After performing John Prine‘s “I Remember Everything” during the 2021 Grammy Awards, Brandi Carlile has officially released her version of the folk legend’s final song. It leads a Prine tribute album to be released later this year.
Prine’s “I Remember Everything,” released posthumously, following his death from COVID-19 in April of 2020, won two trophies at the 2021 Grammys, for Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song. Those honors were handed out during the pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony, but Carlile’s performance was part of an in memoriam segment during the televised event, which also featured tributes to Little Richard, Gerry Marsden and Kenny Rogers.
“He is one of my great heroes,” Carlile said of Prine ahead of the 2021 Grammy Awards. “He’s certainly one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and there’s so many of that just wouldn’t — we wouldn’t write songs and we wouldn’t know how if not for John.”
Carlile’s rendition of “I Remember Everything” is the first song to be released from Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2, a just-announced tribute album. Vol. 1 arrived in 2010 and features covers by, among others, Justin Townes Earle, the Avett Brothers, Sara Watkins and Drive-By Truckers. A full tracklist for Vol. 2 has not yet been announced, but the album is available for pre-order in various forms via Oh Boy Records.
Prine is known for songs such as “Sam Stone” and “Angel From Montgomery,” the latter of which Bonnie Raitt made famous. He’s a 2020 Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, too. During Sunday’s (March 14) 2021 Grammy Awards, his wife Fiona and their three sons accepted his two newest Grammys trophies via videochat.
“I always tell people: If you want to know the story of John Prine, start reading the lyrics of the first song and go all the way to “I Remember Everything,”” Fiona Prine shared in the Grammys’ virtual press room. “We’re so grateful to the fans, really.”
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