John Prine Fair & Square CD

Live Recording

Personnel: John Prine (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); John Prine; Mindy Smith (vocals, background vocals); Dan Tyminski, Alison Krauss (vocals); Pat McLaughlin (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, Wurlitzer organ, background vocals); Shawn Camp (electric guitar); John Wilkes Booth (mandolin); Phil Parlapiano (accordion); David Jacques (bass guitar); Kenny Malone (percussion); Dan Dugmore (steel guitar); Paul Griffith (drums); Jerry Douglas .
Audio Mixer: Gary Paczosa.
Recording information: Minutia (10/16/2004); Ryman Auditorium (10/16/2004); Seventeen Grand recording (10/16/2004); The Butcher Shop (10/16/2004).
Never an artist known to push himself harder than necessary, 2005's Fair and Square was John Prine's first album in five years, and his first set dominated by new material since 1995's Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings (a live album, a set of covers and a collection of new recordings of older material helped fill the gap). Of course, Prine had a fair amount to occupy him during that decade between new albums, most notably a bout with cancer in 1999, and while by all accounts Prine beat the disease with proper treatment, the man on Fair and Square seems a good bit less scrappy and more contemplative than the guy who cut Prine's most memorable material. The lyric sheet for Fair and Square reads like classic John Prine, with plenty of sly regular-guy wit and pithy observations on the state of life ("Crazy as a Loon"), love ("She Is My Everything") and the world around us ("Some Humans Ain't Human" and "My Darlin' Hometown"), but the spare, simple production (by Prine and engineer Gary Paczosa) and the rueful tone of Prine's vocals suggest a man who is just a bit weary, though that seems to be not a matter of health as much as advancing maturity and the world around him (with "Some Humans Ain't Human" explicitly addressing the War in Iraq amidst other recent failures of compassion). It's significant that the disc's "bonus tracks" are easily the most upbeat -- the funny henpecked husband's tale of "Other Side Of Town" and "Safety Joe," a witty warning about the dangers of too much caution. There's plenty of fine music on Fair and Square (Jerry Douglas and Alison Krauss are among the stellar pickers on-board) and there still isn't anyone who writes quite like John Prine, but for the most part this album is an unusually spare and subdued effort from an artist who usually can't help but crack a smile; with any luck he'll be feeling a bit more hopeful next time out, though this is still great music for a quiet afternoon. ~ Mark Deming
FAIR & SQUARE's release was highly anticipated by John Prine fans, as the veteran singer/songwriter hadn't recorded an album of new songs in 10 years (the preceding IN SPITE OF OURSELVES was mostly cover tunes). Happily for both Prine and his contingent, FAIR & SQUARE represents that most coveted of phenomena, the Return to Form. Though 1995's LOST DOGS & MIXED BLESSINGS was not without its virtues, some tracks were marred by overproduction. Here, though, the arrangements are scaled back down to Prine's comfort zone, appropriately rootsy to accommodate both the down-home amiability of his tone and the endlessly intriguing twists and turns of his unique lyrical style. While he's not untouched by contemporary events (references to the White House and the war in Iraq crop up), most of the tunes here are the sort of classic Prine material that made the songwriter a cult hero in the '70s. Equally important, the likes of "Crazy as a Loon" and "Some Humans Ain't Human" show that he still has his unique knack for making penetrating observations while maintaining his trademark wry humor.

Rolling Stone (p.76) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "[A]n excellent set of songs full of rootsy warmth and unpretentious wit."
Uncut (p.95) - 3 stars out of 5 - "FAIR & SQUARE delivers Prine's trademark croak amid simple folk arrangements occasionally spiced by steel guitar or accordion..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.64) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "2005 Americana Albums Of The Year."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]his is casual, unpretentious, troubadour-style country-folk, with warm, worn-in vocals, wry, wise, whimsical lyrics, and skilled but unshowy musicians."