In Spite of Ourselves

Written for Billy Bob Thornton's film Daddy and Them, John Prine's duet with Iris DeMent is country's best antidote to sentimental love songs. Over a bouncy acoustic pattern, two devoted partners list each other's oddest and least flattering habits in gleefully unprintable detail. The jokes land because they celebrate real intimacy; Prine's dry rasp and DeMent's bright twang make forgiveness sound like the punchline.