Maxwell Stern of Signals Midwest and Timeshares has collaborated with members of Ratboys, Modern Baseball, Into It. Over It., and more on a new John Prine-inspired single for charity. Into It. Over It’s Adam Beck played drums and produced the whole thing, MoBo’s Ian Farmer played bass, Mother Evergreen’s Evan Lortisch played Fender Rhodes piano, and Ratboys’ Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan contributed vocals and lap steel.

“I wrote this song on April 8th, 2020, the day after John Prine died,” Stern says. “I spent the whole day doing nothing but listening to his music. There’s such incredible beauty and humor in his songs but there’s also a definite darkness, a somber quality that can exist in that same space. I was wondering about what he might write for these current times, and then I tried to write my own personal version of that song.”

Lauren Records is donating all Bandcamp sales to the National Independent Venue Association for the foreseeable future. NIVA is an organization working to secure financial support to preserve the national ecosystem of independent venues and promoters across America. “Independent venues have given me everything — jobs, friends, inspiration and a means of self-discovery,” adds Stern. Listen below.

“Tying Airplanes To The Ground” is out now via Lauren Records.