John Mellencamp

On the opening track of his 20th album, John Mellencamp woefully muses, "Sometimes you get sick / And you don't get better." And it's that kind of festive attitude that permeates the haunted Life Death..., an album that could be considered the Hoosier troubadour's Ghost of Tom Joad. The tracks vary from mournful acoustic numbers to muted folk-rock, both specialties of the record's producer, T-Bone Burnett. Thematically, Mellencamp keeps it on the dark end of the street, dealing with mortality and racism (such as on the Jena 6 ode "Jena").

Earlier this year, John McCain used John Mellencamp's hits "Our Country" and "Pink Houses"
during stump speeches, until the Democratic singer asked him to stop. It's unlikely that the
Republican candidate would find anything useful for his campaign on Life, Death, Love and
Freedom. Mellencamp teamed up with producer T Bone Burnett to create a whole new
sound — a set of textured, atmospheric folk and country blues that adds up to o... More >