Take a tour of John Prine's Nashville with those who knew him best

The best view of John Prine's Nashville may be from the passenger seat of his 20-year-old Cadillac DeVille.

His ride comes equipped with essentials: A black finish with gold-colored trim around the tires and a head ornament smiling from the hood. A tape deck loaded with a Country Gold cassette that once sold for 99 cents at Great Escape. Worn-in black leather seats. A soft-top ready to roll back for fall breezes. And WSM on the AM dial, just in case.

Safe to say, the man had style.

But faithful followers of Prine – an American folk hero who chronicled life's complexities in simple songs – won't need keys to a Cadillac to roll through his corner of Nashville this week. Starting Friday, his family and longtime label Oh Boy Records welcome an estimated 7,000 fans to Music City for "You Got Gold," an overdue celebration of the late singer-songwriter that runs through Oct. 12. Prine died in April 2020 from COVID-19 complications. He was 73.

The upcoming week features storytelling circles, pickin' sessions, meatloaf specials, happy hour get-togethers, and, of course, plenty of live music. Surprise tribute lineups headline six sold-out concerts across four Nashville venues: the Ryman Auditorium, Basement East, CMA Theater, and City Winery.

But "You Got Gold" isn't only about music. Throughout Nashville, friends and fans of the beloved local can celebrate the small, everyday things that helped endear Prine to the city he called "home" – a greasy spoon lunch plate, Germantown cocktail, or Belcourt matinee, to name a few.

Read on for a tour of Prine's favorite Nashville spots, told by some of those in Music City who knew him best.

Arnold's Country Kitchen

Prine enjoyed a good meal.

On Wednesdays, he often bellied up to a table inside 8th Avenue meat-and-three joint Arnold's for a double order of meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a roll.

He embraced the camaraderie at Arnold's, said producer and longtime friend David Ferguson. They began frequenting the local kitchen in the 1990s, where co-founder Jack Arnold often greeted the pair from behind the counter with bad jokes and good company.

"I think he liked the people in there best," Ferguson said. "Everybody knew him. ... he was just one of the dudes who could eat in peace."

Sometimes a roundtable of buddies – from producer Jack Clement to Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, songwriter Pat McLaughlin, keyboardist Bobby Wood or session player Mike Bub – joined Ferguson and Prine for the lunchtime hang. The conversation usually circled fishing trips or cassette tape treasures that Prine unearthed.

Or, in Ferguson's words, "regular ole dude talk." He called it the "legends lunch."

"We'd go in there and eat our fill of meatloaf and have banana pudding afterwards," Ferguson said. "It was a lot of fun."

And Arnold's wasn't the only meat-and-three haunt for Prine, of course. He sometimes huddled in a booth at Wendell Smith's Restaurant for a plate of fried chicken or pot roast. He fancied himself an expert on daily specials around town, said son Jody Whelan, managing partner of Oh Boy Records, an independent label co-founded by Prine in the early 1980s.

He loved an old Nashville diner, Whelan said.

"[Wendell's] is probably pretty unchanged," Whelan said. "It connected him to the kind of music and the part of Nashville that he loved. Knowing that other folks [and] friends were there. It was a community thing, going to Brown's and going to Arnold's."

• At Arnold's this week: Fans won't need to wait until Wednesday to taste Prine's favorite soft meat dish. The diner serves meatloaf daily during You Got Gold.

Jack's Tracks and Cowboy Arms Hotel recording studios

When Prine and producer Jim Rooney stepped into a studio run by Nashville legend "Cowboy" Jack Clement, it didn't feel like work.

"Some recording studios seem to be intimidating or antiseptic," said Rooney, a longtime Prine collaborator who produced many of his independent releases. "Jack's studios always had this wonderful quality to them where you just felt really at home and comfortable. You almost forgot you were makin' records."

When they stepped in Clement studios – like Music Row spot Jack's Tracks (now known as the Garth Brooks-owned Allentown Studios) and Belmont Boulevard's Cowboy Arms – Prine and company left business at the door.

Session days at Cowboy Arms sometimes started with an impromptu visit to Clement's office, where he adopted an ever-present motto of "if we're not havin' fun, we're not doin' our job," Rooney said.

"We would go in that office and sit down and start strumming our guitars," Rooney said. "Eventually, he'd say, 'Why don't you go upstairs and do something?' ... That just got you in the mood to really play some music and have some fun."

Inside these studios, Prine cut "Aimless Love," "German Afternoons," "Souvenirs" and late-career covers album "For Better, Or Worse," among others.

"You don't think about the business, you don't think about hits. You don't think about much of anything except makin' really good music," Rooney said. "That was one of Jack's real gifts to the town, I think. John just loved Jack and working in these places."

• Spin a Prine song: Dig into reimagined versions of Prine classics on "Souvenirs," an album featuring "Angel From Montgomery," "Sam Stone" and "Please Don't Bury Me" that Rooney co-produced with Prine and tracked alongside Ferguson during a three-day stretch at Cowboy Arms in 2000.

Belcourt Theatre

When Prine's wife and eventual manager Fiona Whelan Prine moved from Ireland to Nashville in the early 1990s, two local institutions brought her comfort.

"I found the Belcourt and I found NPR," Whelan Prine said. "And I thought, 'OK. I'm going to be OK here.'"

