Having kicked off Prine on Prine: Interviews & Encounters with a discussion with Grammy winner Steve Earle in the Rare Book Room of NYC’s Strand Books, editor/contributor Holly Gleason is heading to the Southern Festival of Books on 10/21 for a panel with Chicago Sun-Times critic Dave Hoekstra and former Nashville Banner critic/Nashville Scene contributor Michael McCall at Nashville’s Public Library.

The panels, HITS Nashville editor Gleason notes, “are a way to share not just the research that went PRINE ON PRINE, but the fellowship that John fostered among those reporters, critics, and fellow artists, who make up the list of contributors.” As Gleason continues to discuss five decades’ worth of stories and conversations with fellow contributors, the praise keeps rolling in.

“In this book you get the man, in all his charming, introspective, self-deprecating and inspiring facets,” wrote Chicago Tribune’s Rick Kogan, while L.A. Times hailed it as “moving and insightful” and Variety declared, “to love and know Prine is to spend a lot of hours in his presence via Gleason’s essential compendium, which finds his observational candor, fierce, intelligence and genial warmth to be unwavering.”

Of Gleason’s efforts, Fiona Prine says, “Holly has created a beautiful collage by using John’s words to bring us into the center of his world where family music imagination and love reside with his struggle to remain that kid from Maywood whose curiosity birthed the beautiful songs and music he gifted to the world.”

“If you’re a John Prine fan, you’re going to love this book. If you’re not, please read it and listen to his music. You will then no doubt be one,” said George Strait, while Bonnie Raitt called the book a “treasured gift.”

Songwriters Fall of Fame President/CEO, Linda Moran, further echoes the previous statements, saying “The respect, admiration and love for Prine and his songs that Holly Gleason has is obvious not only in her eloquent introduction, but in the interviews she selected to pay proper homage to him.”

“PRINE ON PRINE makes me feel like he’s been talking to me since he was a young man, and seeing him go through the phases of his career is a real gift. Holly Gleason knew John, so she understood how to take these interviews, movie scripts, tv shows and recipes and create a sense of who he was when he got done writing or performing,” added Miranda Lambert, whose Y’ALL EAT YET? Welcome to The Pretty B*tchin’ Kitchen was co-penned by Gleason.

“Reality can involve a lot of imagination, and no one was better at imagining and painting real pictures about people you felt you knew. I enjoyed getting to know John more through Holly’s curation and writing. A true master,” shared Eric Church.