Sturgill didn't get the common symptom of losing his senses of smell and taste, but says, "I just had this intense frontal lobe headache for about three days, extreme fatigue, which I thought was exhaustion for about a week before I got real heavy. We were playing shows and like, certain notes just weren't coming that easy, I just thought maybe I was old and out of shape. About the time we got home when it really hit I guess I would describe it as it felt like somebody had a ratchet strapped around my chest, along with about a 187 over low mid 160s blood pressure." That, he said, was followed by "three weeks of extremely intense fatigue."
Later, Sturgill recounted meeting John Prine while at The Butcher Shoppe working on his 2016 album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth. He'd been mixing the album when he looked up and saw Prine sitting behind him in a chair. "I had no idea how long he’d been sitting there," Sturgill said, "and I had vapor lock, I kinda freaked out, coming face to face with your hero. And he was just like, ‘That’s pretty good!’ He said, ‘You wanna go get some meatloaf?’ And we went and had lunch, and any time I’d come up to town, we’d go grab lunch."
"Along with myself and many others," Sturgill continued, "he was a mentor and very giving with his time and wisdom, and we’re all grateful to get to know him."
Prine also left Sturgill something in his will: a 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo. After Colbert expressed surprised that Prine was into cars, Sturgill said, "he's a total car guy, he has a bunch of old Cadillacs."
"It will be something I treasure the rest of my life," he said of the gift.
Sturgill, joined by the band he put together for Cuttin’ Grass, also performed the bluegrass version of "Breakers Roar" on the episode. Watch that performance, and his full conversation with Colbert, below.
