Nashville was rocked when country-folk titan John Prine died in April 2020 at age 72. The “Angel From Montgomery” singer impacted everyone from Bob Dylan to Kacey Musgraves, who called him “the king of turning phrase but keeping it simple.” The “High Horse” singer shares Prine’s affinity for clever wordplay and social commentary set to a twangy beat. And her most recent music video is a kaleidoscopic tribute to the man who “single–handedly impacted my songwriting more than anyone else.”
Kacey Musgraves Says John Prine Inspired This ‘Deeper Well’ Track
Kacey Musgraves shared the “Cardinal” music video with her social media following Monday (July 15.) The video opens with a hallucinatory over-the-shoulder shot of Musgraves’ reflection as she sings into a pocket compact mirror. The rest of the video alternates between the GRAMMY winner singing in an idyllic house and the surreal visuals that she has become fond of incorporating into her music. (No spoilers, but she totally levitates.)
Videos by American Songwriter
“Cardinal” is the opening track on Musgraves’ sixth studio album Deeper Well, which dropped in March. The “Golden Hour” singer explained the song’s connection to Prine in an accompanying zine.
[RELATED: 3 of the Best Lyrics From Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Deeper Well’]
“Unexplainable things started happening and cardinals started showing up on my doorstep soon after my good friend and mentor passed, John Prine,” she wrote. “He always had a big connection to cardinals and felt that they were messengers from the spirit realm. He inspired this song, no doubt.”
A Look at Musgraves and Prine’s Friendship
Kacey Musgraves met John Prine in 2015 when she joined him aboard his Cayamo: A Journey Through Song cruise. They sang his hits “Illegal Smile” and “Paradise.” The pair reunited two years later to sing Prine’s classic “Angel from Montgomery” at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.
“They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes, but you’ll never meet someone as truly genuine as he was,” Musgraves told People after Prine’s death.
She added, “There are two times I’ve ever seen my dad cry: my Memaw’s funeral and the time I got to play with John Prine.”
Featured image by Andy Von Pip/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
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