Fair & Square album notes
Fair and Squares sold over 19,000 copies in the first week
"Despite the political climate and a recent bout with cancer, at “58 and a half”, Prine is a happy man. He has two young sons, and explains, “They’re Irish twins. They’re 10 months apart. That might have something to do with the nine years between records.” And another Irish joy in his life is his wife, Fiona, with whom he keeps falling in love “over and over and over again”.
“Of course I believe in true love,” he says. “It makes the world go round, it really does. Otherwise it would be a pretty boring place. I mean, you can only fish so much.”
"I finally found out that I can't just sit around and wait for lightning to strike like I used to," said Prine, now 58 with two sons. "I actually have to set time aside and say, 'I'm going to write a song.' It took me a while to figure out that was the only way it was going to get done."
“I’m kind of dug in by now,” Prine admits. “I’m not really going for a new sound. But I’d like to think I’m dug in about 20 different ways. I do like to mix it up; electric guitars and mandolins on the same song, Hammond B3 organ and pedal steel, bluegrass and rockabilly tossed in there, torch songs, country songs, a little Irish music, all thrown together.” Fair and Square is the typical eclectic Prine jambalaya, and it features the stellar fiddle playing and harmonies of Alison Krauss and the alt.country sass of Mindy Smith. It’s also the first Prine album produced by John Prine. “It’s a really hard job,” he says. “I wanted to do it, and I’m glad I did it. But I’m also glad Gary [Paczosa, who has engineered albums for Krauss and Smith] was around to help me out.”
“Yeah, I’m kinda proud of this record, It’ll hold up, I think.”
(2005) ~John Prine