By Dermot Lane

It speaks volumes as to the special place John Prine held in the hearts of Irish people that among the first to play tribute when John passed away from the complications of Covid in April 2020, was President Michael D. Higgins, who said John was a ‘beloved presence in Galway whose songs brought a troupe of captivating characters with him and set them free in small packed rooms in Kinvara, Headford and Galway City’.

John Prine was one of those singer songwriters whose art seemed to strike a chord with the Irish psyche. Or as singer songwriter and fellow Kinvara resident Declan O’Rourke puts it, ‘John was not only a great storyteller, but a sweet man who saw extraordinary beauty in the details of people’s lives. His poetic soul made him a natural fit with the Irish who took to him like he was their own’.

John’s wife, Fiona, who hails from Ardara in Co Donegal, describes how they met after a show in Dublin in 1998, ‘There was an immediate recognition for both of us of a familiarity that we might have met before, but hadn’t. We connected immediately, and within days we were in love with each other.’

Fiona later moved to Nashville to be with John, along with her son, Jody, from a previous relationship, whom John later adopted.
They also acquired a holiday home just outside Kinvara in County Galway, where they spent their summers almost every year for over 20 years. John even took to referring to the Kinvara house as ‘home’.

Both John and Fiona developed a great love of Kinvara and the surrounding Burren area and would regularly go for long drives – John loved cars and driving – around the area of Black head and the Flaggy Shore, stopping to eat a packed lunch by the side of the road.

During their time spent there, John and Fiona became a familiar part of the local community of Kinvara.
The cover art of John’s album Fair and Square shows him walking along a quiet road in the locality, guitar in hand. Perhaps he was on his way to Green’s Bar in the town where John, always the troubadour, soon began to join in the Monday night ballad sessions.

Many a casual visitor and indeed American tourist were amazed to walk into a small country bar in a quiet Irish town to find John Pine and fellow musicians, such as Declan O’Rourke and Sharon Shannon playing tunes in the corner.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own