Prose
Tom Piazza: Living In The Present With John Prine
Living In The Present With John Prine is true to Prine’s intentions – both he and the author had admired the way Bob Dylan refracted his life in Chronicles, letting the stories fall together in a loose structure. Piazza’s interviews with Prine are elegantly transcribed and infinitely revealing.
The real warmth is in Piazza’s accounts of their meals and road trips together, buying shoes they’ll never wear and talking about Prine’s various meetings with Dylan, and his adventures working with Sam Phillips, Cowboy Jack Clement and Phil Spector. The moral of the tale? Don’t take a man for a fancy hot dog when he wants a plain one.
Alistair McKay, Uncut
Other Voices:
There will never be a memoir by the great John Prine …Living in the Present with John Prine … is the next best thing. … For anyone who has looked up at the stage and wondered whether Prine–cowboy boot tapping, smile askew–was having as much fun as he seemed to be, Living in the Present with John Prine offers an opportunity to catch a few more moments of that sublime joy.– „BookPage (starred review)“
The artist’s good humor and low-key grace shine through on every page. A heartfelt blend of first-person journalism, oral history, travelogue, and elegy.– „Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“
Living in the Present with John Prine is a deeply intimate, moving, superbly written account of the last two years of a great artist’s life. It covers a narrow window of time in John’s life, but a huge expanse of feeling and memory. I loved being with John and Tom Piazza, sitting in the back seat of that cherry red Coupe de Ville as they careened across a Florida bridge, or curled up in a dark corner of Sperry’s restaurant in Nashville, telling stories. Artists exist and resonate outside linear time, and I really did not want this book to end.–Rosanne Cash
For all of us who love and dearly miss John Prine, what a gift it is to be able to be with him again, both through his own words and in Tom Piazza’s wonderful recounting of their adventures forging their deep, late-life friendship. Tom is such an insightful, eloquent writer and many thanks to him for giving us another round with our dear friend.–Bonnie Raitt
Tom Piazza’s book is a beautiful buddy movie — two old guys at the top of their games, bantering, playing music, and co-writing a never-to-be-finished memoir that becomes something no less precious, a quietly radiant story about the saving grace of fellowship, family, and art.–Will Hermes, author of Lou Reed: The King of New York