John Prine (born October 10, 1946 in Maywood, Illinois-died April 7, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee) was an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has achieved widespread critical (and some commercial) success since the early 1970s. The son of William Prine and Verna Hamm, his grandfather had played guitar with Merle Travis and he started playing guitar himself at 14 years old. He was a postman for 5 years and spent a couple of years in the army before starting his musical career in the Chicago area.