Kacey Musgraves Asks Fans to Pray for John Prine After Hospitalization Due to Coronavirus Diagnosis

John Prine was hospitalized last week due to complications from the coronavirus, and the singer-songwriter was intubated on Saturday and is currently in “critical” condition. Kacey Musgraves was one of many who reacted to the news on social media, asking her fans to pray for Prine.

“Everybody pray for @JohnPrineMusic,” she tweeted on Sunday, March 29. “To say he’s special to me is an extreme understatement.” Musgraves accompanied her message with a video of herself performing her song “John Prine” with Prine next to her aboard the Cayamo: A Journey Through Song cruise in 2015. In the clip, Musgraves shared that the song, which contains the line “My idea of heaven is to burn one with John Prine,” was one of the first she had written upon moving to Nashville.

“I can’t figure out what I like so much about that song,” Prine joked.

During the show, Prine recalled meeting Musgraves before a concert at one of his annual Christmas parties, where he gathers some of Nashville’s best musicians and singers in a collective known as the Whole Damn Family. That year, Musgraves was included.

“This little girl comes up to me with her buddy…. They wanted to take me out in the parking lot and get me high. I said, ‘Uh, gee, thanks but… no, thanks,’” Prine said. “We had our picture taken together and the next thing I know, I’m over at my record company, Oh Boy Records, and I hear a tape. It’s Kacey singing this song about how she’d like to burn one with John Prine.”

“I wasn’t successful in my question, but here I am, so I guess that means something,” Musgraves said.

Prine’s family shared the news of his condition on Twitter on Sunday.

“After a sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms, John was hospitalized on Thursday,” the Prine family wrote in a statement. “He was intubated Saturday evening, and continues to receive care, but his situation is critical.”

“This is hard news for us to share,” the message continued. “But so many of you have loved and supported John over the years, we wanted to let you know, and give you the chance to send on more of that love and support now. And know that we love you, and John loves you.”

On March 20, Prine’s wife, Fiona, shared on Facebook that she had tested positive for the coronavirus and that her husband’s status was “indeterminate” at the time.

Photo Credit: Getty / John Lamparski