Steve Goodman died in 1984, and now we’ve lost Prine. When I listen to their music, I recall the places I haunted, the people I met and those I lost. I also find time to smile.

CHICAGO _ It was a musical miracle of sorts, the arrival a few days ago of a voice from the past singing songs from long ago. The voice was that of Steve Goodman, singing a dozen songs on a new CD titled "Steve Goodman: Live '69."

CHICAGO _ When Angelo Varias was on the road with John Prine, as a drummer in his late 1970s backup band, it was a good vibe, Varias remembered, a bunch of Chicago guys and a bandleader "who was probably the easiest-going, but nicest and most supportive band person I've worked…

John Prine was a raspy-voiced heartland troubadour who wrote and performed songs about faded hopes, failing marriages, flies in the kitchen and the desperation of people just getting by. He was, as one of his songs put it, the bard of "broken hearts and dirty windows".

As we mourn the loss of thousands to the coronavirus, we must also find ways to celebrate these lives taken too soon.

John Prine, who died Tuesday from complications of COVID-19, influenced generations of singer-songwriters, starting with his unforgettable first album.