Fair and Square [CD]

Quintessential American singer/songwriter John Prine returns with FAIR & SQUARE. 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, vintage rock & roll, torch, country for an amalgamation that would be at home on any Wurlitzer in a whiskey-soaked tavern with beer signs flicker from age and the walls stained deeper than sepia from the years of constant smoke.