John Prine and Iris Dement's duets on "In Spite of Ourselves"

In 1999, John Prine released In Spite of Ourselves, a brilliant album of duets with nine of his favorite female singers and an excellent group of musicians backing him up. The record was a collection of classic country covers that tells the story of the many ups and downs of a relationship. Mostly downs though since there are a ton of great cheating songs at the core of this album. John had some incredible duet partners for this, including Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Patty Loveless. The highlight of In Spite of Ourselves though, and his classic concert promoting the album on the late great cable show Sessions at West 54th, were the songs he sang with Iris Dement, one of the most talented singer/songwriters to come from the country genre in the past 20 years.

Here are three of their duets from the best episode of Sessions at West 54th, followed by the studio tracks from In Spite of Ourselves.



John Prine w/ Iris Dement -We're Not the Jet Set



John Prine w/ Iris Dement -
Let's Invite Them Over Again

The best song on the album was the title track, the only song on the record that was a John Prine original. It was originally written for what became the unreleased Billy Bob Thornton film Daddy and Them, as he explains in a funny bit at the beginning of the video. This is the rare song that somehow manages to be hilarious, poignant, and beautiful and it is one of my all time favorites.



John Prine w/ Iris Dement - In Spite of Ourselves

If you don't own it, you should definitely pick up the John Prine DVD Live from Sessions at West 54th here, but in the meantime, here is one big mp3 file of the five songs John and Iris sang together that night.

John Prine w/ Iris Dement - Five Live Songs from Sessions at West 54th

If you'd like to listen to more from Iris Dement, check out a previous post on this blog abour her first album Infamous Angel right here.

Look for plenty more posts about John Prine and Iris Dement on this blog in the future. Thanks for checking this out.

Buy John Prine's In Spite of Ourselves from amazon.com

The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Vol. 2 ("Cuffed Collared Tagged" and "Gag a Maggott")

Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams, Oscar Tony Jr., and Tommy Dowd at Capricorn Studio in Macon, GA, February, 1970

This is the second in a series on tbe reissues from one of the most underappreciated artists in pop music, Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams. You can read the previous post on this blog about The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Volume 1 here. This post focuses on Volume 2.

The first album featured in Volume 2 is Cuffed Collared Tagged. Swamp Dogg was very active in the peace movement during the Vietnam War and the first track on the record reflected that. In this extraordinary, soulful cover of the John Prine classic "Sam Stone," Swamp Dogg would have his biggest hit ever. Here he is performing the song at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on April 26, 2008, followed by the original album track.



Swamp Dogg - Sam Stone

Another moving song from the record was the autobiographical ballad "In My Resume." This performance is from the same 2008 show, followed by the original recording.



Swamp Dogg - In My Resume

If there was a favorite subject that came up in Swamp Dogg's early records, it would have to been marital infidelity. The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Volume 2 features two of his best songs on the subject. His vocals convey the crazed madness in the funkiest murder ballad you'll ever hear, "Your Last Dirty Trick," and painful helplessness evident in "Please Let Me Kiss You Goodbye."

Swamp Dogg - Your Last Dirty Trick
Swamp Dogg - Please Let Me Kiss You Goodbye

"Please Let Me Kiss You Goodbye" was originally on the second album featured in this collection, Gag a Maggott. Curiously, the closing track of that album, "Plastered to the Wall," didn't make it onto this collection. It is a great song though, so I'll include it here.

Swamp Dogg - Plastered to the Wall

In looking back for information on this record, I was pleased to find out that Swamp Dogg just released a new album of covers Give 'em as Little as You Can...As Often As You Have To...or...A Tribute To Rock 'n' Roll. I've been enjoying it and it is well worth checking out.

Thanks for reading. Look for more on the Swamp Dogg reissues in the near future.

Buy or download The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Volume 2 from amazon.com