A joyful, moving, vivid window onto the life and heart of an American icon.

In the spring of 2018, Tom Piazza climbed into a 1977 Coupe DeVille with the great singer-songwriter John Prine, taking a Florida road trip that soon evolved into a deep friendship, full of jokes and tall tales over epic meals, afternoons digging around antique malls and record stores, and long nights playing guitar and trading songs. Eventually they decided to write Prine’s memoir together, and Prine shared intimate, often hilarious stories of his youth and family in Chicago and Kentucky, his breakthrough into the national spotlight, his riotous early years in the Nashville country scene, and much more. When Prine died suddenly of COVID in April 2020, that unfinished memoir evolved into an intimate narrative of the artist’s final years. Piazza offers fans an unforgettable portrait of the beloved musician in his late glory—as a boyish cut-up, an epic raconteur, a great American poet, and most importantly, the good friend his fans have always imagined.

About the Author: Tom Piazza’s books include the nonfiction bestseller Why New Orleans Matters and the novels The Auburn Conference and A Free State. He is a four-time winner of the ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award for Music Writing.