"Living in the Present with John Prine" by Tom Piazza, W. . Norton & Company, 208 pages

John Prine — singer, songwriter, guitarist and storyteller — attracted in his life such devoted fans that they could almost be considered a cult.

Best known for songs of irony, humor and sometimes social protest, Prine touched New Orleans writer Tom Piazza with another type of song when he heard him at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans in 2016.

Prine first amused the audience with some of his witty signature songs like “Some Humans Ain’t Human.” Then, singing along on the stage his composition “Mexican Home," he delivered a “quiet and haunting … tableau of the day the singer’s father died in 1971,” Piazza writes. He continues, “At one point I realized that tears were running down my cheeks.”

The ex

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