John Prine - Fair & Square

Fair & Square draws on John Prine's incomparable sweetness, his wicked wit and social commentary and his split rail simplicity, it turns on the phases of the human heart - and the way the people getting by live, dream, love and survive their lives.

With the occasional wheezing accordion, curlicue electric guitar parts, quick-wristed mandolins, billowing B-3 pads and puddles of pedal steel guitar, the rough-voiced singer/songwriter's first self-produced record is a homey affair that draws generously from the palette of traditional American music - be it folk, bluegrass, shuffles, almost vintage rock & roll, torch, country - for an amalgamation that would be at home on any Wurlitzer in a whiskey-soaked tavern with beer signs flickering from age and the walls stained deeper than sepia from the years of constant smoke.

Listen to samples:

• Glory Of True Love
• Crazy As A Loon
• Long Monday
• Taking A Walk
• Some Humans Ain't Human
• My Darlin' Hometown
• Morning Train
• The Moon Is Down
• Clay Pigeons
• She Is My Everything
• I Hate It When That Happens To Me
• Bear Creek Blues
• Other Side Of Town (Bonus Track)
• Safety Joe (Bonus Track)