Art writer Doug McClemont, in a review for Art Space, stated: "Mellencamp paints handsomely grotesque portraits in oil that are as solemn and stirring as his hit songs are catchy and inspirational. Mellencamp performed "Small Town" at a Barack Obama rally in Evansville, Indiana on April 22, the night of the 2008 Pennsylvania primary. After the release of Mr. Mellencamp played for over two hours and included 24 songs in his setlist on the tour. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. [36], When debuting "Easy Target" on January 19, Mellencamp delivered insights into Sad Clowns & Hillbillies: "It's crazy the way it startedit was going to be a religious record. At one point, The Lonesome Jubilee was supposed to be a double album, but at least 10 of the songs I'd written just didn't stick together with the idea and the sound we had in mind. So that's where he came up with that name. Happy Go Lucky and a subsequent four-month tour from March to July 1997 to promote it, Mellencamp signed a four-album deal with Columbia Records, although he wound up making only three albums for the label. [46], In May 2021, Mellencamp revealed that he recently finished the album and that Bruce Springsteen would make a guest appearance on the project. On August 24, 2022, he shared the lyrics to a brand new song called The Eyes of Portland a diatribe against homelessness that will be on the new record. The first album recorded under his new name John Cougar Mellencamp was 1983's Uh-Huh, a Top-10 album that spawned the Top 10 singles "Pink Houses" and "Crumblin' Down" as well as the No. The musical toured 20 U.S. cities as a "radio play" in the fall of 2013 and toured 18 more cities across the U.S. in the fall of 2014. Issued a day before his 47th birthday in 1998, his self-titled debut for Columbia Records included the singles "Your Life Is Now" and "I'm Not Running Anymore", along with standout album tracks such as "Eden Is Burning", "Miss Missy", "It All Comes True" and "Chance Meeting at the Tarantula". "When the song first came out I was in the car one day and we were driving to the airport and I had my kids with me and a radio station was playing 'To Washington' and having callers call in", Mellencamp said. Growing up in southern Indianawith which he is strongly identifiedMellencamp began playing in rock bands . John Cougar. During the pandemic, Mellencamp wrote at least 15 songs. I could have done this in my studio. The tour finally concluded with a tour of Canada in the summer of 2012. He has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. [2] Early life [ edit] The musical debuted in the spring of 2012 at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, where it ran from April 4 through May 13. In a September 2020 interview, Mellencamp guitarist Andy York said that 10 songs have already been recorded and mixed for the album, but a planned final session in April 2020 to complete the project was scuttled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was totally unaware of it until it showed up on the album jacket. Kenny Aronoff is about as successful as a freelance drummer can get. 2 in the fall of 1985 and spawned five Top 40 singles: "Lonely Ol' Night" and "Small Town" (both No. . On September 23, 2008, Mellencamp filmed a concert at the Crump Theatre in Columbus, Indiana for a new A&E Biography series called Homeward Bound. Mellencamp sees Scarecrow as the start of the alternative country genre: "I think I invented that whole 'No Depression' thing with the Scarecrow album, though I don't get the credit," he told Classic Rock magazine in October 2008.[11]. The program aired on December 11, 2008, and also featured an in-depth documentary tracing Mellencamp's roots. If these works are any indication, plain painting can be extraordinarily eloquent.". 8), "Check It Out" (No. John Mellencamp - Authority Song - Rock Hall of Fame rockrollfanatic 427K views 14 years ago Almost yours: 2 weeks, on us 100+ live channels are waiting for you with zero hidden fees Dismiss. Home Help Search Login Register John Mellencamp Community > MELLENCAMP.COM ANNOUNCEMENTS > Announcements & Updates > Mellencamp Band Member Update To kiss somebody's ass? Mellencamp recorded The Kid Inside, the follow-up to Chestnut Street Incident, in 1977, but DeFries eventually decided against releasing the album, and Mellencamp was dropped from MCA records (DeFries finally released The Kid Inside in early 1983, after Mellencamp achieved stardom). I ain't gonna do it. During this time he abused drugs and alcohol, stating in a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, "When I was high on pot, it affected me so drastically that when I was in college there were times when I wouldn't get off the couch. The first leg of what was called the Words and Music Tour in the spring of 2005 featured Donovan playing in the middle of Mellencamp's set. I wish I would've been able to enjoy it, but I was too busy slugging. With some commercial success under his belt, Mellencamp had enough clout to force the record company to add his real surname, Mellencamp, to his stage moniker. In an "Open Letter to America" on his website, Mellencamp stated: The