For decades, John Mellencamp has been a fact of life and a force of nature, having quietly used his celebrity status to help others. It is no wonder that folks around him are now talking politics, though he seemingly discounts it. He has just released his 25th CD, No Better Than This. It is a haunting affair, crafted with a rootsy vibe, an apt follow up to the earthy and heartfelt CD of 2008, Life Death Love and Freedom. For the latest, he wrote the 13 songs in a 13 day fever in 2009, during days off from the Baseball Stadium Tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. T Bone Burnett produced it, taking it on the road this time to three locations: at the historic First African Baptist Church in Savannah, GA, the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, and the room where Delta blues legend Robert Johnson made his archetypal recordings in the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. And we are talking seriously Lo-Fi, as the entire album was recorded mono to a single track 1955 Ampex Reel-to-Reel recording deck, and one vintage microphone.
Mellencamp is about to be acknowledged by the Americana Music Association in the category of Lifetime Achievement Songwriting at the Americana Honors and Awards Show coming up on September 9th, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. He has been a vocal proponent for homelessness through 1Matters and for family farms with the ongoing Farm Aid, slated this year for October 2nd in Milwaukee, WI. John is an original Farm Aid board member, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, having organized and participated in these iconic concerts since their inception in 1985, though none of them expected that they would still be shining a light on this issue 25 years later.
As we get ready for these upcoming events, and to celebrate the release of the new album, we bring you the title track from the new CD, "No Better Than This."
- Jessie Scott
