Steve Gunn and Shannon Lay Cover “Clay Pigeons” for John Prine (Listen)
Following the passing of John Prine earlier this week due to complications of the coronavirus, tributes to the influential singer-songwriter continue to pour in. Today, Steve Gunn and Shannon Lay shared a cover of “Clay Pigeons,” which they dedicated to Prine. You can listen to it below.
Gunn is a longtime fan of Prine. Last year, while doing press for his latest LP, The Unseen In Between, he waxed poetic about his love for the elder folk artist. He included “Angel from Montgomery” in a list of his favorite songs for USA Today, remarking, “John Prine is one of the all-time great songwriters for me.”
The Matador-signed musician also shared a bill with Prine in 2019. Gunn’s summer concert schedule met up with Prine’s The Tree of Forgiveness tour for one evening in August at the OLT Rivierenhof in Antwerp, Belgium.
Similar to other artists, the coronavirus has upended Gunn’s 2020 tour plans. He had to cancel his US tour dates in March and April. Plus, his co-headlining tour with Cass McCombs has been put on hold.
As for Lay, the folk-pop artist’s plans are also in limbo. She was supposed to hit the road with Damien Jurado in May. Her uplifting, river-inspired Sup Pop debut, August, is out now.
“Clay Pigeons,” the song Lay and Gunn collaborate on, is written by Blaze Foley. It’s associated with Prine because he covered it on his Grammy Award-winning 2005 album Fair & Square.
For those desiring more Prine tributes, you can check out some here. Also, Consequence of Sound has organized Angel from Maywood, a Livestream fest over on Instagram featuring John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, Kevin Morby, The Decemberist’s Colin Meloy, Warren Haynes, Lake Street Drive, and more. It’s going on today (April 11). Jim James also did a tribute to Prine for Rolling Stone. You can find that here.
UPDATE June 26, 2020: Lay and Gunn took the song down from Soundcloud, which is where they originally posted it. However, they released it digitally via Sub Pop today. You can listen to it below and purchase it here.
Credits: Shannon Lay photo by Denée Segall