ventilator if numbers run low. 

“State officials and doctors in U.S. hot spots warn [a shortage] is inevitable in some places — and that it is coming soon. If — or when — that point is reached, many hospitals would activate grim triage plans that would rank patients based on who is most likely to benefit from the intensive care,” Ariana Eunjung Cha and Laurie McGinley report. “Pregnant women would get extra priority ‘points’ in most if not all plans, U.S. hospital officials and ethicists say. This is not controversial. There also has been some discussion about whether high-ranking politicians, police and other leaders should be considered critical workers at a time when the country is facing an unprecedented threat. The elderly, people with terminal cancer and those with chronic conditions, on the other hand, fare poorly in many plans, as do people with disabilities."  

Amid grim data, officials see fresh signs the death toll may not match their worst fears.

“New York, the state hit hardest by the virus, reported its highest daily death toll: 731. But [Cuomo] said the number of new patients admitted to hospitals appeared to be trending downward, Brady Dennis, William Wan and David Fahrenthold report. ”Cuomo (D) also warned that Americans should not let up on social distancing, saying that was largely responsible for the improved outlook. … Still, what is passing for good news still means about 70,000 Americans alive today may die by August. The University of Washington model predicts the worst day for deaths will be around April 16, meaning daily death tolls will grow higher until then. Yet the tone of some of the nation’s top experts has changed in the past 48 hours. … Citing figures in Detroit and Chicago, [Birx] said, ‘It really gives us great heart.’ … While the number of deaths remains high, that figure can lag behind the number of hospital admissions, which are a better predictor of the outbreak’s future course. … Columbia University researchers said they believe the next outbreaks will be in the South and then the Midwest.”

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Fresh data underscores how badly this contagion is pummeling the black community. 

“A Post analysis of available data and census demographics shows that counties that are majority-black have three times the rate of infections and almost six times the rate of deaths as counties where white residents are in the majority,” Reis Thebault, Andrew Ba Tran and Vanessa Williams report. “Trump publicly acknowledged for the first time the racial disparity at the White House task force briefing. … As pressure mounted, a CDC spokesman said Tuesday that the agency plans to include covid-19 hospitalizations by race and ethnicity in its next Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, more than six weeks after the first American died of the disease. … Elected officials and public-health experts have pointed to generations of discrimination and distrust between black communities and the health-care system. African Americans are also more likely to be uninsured and live in communities with inadequate health-care facilities. As a result, African Americans have historically been disproportionately diagnosed with chronic diseases such as asthma, hypertension and diabetes — underlying conditions that experts say make covid-19 more lethal.”

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) “said the new strike teams — made up of National Guard, state and local health departments and hospital systems — would provide emergency care, supplies and equipment to assist overburdened nursing homes and extended-care facilities,” Gregory Schneider, Erin Cox and Ovetta Wiggins report. “There are cases among staff and residents at 90 nursing homes and long-term facilities across the state, Hogan said. The number is up from Friday, when there were known cases at 60 Maryland facilities.” 

The foreign fallout

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, held an April 7 news conference and gave an update on Johnson's condition. (Video: Reuters)

European leaders are thinking creatively about restarting their economies.

European governments are mulling the introduction of what have been dubbed “immunity passports” to let individuals who have had the virus return to a more normal life. But German scientists caution that this stage of the response is still a long way off. “The German private laboratories that have been the engine of the country’s strategy to contain the spread of the virus are shifting to a new phase: antibody testing. In recent days, the IFLb laboratory in Berlin began blood tests that can determine whether someone has had the virus and therefore has immunity against being reinfected," Loveday Morris reports. “Germany’s first test kit for mass coronavirus antibody screening was certified late last month. … There remain crucial questions over how long someone’s immunity might last and at what level, and there are concerns about tests producing false positives and insufficient capacity for widespread testing.”

