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From From AmericanSongwiter.Com
“Before the turn of the millennium, it was unclear if the late John Prine would ever sing again. As he readied his 13th studio album, he was recovering from surgery and radiation to treat his throat cancer. To assist him in the project, the beloved singer-songwriting talent enlisted a cast of female vocalists to join him on a 16-track collection of duets, In Spite of Ourselves. Produced by Jim Rooney, the album reflects the formative country influence that shaped Prine’s career chronicling the human experience in a language we could all understand.”

“In Spite of Ourselves was the first thing I wrote that resembled work since my cancer. I had so much radiation in my throat area, I couldn’t sing. I could talk, but I didn’t have any power in my voice. I’d been kicking around the idea of a female duets record for a while, so I made a list of two or three women per song until I had a list of about 35,” Prine reflected about the record on the 20th anniversary in 2019. In the liner notes booklet, the artist shared, “I made a list of my favorite girl singers, and the first nine I called said ‘yes.’ I nearly fell over.”

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