Diamonds in the Rough by John Prine

Diamonds in the Rough, John Prine's second album, came out on Atlantic in 1972, and it's the sound of a man who would rather be picking on the porch than polishing in the studio. Arif Mardin produced it at Atlantic's studios in New York City, and by Prine's own telling the whole thing took three days and $7,200, beer included. He wanted it to feel like the music he played at home with his brother Dave, who adds dobro, banjo and fiddle, and with Steve Goodman on guitar and harmonies.

So the Appalachian high lonesome that crept around the edges of his debut moves to the center here, with bluegrass strings and old-time country in its bones. "Souvenirs" is a quiet, rueful gem. Prine later said he kept circling back to this homespun approach every other record or so, in between his bigger rock 'n' roll productions.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.