John Prine on music, cancer and why he never thought he'd be a recording artist

NPR | By Terry Gross

Published October 9, 2026 at 12:11 PM EDT

Pine died in 2020 from complications of COVID-19. To mark what would have been his 80th birthday, we listen to an interview from 2018 in which he talked about the surgeries that altered his voice.

Terry Gross

Terry Gross is the host and executive producer of NPR's Fresh Air.

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