Singer-songwriter Joe Henry opens up about his stage four prostate cancer diagnosis in 2019 and how it shaped his perspective during the pandemic. In a recent interview, he shares details on his 16th studio album, created remotely with collaborators amid relocation from California to Maine. The record reflects on mortality and resilience, dedicated to his late mother.
Joe Henry, a triple-Grammy-winning folk-rock artist, faced a profound health challenge in autumn 2019 when he received a diagnosis of stage four prostate cancer at age 62. "I had stage four prostate cancer," he admits in an interview with Paste Magazine. "And I was very receptive to treatment, and I felt immensely better very, very quickly. And I’m doing good right now—I still get treatment, but I’m asymptomatic and feeling fully well."
This ordeal, combined with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, prompted a shift in Henry's life philosophy. Living in Pasadena at the time, he had just released his 15th album, The Gospel According to Water, in November 2019, but saw planned tours canceled. His wife, Melanie Ciccone—sister of Madonna—encouraged him to pursue creative outlets without delay. "We are called to live robustly in the face of knowing that we will not always," Henry reflects on his new album, All the Eye Can See.
During lockdown, Henry adapted by learning to record at home, composing songs on solitary walks and sharing files with collaborators like Patrick Warren, Daniel Lanois, Lisa Hannigan, The Milk Carton Kids, and his son Levon on saxophone and clarinet. The album features 13 tracks capturing the human condition in 2020-21, plus "Red Letter Day," written for the upcoming film Downtown Owl at the request of T-Bone Burnett. One song, "Karen Dalton," honors the influential 1960s folk singer.
Henry also published Unspeakable: The Collected Lyrics of Joe Henry, 1985–2020, and dedicated the album to his late mother. The loss of friend and idol John Prine in 2020 further inspired him to embrace his work with renewed vigor, drawing from Prine's example of joy amid illness. Now settled in remote Maine, Henry notes the liberation of remote collaboration: "There’s great liberation in that."
His voice, smokier with age, delivers Biblical-like wisdom across rustic tracks, including the humorous "God Laughs." Album artwork includes a 1913 photo of a resilient boy and a 1977 image of Henry at 16, taken by his late high school friend Carrie Vernia.
