Standard Songs for Average People

John Prine | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Oh Boy
• ASIN: B000NVLJRO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,593 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Things don't get much schmaltzier than a Dobro played Hawaiian style, which is why it's fitting that Cowboy Jack Clement offers one up on "The Blue Side of Lonesome," Leon Payne's dated but charming classic--only one such excursion into blue-haired reminiscing on an album of over-the-top sentimentality. It was the legendary Clement who paired smart-ass folkie Prine and bluegrass totem Wiseman, but the singers themselves chose the repertoire, which reads like songs people of a certain age might pick on a dry drunk. The tunes range, believe it or not, from religious hymns to covers of Patti Page's 1957 hit "Old Cape Cod," Kris Kristofferson's underrated "Just the Other Side of Nowhere," and Tom T. Hall's "Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine," with a little Elvis and Ernest Tubb thrown in for good measure. It's fitting that Prine and Wiseman revisit the Hall standard, since oddly, both singers vocally favor the Nashville storyteller from time to time. But one has to question their use of the Grand Ole Opry's Carol Lee Singers, who show up on several cuts and seem, well, just bizarre on a John Prine record, even as they evoke the lushly famous Nashville Sound of the 1960s. Suffice it to say, this is a quirky project, and if Prine's scratchy baritone and Wiseman's melodic tenor sometimes overlap to where you can't tell who's singing what, it doesn't much matter. You're listening to two new pals having what seems to be the time of their life. --Alanna Nash

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars prine at his best, May 16, 2007

By 

Skorecki Louis (paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Standard Songs for Average People (Audio CD)

although i've been buying a lot of cds through amazon, very often relying more on customer's advice that critic's praise, and although i've been writing on music in the french press for more than 30 years, this is the first time i write a review in this space, just to tell you i love this very simple treatment of country standards by three very special people, prine, wiseman, and especially the one who had ther idea for this charming and moving duo, "cow boy" jack clement, a musical figure i've come to know, respect, and love dearly, first by reading peter guralnick's appraisal of his work (peter g. has become a friend of mine, and i'm very proud that he considers me worthy of this friendship).
that's it, the songs are perfect, the treatment is ever so soft, conservative in the best sense of the word, and i've been listening to this sweet sounding cd non stop for months, which the best criterium of quality, isn't it?
it'll wear well, as all deceiptly simple records always do.
buy it, listen to it, music lives on forever with this kind of respect for tradition
LOUIS SKORECKI, PARIS, FRANCE

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of insight in old country songs sung by two energetic legends, April 26, 2007

By 

J. Ross "a-music_fan" (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Standard Songs for Average People (Audio CD)

Playing Time - 44:57 -- Legendary Nashville record producer, songwriter and engineer Cowboy Jack Clement had a definitive hand in this production by introducing Mac Wiseman and John Prine who had never met until recently. Clement has known both of the singers since the 1960s and 70s, and they developed an immediate kinship. Realizing that they both shared a similar love for classic country standards, it was decided to record a set together using material from Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, Tom T. Hall, Kris Kristofferson, Bing Crosby, Leon Payne and others. Knowing Cowboy Jack's reputation, I'm sure he had plenty of advice for this collaboration too. "A good song gets better with age," he once said. The good songs they pick include Lefty Frizzell's "Saginaw, Michigan," Charlie Feathers' "I Forgot to Remember to Forget," Ernest Tubbs' "Blue-Eyed Elaine," Leon Payne's "I Love You Because,"and Al Dexter's "Pistol-Packin' Mama," and others. Clement also once stated that "there's nothing wrong with waltzes if they're played right." Maybe that's why they close the set with "Old Rugged Cross" and then "Where the Blue of the Night."

The top session players add a variety of instrumentation and background vocals to the mostly slower tempo'ed repertoire. Acoustic stringed instruments sit nicely with piano, organ, electric guitar, pedal steel, harmonica, accordion and drums to create a sound reminiscent of the 1950s. The accompanists include Tim O'Brien, Stuart Duncan, Kenny Malone, Charles Cochran, Lloyd Green, Dave Jacques, Ronnie McCoury, Joey Miskulin and others. Jack Clement plays Dobro or rhythm guitar on five tracks. The musical mood from yesteryear is most apparent on those seven tracks that incorporate the Carol Lee Singers' background vocals in a style of that era. Mac and John often trade off singing verses, and they even sing a few phrases in unison (a slight distraction).

Mac and John may be getting up in their years. Mac's in his 80s now. John was diagnosed in 1998 with throat cancer, and he's undergone surgery to deal with that. There's a lot of cautionary insight in the old country songs like "Pistol Packin' Mama." However, as they sing in "Don't be Ashamed of Your Age," Mac and John remind us of an essential tenet in their lives - "Life ain't begun until you're 40, son. That's when you really start to go to town." This album is proof that little is slowing these two energetic legends down. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Prine Love, June 14, 2007

By 

Anonymous "booksandcookies" (Charleston, IL USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Standard Songs for Average People (Audio CD)

I don't think there is anything John Prine could do to diminish the love we feel for his music in our family. We think he might be America's poet, or one of them anyway. This CD is sweet and lovely and seems like two great guys sitting down playing and singing some nice tunes together and we all get to listen or sing along. "Standard songs for average people..." - the title says it all. Just a sweet ole time with John Prine and, in this case, with Mr. Wiseman, too. I gave this to my husband for our anniversary, along with the recently released John Prine DVD, and we are always just so grateful for great artists and John Prine is surely one.