Eight years on from battling cancer, Prine sounds in peak form for his first album of new songs since 1995's Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings. On Fair and Square, Prine takes the production reins and plays right into his own wily strengths. The result is an excellent set of songs full of rootsy warmth and unpretentious wit. Among the stunners are the appropriately rambling "My Darlin' Hometown," with Alison Krauss, and "Some Humans Ain't Human," which even sneaks in a nifty Bush-bash.

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.