In Spite of Ourselves, released in 1999 on John Prine's own Oh Boy Records (OBR-019), is a duets album of classic country covers cut at Cowboy Arms and Jack's Tracks in Nashville between 1997 and 1999. Prine sings against Iris DeMent, Connie Smith, Lucinda Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Melba Montgomery, Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane, Patty Loveless, and his wife Fiona Prine, producing the record himself with Jim Rooney (and Marty Stuart on one cut). The arrangements are honky-tonk and weeper duets, with one Prine original — the title track. The record is Prine's first album after surgery for throat cancer, and his weathered post-surgery voice gave the songs their gravelly charm; the title duet with DeMent became a Prine standard.
Tracklist
- 1 (We're Not) The Jet Set 2:37
- 2 So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad) 2:30
- 3 Wedding Bells / Let's Turn Back the Years 3:48
- 4 When Two Worlds Collide 2:22
- 5 Milwaukee Here I Come alt version 2:22
- 6 I Know One 2:41
- 7 It's a Cheating Situation 2:57
- 8 Back Street Affair 2:48
- 9 Loose Talk 2:45
- 10 Let's Invite Them Over 2:11
- 11 Til a Tear Becomes a Rose 2:50
- 12 In a Town This Size 3:31
- 13 We Could 2:17
- 14 We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds 2:17
- 15 In Spite of Ourselves Source Recording 3:33
- 16 Dear John (I Sent Your Saddle Home) 2:25
