Genre: Album
Grade A
Notable People: John Prine with Iris DeMint, Kathy Matea, Leeann Womack, Allison Krauss, Susan Tedeschi. Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves and others
Title: For Better, or Worse
Review: John is one of our true national treasures. Dylan says he is the existential poet of our times. He has lost nothing in terms of musicianship, arrangements, songwriting and presentation…though his voice is not what it was as a result of neck cancer and lung removal. So- now he kind of growls along. This wonderful album is a follow up to his 1999 “In Spite of Ourselves” which introduced the world to Iris DeMint. At the time, John had just started singing again after his medical battles and decided to do a duets album of classic country music so he enticed his 12 all-time favorite female country heartbreak singers. In my book, it is one of the best albums of the last quarter century. Now he is back with a follow up with a new generation of magnificent female singers and duets. The songs are beyond classic (“Who’s Gonna a Take the Garbage Out – When I’m Gone”) and the duets are marvelous- special highlights are the Susan Tedeschi and Leeann Womack numbers along, of course, with the Iris DeMint duets. Brilliant Nashville session legends to accompany including the immortals Lloyd Greene and Al Perkins on pedal steel. Great, great stuff.