The couple lived in Green Hills but frequented Hillsboro Village for a quiet getaway on nights together after logging long miles on tour. The Belcourt, a staple for cinema and arthouse culture, became a regular date night stop for Whelan Prine and her husband.

They often took in silver screen options that blockbuster theaters skipped, such as foreign films recommended by friends in Europe.

The couple's support continued throughout the decades – including donations during a remodeling campaign that launched in 2016. The theater now holds two seats named for Prine and Whelan Prine.

"Because it was an old theater, we wanted to support it," Whelan Prine said. "It was a little bit shabby, but there was nothing about that we didn't like. There was a comfort level in that, too. Then, when they announced their capital campaign and refurbishment, that's when we became serious supporters. I've continued that ever since."

And it wouldn't be a trip to the movies without a few snacks. As for the go-to concession order?

"Oh, that's an easy one," Whelan Prine said. "For John, it was a medium popcorn with butter and a medium Diet Coke. And I liked a small popcorn with a little bag of jellies. I'd mix 'em together."

• At The Belcourt: On Oct. 11, the theater hosts a showing of "Big Old Goofy World: The Story of Oh Boy Records," a documentary on the label. Whelan and Whelan Prine host a Q&A session with film directors following the screening.

Henrietta Red

How do you get a reluctant singer-songwriter to sit down for press interviews? Bribe him with oysters.

"I used it one time as a hook," said Eileen Tilson, vice president of marketing at Oh Boy Records. "I was like, 'OK, if you do this we'll go get oysters ... right afterwards.' That [was] such a hit idea that it became a stipulation. He would only do an interview if we could go and get Henrietta Red after."

She added, "For years when I would schedule interviews, [it would be] at 3:30 or four o'clock in the afternoon. He could do it for an hour and then we could go to Henrietta Red."

For Prine, happy hour meant a plate of oysters and a "Handsome Johnny," his signature cocktail of vodka and ginger ale (or Sprite with a splash of Coke at Henrietta Red, which didn't keep ginger ale in stock).

The late afternoon gatherings became a tradition for the label beyond bribery, Tilson said. Prine, the son of a Midwestern tool and dye worker, took pride in working-class achievements - like cashing a paycheck (which he did, despite owning his business) and punching a proverbial timecard with a cold drink.

"John was a really big fan of putting in a hard day's work," Tilson said. "This whole, like Fred Flintstone [moment], where he pulled the string to blow the whistle. The work day was over, now we go reward ourselves."

And while he considered songwriting a trade worth toasting at the end of the day, he knew it wasn't the blue-collar labor he saw from his family as a child.

"He wasn't completely, 'Aw-shucks.' He was proud that he won awards," Whelan said. "He did consider himself – it sounds silly because he had a great, comfortable life – a worker. His job was different from other people's jobs."

• Henrietta Red special: Take in staple Prine dish, lobster bisque, all week at the restaurant.

White Bridge Auto Wash

Wait, a car wash? Yes, seriously.

Prine considered himself a dealmaker who could hang with fast-talkin' auto-slingers, even if he actually wasn't. He browsed car trading magazines and often spent hours on eBay hunting for a good Cadillac deal or old truck that might've once been used for racing.

He liked throwback Cadillacs – smooth-steering cars usually with low miles and a head ornament, Whelan said. He once owned a 1971 white Cadillac Eldorado with red leather interior. That car didn't last long after Whelan's younger brothers were born, he joked.

"The fact that he could buy the kind of car that teenage John would've liked? I think he got still a kick out of that, even when he was in his 70s," Whelan said.

Prine wouldn't balk at an hour-long wait to get his car detailed at White Bridge Auto Wash. A little down time can be a good thing, after all.

"I think having older cars was an excuse to go out and do errands," Whelan said. "Life as a songwriter ... he wasn't going to Music Row, nine-to-five writing songs. Going to get a car wash, going to get the tags on a new car. Eat lunch in-between? It's a full day."

You Got Gold

With each ticketed show sold out, here's a look at daytime "You Got Gold" activities set for the week:

• Oct. 7: A vinyl release party for Prine tribute album "Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows, Vol 2" at East Nashville shop Grimey's.

• Oct. 8: Bard Distillery hosts a tasting event for a new "John Prine John Prine Muhlenberg County Bourbon" at Frugal Macdoogal.

• Oct. 8: Vinyl Brew's Oh Boy Road Show brings exclusive Prine LPs to Jackalope Brewing.

• Oct. 9: City officials light the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge in Oh Boy colors orange, black and white to celebrate Prine's birthday.

• Oct. 10: Prine joins the Music City Walk of Fame at a free downtown ceremony.

• Oct. 10-11: Trolley tours of Prine's favorite Nashville haunts.

• Oct. 11: A "pickin' party" at Brown's Diner where fans can bring a guitar and play a few beloved Prine tunes

Find a full list of events at yougotgold.johnprine.com.

Watch at home

Those unable to attend You Got Gold tribute shows can purchase streaming tickets online via mandolin.com. Fans can view the show on Oct. 10 at the Ryman for free in celebration of what would've been Prine's 76th birthday.

• Hello in There: Proceeds from You Got Gold benefit the Hello In There Foundation, a new nonprofit organization launched by the singer's family to support marginalized communities.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Inside John Prine's Nashville with those who knew him best