Life Death Love and Freedom About. From John Mellencamp

On August 13, 2007, Mellencamp began recording his 18th album of original material, titled Life, Death, Love and Freedom (the original title of the album was The Company We Keep, but Mellencamp decided in early 2008 to change it).
The man who has been called `the poet laureate of the interstate’ has reached deep into his soul, bringing forth an album of unparalleled maturity powered by a piercing musical vision. Produced by T Bone BurnettThe song, about the Jena 6 trial in Jena, Louisiana, proved controversial; it was criticized by Jena’s mayor, Murphy R. McMillan, who said it unfairly characterized the town as a hotbed of racism. He also called the video “inflammatory.”

The album, which was released on July 15, 2008, was produced by T Bone Burnett and has a very folksy, bluesy feel, as most of the songs deal with such moribund topics as death and loneliness. The first song with video, “Jena,” was introduced on Mellencamp’s web site in October 2007.

Mike Wanchic, Mellencamp’s longtime guitar player, told Billboard Magazine of Life, Death, Love and Freedom in December 2007: “It’s very, very, very organic — upright basses, cocktail (drum) kits, lots of acoustic guitars, really very atmospheric, absolutely one of the coolest sounding records that I’ve ever heard, of ours or anybody else’s.” In an interview with the Bloomington Herald-Times in March 2008, Mellencamp dubbed the album: “The best record I’ve ever made.” He signed with Starbucks’ Hear Music label to distribute the album and said, “they think it’s a fucking masterpiece.” The album’s first single is “My Sweet Love.”

Amazon.com Widgets

A video for the song was filmed in Savannah, GA on June 9. Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town is featured in the video. She harmonizes with Mellencamp on “My Sweet Love” and provides background vocals to three other songs on Life, Death, Love and Freedom.

Mellencamp is currently in the midst of a four-week summer tour of the United States in support of Life, Death, Love and Freedom. The tour kicked off June 28 in Milwaukee and will wind down on Aug. 2 in Berkeley, CA. Lucinda Williams is serving as Mellencamp’s opening act on the jaunt. Mellencamp will also tour Australia and New Zealand in the fall of 2008 with opening act Sheryl Crow. The tour starts on November 15 in Caversham, Australia and ends on December 7 Christchurch, New Zealand. It will mark the first time since 1992 that Mellencamp has toured Australia. In fact, it will be the first time since ‘92 that he’s toured anywhere outside North America.

As usual, Mellencamp will perform at the annual Farm Aid benefit concert, which is set to take place on Sept. 20, 2008 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Farm Aid has raised over $30 million in it’s 23 years of existence to help America’s struggling family farmers.

buy his cd’s at Amazon Music Store!

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!