Gerard Krause, an epidemiologist with Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, said antibody testing studies could provide an indication of how many people have been infected and thus help governments assess the risk of easing restrictions. “In Germany, studies already underway or planned over the coming months involve a sampling of roughly 100,000 people, said Krause, who is overseeing several of them. …

“Austria and Denmark this week became the first countries to lay out plans for the gradual reopening of shops and businesses. Norway joined them Tuesday as it announced that some schools and small businesses would reopen this month. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been tight-lipped on Germany’s strategy for lifting restrictions, says she doesn’t want to raise the population’s hopes prematurely. ‘We would be a bad government if we weren’t thinking about an exit strategy,’ she said … Merkel, who has a degree in quantum chemistry and worked as a research scientist in the 1980s, has said that without a vaccine, it might take two years for the population to achieve herd immunity — meaning that so many people have been infected that the number of those still susceptible is no longer enough to sustain further spread of the virus.”

Wuhan emerged from its 76-day lockdown.

Eleven million residents have been given the liberty to move around the city and mainland country again, provided their government-issued “health code” shines green. People are assigned a green, orange or red code, according to their risk of having the coronavirus, and must scan a green QR code before they can enter stores or restaurants, or take public transportation — an electronic passport for daily life. (Anna Fifield and Lyric Li)

Ecuador will build new cemeteries to accommodate the growing number of dead.

The country has confirmed about 3,000 cases, with more than 200 deaths, although many dispute that count. Videos on social media show bodies strewn on sidewalks and streets in the city of Guayaquil, where officials warned that several thousand people could die. (Siobhán O’Grady)

Social media speed read

Few officers behave this way, and it help explain why Capt. Crozier is so beloved by his former crew aboard the T.R.:

This was Captain Brett Crozier washing dishes last Thanksgiving in the scullery while @TheRealCVN71 was underway in Pacific so junior crew members could get time for holiday meal. (This is how its done) . US Navy photo Airman DJ Schwartz. pic.twitter.com/mL5A4TuBKN

— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) April 7, 2020

The government's safety net is being overwhelmed. Here's a vignette from one of our economics correspondents:

Small biz owner in Michigan (who voted for Trump) texts me that he called SBA today and was caller number 17,651 in line.

He applied for an emergency SBA grant (the $10,000 "EIDL") two weeks ago. No $$ yet.

No unemployment money yet.
His big SBA loan app hasn't gone through.

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) April 7, 2020

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows named Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany as the new press secretary as part of a shakeup of the communications team. Back in February, she said the coronavirus would not reach the United States:

FLASHBACK: Newly named WH @PressSec @kayleighmcenany, back on Feb. 25: “We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here, we will not see terrorism come here, & isn’t that refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama?” pic.twitter.com/s0Fh5iZyYD

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) April 7, 2020

McEnany also stoked conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama:

Incoming White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany made multiple birther comments about then-President Barack Obama in 2012. pic.twitter.com/FQoPZ9cvb6

— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) April 7, 2020

Voters showed up to the polls in Wisconsin despite their fears of the coronavirus: 

Milwaukee resident Jennifer Taff requested an absentee ballot almost three weeks ago, never got it. She has a father dying from lung disease and then waited hours in line to vote at Washington High School. Photo from Patricia McKnight.

More: https://t.co/i7weo2xdfv pic.twitter.com/ceHb2i8zpC

— JR Radcliffe (@JRRadcliffe) April 7, 2020

The Onion shared a grim take on the election day:

Videos of the day

Jose Aguiluz and Jesus Contreras are among thousands of recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program who are serving as front line health-care workers. With the Supreme Court expected to soon decide the fate of DACA, they worry their future in our country is in jeopardy:

With the Supreme Court expected to soon decide the fate of DACA, some health-care workers worry their future in the U.S. could be in jeopardy. (Video: The Washington Post)

Stephen Colbert decried Wisconsin for forcing people to vote:

And Trevor Noah is shocked that Trump won’t wear a face mask: 

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