John Prine Brings Kurt Vile On Stage For A Pair Of Gentle Acoustic Duets In Philadelphia

He’s 71-years-old, but country/folk legend John Prine is still as active as ever: He just released a new album, The Tree Of Forgiveness, and now he’s touring in support of that record. This weekend, he performed at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia, and he was joined by special guest and hometown hero Kurt Vile. Vile opened the show with a set of his own, and he also joined Prine on stage for a couple of performances.

After a solo portion of his set, Prine brought Vile on stage, and the two performed duet, both on vocals and acoustic guitar, on “Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness” and “Sam Stone.” Vile later came back for an encore along with the rest of Prine’s band, and as Philly.com notes, they closed the show with a performance of “Paradise” that Prine dedicated to Vile’s father.

This was surely an honor for Vile, who is a big Prine fan: He covered the singer’s “Way Back Then” in 2016, and he appeared in a promo video for Prine’s 2017 book, Beyond Words. This also isn’t the first time the two have performed together live, as Prine posted a video on his Facebook page back in October of the two on stage.

Watch Prine and Vile perform above, read our conversation with Prine here, and revisit our interview with Vile (and Courtney Barnett) here.

The Tree Of Forgiveness is out now via Oh Boy Records. Get it here.