Governor of California was removed from office based on finance troubles. "[84], Mellencamp lives five miles outside Bloomington, Indiana, on the shores of Lake Monroe,[85] but he also has a vacation home on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. While he was on tour, Mellencamp recorded a new album titled No Better Than This that was again produced by T Bone Burnett. He has also been bestowed with the Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef Special Music Industry Humanitarian Award (1991), the Billboard Century Award (2001), the Woody Guthrie Award (2003), and the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award (2007). [4], Mellencamp attended Vincennes University, a two-year college in Vincennes, Indiana, starting in 1972. [8] Mellencamp reluctantly agreed, but the album was a commercial failure, selling only 12,000 copies. Former John Mellencamp keyboardist, first-ever child porn suspect on FBI list pleads guilty by: Associated Press. Ghost Brothers of Darkland County received mixed reviews upon its initial run in Atlanta. There would be four or five days like that when I would be completely gone. His emotionally authentic, straightforward rock n' roll reflects his upbringing in the Heartland, combining pop, country, and folk to create poetic grooves that you can also jam out to on a bar's jukebox. [71], In a May 6, 2016, Q&A after a screening of the movie at Geena Davis' Bentonville Film Festival, Ryan said: "The music is so beautiful. According to Mellencamp, "German painting remains the basic foundation for what I do same as folk music is the foundation of my songs. Happy Go Lucky, which was produced by Junior Vasquez, was released to critical acclaim. Feb. 27, 2023 Updated: Feb. 27, 2023 8:33 a.m. San Antonio rocked out with John Mellencamp at the Majestic Theatre over the weekend. It wasn't let's go back and try to make this part fit into my song, but I wanted to capture the same feeling the way those songs used to make you feel. "For the first time ever, we talked about the record before we started. I've recorded 10 and I have 17 more to do and I'll pick 10 of the 27 songs". He's always been somewhat feisty, and his 'Authority Song' tells that story. In 1980, Mellencamp returned with the Steve Cropper-produced Nothin' Matters and What If It Did, which yielded two Top 40 singles "This Time" (No. Mike Wanchic Mike Wanchic, John's long time guitarist, recently completed production on singer/songwriter Stoll Vaughan's latest album The Conversation. Mellencamp co-wrote several of his best-known songs with his childhood friend George Green who, like Mellencamp, was born and raised in Seymour, Indiana. John's work is beautifully executed with incredibly fascinating studies. He brought the No Better Than This tour to Europe in the summer of 2011, opening in Copenhagen on June 24. Strictly a One-Eyed Jack was released on January 21, 2022. You're right, John, this is still our country. 1970s - 2020s. The question is whether or not he can bring himself to tell the truth in time to save his own troubled sons, and whether the ghosts left behind by an act of violence will help him or tear the McCandless family apart forever. [91] Their divorce became official on August 12, 2011, with the couple negotiating "an amicable settlement of all issues involving property and maintenance rights, the custody and support of their children, and all other issues", according to the settlement agreement. [93] It was reported that Mellencamp and Ryan broke up in the middle of 2014 after dating for over three years. 10 on the Billboard 200, becoming the 10th Top 10 album of his career. See the Actress' Sweet Surprise Announcement", "Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp Split, Call Off Engagement: She 'Had Enough', "John Mellencamp Dating Skincare Expert Nurse Jamie Following Meg Ryan Split", "Rocker John Mellencamp and Beauty Expert Nurse Jamie Split", "John Cougar: Pink Houses In The Midwest", AMA Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Mellencamp&oldid=1138995868, Mike Wanchic guitars, backing vocals (1976present), Andy York guitars, backing vocals (1994present), Dane Clark drums, backing vocals (1996present), Troye Kinnett keyboards, accordion, backing vocals (2006present), Robert "Ferd" Frank bass, backing vocals (19771981), Tom Knowles drums, backing vocals (19771979), Pat Peterson backing vocals (19812006), John Cascella keyboards, accordion (19841992), Michael Ramos keyboards, accordion (20022005), Courtney Kaiser-Sandler - backing vocals, percussion (2000-2005), Moe Z M.D. Mellencamp currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana. "The singles were stupid little pop songs," he told Record Magazine in 1983. He was a Greek god that came down, and he was the best singer, the best songwriter, and men wanted to be like him and girls wanted to be with him. Live at the Royal, which peaked at No. [3], Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana, on October 7, 1951. [101] People Magazine confirmed in January 2021 that Mellencamp and Sherrill have broken up. . "[10], Scarecrow was the first album Mellencamp recorded at his own recording studio, jokingly