Raspy voiced troubadour John Prine, best known for the heartfelt ballad "Angel from Montgomery" and irreverent social commentary including "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore," devotes himself to duets with an album of country classics -- and then some. "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds" is sung here with country standard bearer Melba Montgomery, and Prine revels in some lesser known nuggets like the bizarre honky-tonk jukebox take on wife swapping, "Let's Invite Them Over," which he performs with Iris DeMent. Country great Connie Smith guests on two songs, and there's a pair of unexpected duets with Irish songstress Dolores Keane as well. Prine's conversational style fits best with Patty Loveless's high lonesome sound on "Back Street Affair," Emmylou Harris's cracked crystalline phrasing on "I Know One," and Lucinda Williams' delta dialogue on "Wedding Bells." The delicate duet with his wife, Fiona, on "When a Tear Becomes a Rose" shows that Prine can handle the softer side of things, too. But lest things get too sentimental, he closes with a song for (and with) the guys, "John I Sent Your Saddle Home." Ironic, funny, and sentimental -- would you expect anything less from John Prine?
