On April 13, 2018, exactly one year before his emotionally rich and rollicking performance Saturday at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, John Prine released The Tree of Forgiveness, his most acclaimed and successful album in several years.
“Today is its birthday, one year ago tonight,” said Prine to the sold-out crowd at the majestically restored venue. The album’s arrival last spring marked Prine’s first set of new songs in some 13 years, and the disc debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The Tree of Forgiveness also signaled Prine’s confident return after surgery for lung cancer in 2013, following his recovery from neck cancer 15 years earlier.