4/30/2024 0 Comments John mellencamp band member dies“There’s nothing back there worth keeping.” The singer summarizes its core message, drawn from the Greek myth, succinctly. The album’s indictments of America’s failures are no different from his songs like “ Pink Houses,” but their messages are barer and nearly impossible to misinterpret. On June 16, Mellencamp will release his 25th studio album, “Orpheus Descending,” which continues the sobering lyrical themes and Delta blues-centric sound of last year’s “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack.” Recorded with his longtime Indiana band in his studio near Bloomington, it’s laced with social and political commentary and moments of evident heartache. His “art barn,” filled with the songs of neighboring birds, chic Turkish rugs, expensive candles and masculine touches - dark woods, Mellencamp’s own moody artwork, an oversize framed poster of James Dean - is the musician’s “favorite place to be.” Seated at a long table, a glass ashtray and blue pack of American Spirit cigarettes within reach, Mellencamp, 71, spoke with a geniality that belied his outspoken reputation. Seal and his producer recount holing up in Fryman Canyon to record his signature hit ‘Kiss From a Rose’ and why the Brits are a ‘bit crap’ at soul music. Music Seal on the George Clooney connection to ‘Kiss From a Rose’ and why singing it is a ‘minefield’ “Keep slugging,” he told farmers gathered at a climate action protest in March in Washington, D.C. Last year, during his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction speech for his entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman, he decried antisemitism in the wake of Kanye West’s public meltdown (“F- antisemitism, and f- anybody who says anything in that manner,” Mellencamp declared). Throughout the years, Mellencamp has been a human battering ram against Republicans who’ve attempted to twist his progressive populist anthems into 10 cent expressions of patriotism. Since achieving fame in the early ’80s, the “ Jack & Diane” singer has been many things - working-class hero, Farm Aid activist, tabloid fodder - but polite isn’t one of them. Historically, he hasn’t seemed to care what anyone thinks about him or his smoking. I’m a f- ass-,” to Details magazine shortly after he had a heart attack in the ’90s, the conscientious remark was unexpected. But coming from Mellencamp, an intractable firebrand and unrepentant nicotine addict who once declared, “I’m still smoking. Said by anyone else, this nicety is unremarkable. In a black zip-up sweater, black track pants and a graying, tousled pompadour, he climbed to the top floor of his barn-like art studio, constructed by Amish builders two decades ago, and cracked a 7.5-ounce can of Coca-Cola. On a breezy Sunday afternoon in May - a day off from his Live and in Person tour - John Mellencamp descended the golf cart he uses to navigate his expansive, sylvan estate in Bloomington, Ind.
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