The fourth annual concert series called You Got Gold, celebrating the life and songs of John Prine starts on Thursday (Oct 9) and goes through Sunday (Oct 12), featuring tribute shows along with events from a trolley ride around Nashville to a guitar pull and brunch at Brown’s Diner. Jack Prine, one of the event producers, says these nighttime shows and daytime events are located at places that hold a very special place in his family’s and his dad’s heart.
“When my father passed away it left such an insurmountable void in our family,” Prine said. “Just a force of good and how he was always helping others and so giving freely to other people. Over the years, one of the ways that has helped our family cope with this grief and this loss is being able to give back to our community and to still stay so plugged in to what we can do to just make this community a better place for everyone to live in. It’s been a very special event and we’re looking forward to it. We can’t wait to see everyone there and to celebrate my dad.”
The celebration will begin on Thursday with Operation Encore at Anzie Blue and a documentary at the Belcourt Theatre reliving the very first You Got Gold event. On Friday, the Trolley Tour is an opportunity for people to visit historic landmarks and places that John Prine loved. The tour picks up at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and makes stops at Grimey’s, RCA Studio A (one of John’s favorite places to record), and Melrose Billiards, which is a place that holds special place in Jack’s heart.
“My dad would take me there when I was a teenager and teach me how to play pool,” Prine said. “I think that’d be really great. It’ll end at Arnold’s just in time for the pop-up shop to begin. That’s just a great time for John Prine fans to come eat and enjoy the vibes at one of my dad’s favorite places in town.”
Also on that Friday (Oct 10), there’s the Oh Boy Road Show event at Jackalope Brewing and a birthday bash at Friends in Low Places in downtown Nashville before the Ryman Show. Saturday (Oct 11) starts off with a volunteer event at Thistle Farms then a Fish and Whistle Fish Fry at the Neuhoff District in Germantown. At the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, there will be a panel discussion on Tom Piazza’s book Living in the Present with John Prine.
“Tom was really good friend of my dad’s and they grew close together in my dad later years,” Prine said of author Piazza. “Tom got to spend a lot of time with him and soak in all these great stories that my dad had about his childhood growing up in Maywood, Illinois, and just got to hang out around him. I got to see Tom a few weeks back when he was in town for Americana Fest and I was telling him it was a little bittersweet reading some of that book just because a lot of those memories [are] from 2018-2019, right before my dad passed away. It is kind of a tough read for me, but it’s gonna be a really special event. Just hearing Tom get to talk about his experience and memories with my dad and getting to share that with everybody.”
The You Got Gold celebration wraps up on Sunday with the guitar pull and brunch at Brown’s Diner and the finale at Imogene + Willie.
Additional event opportunities in the next week:
Tonight (Oct 8) WNXP Presents Magdalena Bay at Marathon Music Works and Nashville artist Julia Gomez on the Brooklyn Bowl patio. Thursday night (Oct 9) Modest Mouse performs at the Pinnacle and Tops is at Exit/In. Friday night (Oct 10), WNXP Presents Oracle Sisters at The Blue Room and on Saturday (Oct 11) Madi Diaz performs at The Basement East. Back at the Blue Room on Sunday night (Oct 12), Guerilla Toss takes the stage. Monday night (Oct 13), WNXP presents Leisure at The Basement East and Laufey performs at Bridgestone Arena. Wrap up this week’s listings on Tuesday night (Oct 14) with Raphael Saadiq at the Schermerhorn and MJ Lenderman & the Wind performing at the Ryman.
