October 6, 2023 —– Chart #214
Hello Music Friends,
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Today we a great songwriter and a funny little song that many of you may not have heard before. In Spite of Ourselves is the 13th studio album of the late John Prine, featuring duets with various well-known female folk and alt-country vocalists, released in 1999.
The album was Prine’s first release since successfully battling throat cancer. The female duet partners include Iris DeMent, Connie Smith, Lucinda Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Melba Montgomery, Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane, Patty Loveless, and his wife, Fiona Prine. Today’s selection is the title track, In Spite of Ourselves, a dues with Iris DeMent.
Writing for Allmusic, critic Michael B. Smith wrote the album “ranks as one of Prine’s finest works, a scrapbook of country classics, interpreted by some of the genre’s best female vocalists, in duet with one fine American singer and a great songwriter.” Music critic Bill Frater wrote “To begin with, long-time John Prine fans might be a little put off by this new release. There is only one Prine-penned song in the bunch, In Spite of Ourselves, the title track… I love this album, and I applaud Prine proclaiming his love for these kinds of songs.” Robert Christgau gave the album an A rating, and had particular praise for Iris DeMent, writing “… the costar is Iris DeMent, who kills on both the Bobby Braddock cornpone of “(We’re Not) The Jet Set” (rhymes with “Chevro-let set”) and the conflicted spouse-swapping of the impossible old George & Melba hit “Let’s Invite Them Over“—as well as Prine’s only new copyright, the title track, in which a husband and wife who love each other to death paint totally different pictures of their marriage.”
Critic David Cantwell of No Depression specifically singled out the title track as the best duet on the album and wrote that the album “is a solid collection of country duets, and if nothing else, it proves that Prine has great taste in old country songs… not to mention great taste in what used to be called “girl singers.”
Here they are performing the song live: https://youtu.be/P8tTwXv4glY?si=cK5d8ndmpnXV9W42
If you have never heard this song before, you are going to get a chuckle out of this one. Have a great Friday!
Keep Rockin’,
Stan Bradshaw