Country

John Prine and Mac Wiseman, "Standard Songs for Average People" -3 1/2 Stars

Hearing John Prine and Mac Wiseman sing together is like having a front row seat to the yin and yang of today's Grand Ole Opry. Prine grew up in Chicago and came of age in the counterculture protests of the 1960s, while Wiseman spent his youth listening to the Opry on his family's farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

On "Standard Songs for Average People" (Oh Boy), Prine, 60, and Wiseman, 80, blend their voices on 14 country and pop antiques. Their first collaboration makes them sound like old friends enjoying a back porch song swap.

Dubbed "The Voice with a Heart," Wiseman's warm, smooth tenor is the perfect complement to Prine's raspy, intimate growl. They open in the 1940s with Ernest Tubb's "Blue-Eyed Elaine," a perky ode to romance inspired by Jimmie Rodgers. With the Bob Wills/Cindy Walker nugget "Don't Be Ashamed of Your Age," they seem to offer their own philosophy on life's golden years.

It's easy to picture them smiling as they trade leads and harmony on such classics as Lefty Frizzell's "Saginaw Michigan," Al Dexter's "Pistol Packin' Mama," and Tom T. Hall's enduring story song "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine," backed by the "Nashville sound" chorus of the Carol Lee Singers.

The gospel gems "In the Garden" and "Old Rugged Cross," along with Patty Page's "Old Cape Cod" and Bing Crosby's "Where the Blue of the Night," round out this labor of love from two above-average icons whose songs have become standards for their respective generations.