One Red Rose

 It’s been a little more than a year now since one of our heroes — songwriter John Prine — passed away at the start of the dreadful Covid-19 pandemic, and at last night’s Flood gathering, we paused to remember John with one of our all-time favorite Prine composition. “One Red Rose” is all about remembering. In fact, Prine once explained that the imagery in the song came from a childhood memory of time when he was nine years old and he and his family were visiting his cousin Charlie Bill back in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. “It was the back of a general store,” John said. “There was a tin roof and a wonderful thunderstorm going on above and around us. We were telling ghost stories and staying up late, and there was a curtain separating the bedroom from the mature adults' kitchen. Our light was off. Thus, their 'kitchen light fell asleep on the bedroom floor.’” Ah, only Prine would write that line. We miss you, John.