Diamonds in the Rough

Arif Mardin produced it at Atlantic Recording Studios in New York. Prine told David Fricke in 1993 that it was recorded in three days at a cost of $7,200, including beer, and that he wanted to make it the way he played music at home with Dave and Steve. Dave Prine plays dobro, banjo and fiddle, and Steve Goodman adds guitar and harmonies. The title track is an A. P. Carter song that Prine, Dave and Goodman sing without accompaniment.

Sour Grapes and The Frying Pan were among the first songs he ever wrote, taped for a girlfriend whose father had access to a reel-to-reel recorder. She later became his first wife. He wrote Souvenirs in his 65 Chevelle on the way to the Fifth Peg, because he wanted a new song for his fifth or sixth night there. Take the Star Out of the Window and The Great Compromise deal with the Vietnam War, and of the latter he said he really loved America but did not know how to get there anymore.

Robert Christgau found it not as rich as the debut but more confidently sung. AllMusic called it merely terrific.