Since the news last week about John Prine getting sick, I had been listening to a couple albums a day--just trying to hold a little vigil. Today I even took the music outside with the kiddos while it was bright and warm and it seemed like it was a sure thing that he'd be fine.

Man, I'm sad.

Growing up, my Dad had three musical staples: Dylan, Talking Heads, and John Prine. Dylan was clearly a bit of a high school leftover, Talking Heads were college music. Prine came after and it's where he stayed. He's probably the only artist my dad continued to follow.

I remember when Missing Years came out and listening it on repeat with my Dad. I must have been five or six. By Lost Dogs + Mixed Blessing, I think most of my siblings had been born and I can still remember belting out New Train on Saturday mornings and on long car rides.

When I started getting into music and defining my own tastes in high school, my dad would always counter my long asinine rants about music by quipping simply, "But have you listened to Bruised Orange yet?"

And it took to long but I eventually dug into that back catalog. When my wife and I moved out to the backwoods of southern Indiana before we were married, it was to the tune of Spanish Pipedream.

When I first got to Texas, one of the few albums I had on my decrepit old mp3 player was Common Sense. During that strange first lonely year of grad school, I would often bike to Barton Springs. From my little apartment on 51st street, it usually took a full listen each way.

If you haven't listened to it lately, almost every song on that album has incredible turns of phrase and such vivid images. "That Close to You" is so lovely.

Or the man from "Saddle in the Rain" whose "jaw was set / Like he'd fell off a cliff / And hand't hit the bottom yet. / I wish he wouldn't pull those things on me / Without a net."

Really it's all good. But man, Bruised Orange is a masterpiece. Every track is a perfect. Hilarious, biting. Sometimes he hits like a sledge hammer and other-times he's only trying to see if you'll flinch.