CD Review: John Prine, "Fair and Square" (Oh Boy)

John Prine has been carving out his spot as one of America's finest songwriters ever since his days in the late-'60s Chicago folk scene and a 1971 self-titled debut that produced such diversely appealing tracks as "Illegal Smile," "Angel From Montgomery" and "Donald and Lydia."

With "Fair and Square," Prine's first self-penned album in nine years, that spot is reaching Grand Canyon-like proportions. Every song on this sometimes-heartbreaking, sometimes-hilarious album proves Prine to be a master wordsmith.

Few songwriters have mixed sweet and tart as convincingly as Prine does on "Long Monday" and "The Moon is Down." And surely only Prine could come up with a line like "A clown puts his make-up on upside down, so he wears a smile even when he wears a frown," from the world-weary "The Other Side of Town."

Prine is certainly one of the greatest observers in folk-music history, an equal in that regard to, say, Joni Mitchell. But few folkies have been so brave as to allow listeners to draw their own conclusions. The only conclusion for fans to draw about "Fair and Square" is that it is another masterpiece for this true American poet.