Comments on: Hall of Fame Week: John “Johnny Cougar” Mellencamp

By: Grulg

Grulg — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:18:13 +0000

I will always be a fan of the Human Wheels album too from '93. That thing is about as good as anything he ever did-esp. 'What if I came knocking' and 'French Shoes' and 'Junior'. Check it out-if you haven't .

By: Grulg

Grulg — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:18:13 +0000

By: LM

LM — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:57:34 +0000

Gosh, I love this man.
Was likely the youngest person at his concert in Toronto who wasn't 'brought' to it by someone.

Love him

By: matt

matt — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:52:43 +0000

Your server must not be dial-up friendly. Thanks anyways.

By: JonCummings

JonCummings — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:43:40 +0000

For me, and for very personal reasons, the key moment in Mellencamp's career was the period following the release of The Lonesome Jubilee. On the album he veered toward bluegrass and “old-timey” music; on the tour that followed it, and then a couple of side projects, he dove in head-first. With a big assist from Lisa Germano, his shows during that tour featured full-on bluegrass breakdowns; then, his recordings for the Folkways: A Vision Shared anthology (Woody Guthrie's “Do Re Mi”) and for A Very Special Christmas (”I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”) were pure bluegrass, and fantastic.

During this period (late 1987-late 1988) I briefly moved back to my hometown in southwestern Virginia from college in Chicago, not looking forward to returning to the backwards South I had fled four years before. But during the few months I lived back home, then after I moved up to Northern Virginia, I heard and loved Mellencamp's bluegrass-oriented tracks. My curiosity thus piqued, I opened myself up to all the Southern mountain culture I had ignored through my childhood–acoustic blues, early Bristol Sessions-era country, Sacred Harp gospel, etc.

Those styles have become a big part of my musical universe, and led me to in-depth study of the music and other folklore of my part of the South. So I have a lot to thank Mr. Mellencamp for–even if, a year later, I was profoundly disappointed that the fiddles, banjos and dobro had disappeared on his hugely depressing Big Daddy album…

By: mojo

mojo — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:50:00 +0000

just checked, fine from here…

By: Johnny Bacardi

Johnny Bacardi — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:42:39 +0000

“Key West Intermezzo” is one of the best fucking songs I've ever heard in my life, and you're right, that album isn't half bad. Much of The Lonesome Jubilee is just amazing, especially “Check it Out”.

By: matt

matt — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:22:53 +0000

anyone else having trouble with the mp3's?

By: bobby

bobby — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:08:02 +0000

he blows

By: EightE1

EightE1 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:19:18 +0000

Mr. Happy Go Lucky is a very good record. He had a shit-hot live band at the time. Couldn't tell you who was in it, but I distinctly recall seeing them on TV (maybe it was a Farm Aid thing) and thinking how good they were, and how good he sounded. He's one of the best.

Rob
EightE1