‘In Spite of Ourselves,’ by John Prine and Iris DeMent

Here at the homestead, we’ve kinda considered this our theme song for about the last six years or so. The complete Sessions at West 54th Street show is on a VHS tape down in our basement somewhere, but I stumbled across this John Prine YouTube clip this morning, and played it for Amy.

The song is the title track from In Spite of Ourselves, the 1999 album of duets by John Prine and Iris DeMent, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Connie Smith, Trisha Yearwood, Melba Montgomery, Patty Loveless, Fiona Prine, and Dolores Keane.

The movie John Prine mentions in the intro is Daddy and Them (2001), written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, and starring Billy Bob Thornton, Brenda Blethyn, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Kelly Preston, Andy Griffith, John Prine, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Affleck, and Jim Varney.

Here’s the Daddy and Them trailer: