For John Prine fans, the massive new mural painted on the Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Square can prompt pedestrians to stop and blink back tears.
The Maywood native and folk music legend died in 2020 from COVID complications. This month, his friend and fellow musician Jon Langford, who designed the mural, teamed up with Chicago artist Darius Dennis, owner of Big Wall Sign & Mural, to paint a tribute to Prine on the school’s second story brick wall during its annual Square Roots Festival. Prine once took lessons there in the 1960s and remained a mainstay as his career took off.
“It’s our thing,” Dennis says of big mural projects. His company has painted giant, lifelike murals for major advertisers like Porsche and Oscar Mayer and Civil Rights-era photo reproduction murals in Uptown and Wicker Park. A giant mural commemorating one of Chicago’s — and the world’s — most beloved folk singers? No problem.
The mural of Prine is 56 feet wide and 26 feet tall. It features an older Prine strumming his guitar in front of a Chicago-flag blue background with red Chicago stars. His song lyrics, “How lucky can one man get?” stretch in a wavy line above him.
In white are tributes to Prine’s life, much of it referencing his job as a mail carrier before his musical career took off. “Maywood, Illinois,” his hometown, is written in postcard lettering on the left side of the mural. The postcard appears to be flipped on the right side and features Prine’s signature and two stamps with the face of his old friend and fellow Chicago musician, Steve Goodman. While Goodman was not a mail carrier, a Lake View post office is named after him.
A pennant honors Proviso East High School, Prine’s alma mater. White outlines of roses, hearts, music notes, snakes and more meander through the background.
Langford conceived of the original design and worked with Prine’s wife, Fiona, to work through the details. Then he and Dennis got together and figured out how to pull it off.
“Fiona was very keen that I used an image of older John and emphasized his connection to Chicago, the Old Town School, his job as a mailman and his friendship with fellow Chicago songwriter Steve Goodman,” Langford says. “We chose the “How lucky can one man get” lyric as a centerpiece for the mural for its ambiguity and wicked humor.”
The painting is done directly on the building’s brick, Dennis says. Langford originally painted it on a wooden panel that he bought at Crafty Beaver on West Lawrence Avenue. Dennis used techniques to help the mural appear more and more like the original painting as it weathers.
“I loved the decision to paint directly onto the brick,” Langford says.
Dennis also used the mural as a teaching and collaborative event, bringing a team of five to help him get it done. He hopes others will see the collaborative opportunities that murals can offer. They might be inspired to listen to more John Prine, too.
“We try to be mindful of what we’re doing to make sure it’s preservable and stands for a long time,” Dennis says.
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