dubbed "Belmont Mall", located in Belmont, Indiana and built in 1984. Background "Cherry Bomb" features a female voice (Mellencamp background singer Crystal Taliefero) and two other male voices (band members Toby Myers and Mike Wanchic) in addition to Mellencamp's on the second verse.Mellencamp told GQ magazine in 2022 what inspired him to have voices other than his own take turns singing lead: "Sly and the Family Stone. Mellencamp rose to fame in the 1980s while "honing an almost startlingly plainspoken writing style" that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles, including "Hurts So Good", "Jack & Diane", "Crumblin' Down", "Pink Houses", "Lonely Ol' Night", "Small Town", "R.O.C.K. Stay ornery, stay mean. "I was up to 80 cigarettes a day," Mellencamp told the Boston Herald in September 1996 about the habits that led to his heart malfunction two years beforehand. In my own way I have tried to address these issues in song. Please login or register . "[24] A short time later, Mellencamp told Rolling Stone: "I've got a notebook with 85 new songs that I've written for my next record. "[76], The Alliance Theatre described the show as a "Southern Gothic musical fraught with mystery, tragedy and ghosts of the past.". It wasn't just me. I think we came up with a pretty timeless sounding album", Mellencamp told his online radio station in late 2006. 1 hit for four weeks. After his divorce from Irwin, Mellencamp began dating actress Meg Ryan. Noted art writer Hilarie M. Sheets, a contributing editor to ARTnews who writes regularly for The New York Times, called Mellencamp "a natural storyteller" in a 2012 essay she wrote about his artwork. "[29] Mellencamp said Dylan's endorsement was worth more than 10 Grammys.[30]. The worst thing was that I could have gone on making records like that for hundreds of years. John Mellencamp, also called Johnny Cougar or John Cougar Mellencamp, (born October 7, 1951, Seymour, Indiana, U.S.), American singer-songwriter who became popular in the 1980s by creating basic, often folk-inflected hard rock and presenting himself as a champion of small-town values. Mellencamp stated in 2021 that he had booked 80 shows for 2022, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ultimately caused him to cancel his 2022 Strictly a One-Eyed Jack tour and push it until 2023. Part of the No Depression mythology requires either a tragic early death or decades of unacknowledged masterpieces created during a life of grueling poverty. "I take no credit for that record. In response, Mellencamp instructed Merlis to pen a letter to NOM stating "that Mr. Mellencamp's views on same sex marriage and equal rights for people of all sexual orientations are at odds with NOM's stated agenda" and requesting that NOM "find music from a source more in harmony with your views than Mr. Mellencamp in the future. To anybody who's said thank you to me, I say, 'You're very nice, but, really, thank you. Take an old Rascals song for example there's everything from marching band beats to soul music to country sounds in one song. "The name of the new record is Orpheus Descending," Mellencamp said to the audience. Cuttin' Heads also included a duet with Trisha Yearwood on a love song called "Deep Blue Heart". His work has also been exhibited at Herron School of Art and Design, a division of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. They stare at the viewer or off into space with eyes both tough and vulnerable, projecting intensity akin to Beckmann's self-portraits with his sad, glowering eyes. Green contributed lyrics to numerous Mellencamp radio hits and classic album tracks, including "Human Wheels", "Minutes to Memories", "Hurts So Good", "Crumblin' Down", "Rain on the Scarecrow", "Your Life is Now", and "Key West Intermezzo", in addition to songs recorded by Barbra Streisand, Hall & Oates, Jude Cole, Ricky Skaggs, Sue Medley, The Oak Ridge Boys, Percy Sledge, and Carla Olson. Rees gets some humorous comments from Mellencamp band members who were instructed to and had to sign a form saying they would not be within 250 feet of Dylanor even look him in the eye! "I agonized", Mellencamp told USA Today's Edna Gundersen in 2007 over his decision to license "Our Country" to Chevrolet. I went to New York and everybody said, 'You sound like a hillbilly.' Following the delivery of his address, Indiana University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctorate of Musical Arts. Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty said of Mellencamp: John is one of the great American songwriters and a great rock spirit. And then it just kept evolving and evolving and evolving, and the songs that she was bringing and the songs that I was bringingthey weren't so religious. "[58], Country music star Keith Urban has consistently cited Mellencamp's influence on his music. This one, though, is not only tolerable, it's good. ", An exhibition called The Paintings of John Mellencamp came to the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio from November 3, 2013, to January 12, 2014, and was Mellencamp's first major exhibition in an art museum. 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