Last week, we shared an old video of Tyler Childers recalling the first time he ever heard John Prine.
He was a kid at a baseball game and heard it blaring from the truck of a coach who was dragging the field. And as simple as that may sound, that memory has stuck firmly in the mind of Tyler Childers. He probably didn’t know it at the time, but that moment, that brief speck in time, would be a formidable turning point in the life and career of Tyler Childers.
The day he discovered one of his heroes.
Tyler took to Instagram today to pen a heartfelt tribute to John, the man he called “one of the finest vessels ever molded by the Architect.”
“I wouldn’t consider myself a well read Hillbilly. I would also be scared to consider myself one that retains most of what I do manage to read after the first reading of it. This is beneficial to how much enjoyment, and time idled, I can get out of one single book. I get worked up and surprised all over again at the plot twists. It’s like “50 First Dates” for at least the first four readings. If I had to pick 5 desert island books…well, I reckon that would keep me occupied at least the first 10 years of exile.
With that being said, last night I was reading in book three of the Odyssey where Telemachus is nervous about how to approach Nestor, and Athena tells him “some of the words you’ll find within yourself, the rest some power will inspire you to say.”
In times like the current, that struck a chord. Even more when a book mark fell out from the last time I was sparring with Homer. It was a backstage pass showing Handsome Johnny strutting with his six string. I had it from when me and the boys opened up outside Chicago. And the whole moment choked me up a little. A hillbilly quarantining in a cabin, sniffling over Homer, thinking about an American legend. Sounds like a John Prine song.
I have had myself a go with how to put into words my own grief over the loss of one of my heroes. Lost for words at the loss of a titan of poetry. Mr. Prine was one of the finest vessels ever molded by the Architect, to pour out the human experience for our ears to empathize. Few can boast the ability to unite people through song like the mailman from Chicago. What a class act of a human being, and a profound mark on the craft of songsmithing.”
Beautifully said.
