John Prine dove headlong into country music stylings in “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You,” a fiddle-driven track on his 1972 album Diamonds in the Rough. Tyler Childers covers the song for an upcoming Prine tribute record, maintaining the vibe (and fiddle) of the original but adding some tinkling barroom piano to underscore the drink-to-forget message.
“Sometimes I feel like an awful fool/spending my life on an old bar stool,” Childers croons, sounding more tortured than Prine did in his recording. Childers’ version of “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You” appears on Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2, dropping October 8th on Prine’s Oh Boy Records. Proceeds from Childers’ song benefit the Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund, which he and his wife Senora May established in 2020 to benefit the Appalachian region of the U.S.
Childers’ rendition of “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You” follows covers by Sturgill Simpson (“Paradise)” and Brandi Carlile (“I Remember Everything”).
Prine, who died in 2020 from complications related to Covid-19, released his self-titled debut album in 1971. This spring, Oh Boy Records will celebrate the milestone with the release of John Prine Plays John Prine, a box set that includes a 2016 live performance of the album.