Including John Mellencamp in the same company as Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and even Bruce Springsteen would have seemed preposterous at one point. How could the once-christened Johnny Cougar, MTV staple and Midwestern pin-up boy, ever match the intellectual wit and cultural significance of the above-mentioned bards?
Turns out he’s come a long way since “Jack and Diane” and “I Need a Lover.” Essentially dismissing his early career as a tool for record labels and managers to make money, Mellencamp went to great lengths to explain the mistakes he made early on when he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. He went even further this year by declaring to Rolling Stone magazine, “I’m done being a rock star.”
Mellencamp’s maturation is on clear display on his latest album, Trouble No More. He may not have the vocabulary of Dylan or the rabid fan base of Springsteen, but what he lacks in those areas he makes up for in authenticity.
Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the genius behind O Brother, Where Art Thou? and numerous other Americana masterpieces of the past decade, Trouble No More sounds unlike anything Mellencamp has ever released. Shedding his chart-seeking aspirations once and for all, Trouble No More features songs recorded at the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and the same hotel room in San Antonio, Texas, where blues legend Robert Johnson laid down some of most essential tracks in the Delta blues lexicon.
Mellencamp recorded Trouble No More last year while on tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. It’s About You, a documentary film capturing the making of the album, gives great insight to Mellencamp’s aural tour of 20th and 21st Century America.
Essentially Mellencamp’s opening act on his tour to promote Trouble No More, It’s About You was directed by American West photographer Kurt Markus. Switching geography from the West to the South, Markus takes fans on a fascinating tour of southern landmarks where the album was recorded.
Opening in Savannah, Georgia, Markus and Mellencamp shift the viewer back to Civil War times at the First African Baptist Church. Close-up shots of holes in the floors seemed unimportant until it was explained the holes provided ventilation for runaway slaves hiding underneath the church. Later Mellencamp is shown being baptized in the church.
Moving westward to Memphis, Tennessee, Mellencamp and Burnett are shown recording several tracks at legendary Sun Studios. After his sessions at Sun Studios, Mellencamp said it gave him chills to record where Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash cut so many of their classic records. Many of the tracks Mellencamp recorded for the album even have a clear Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two feel to them – particularly “Coming Down The Road.”
Mellencamp seemed absolutely giddy while recording “Right Behind Me” at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio – a song sounding something like a mix between Robert Johnson and Tom Waits. Like many of Johnson’s songs, the tune is an admonition of the Devil.
As for other messages in his new songs, Mellencamp seems to be reminding the audience never to forget who they are, where they came from, and where they want to go.
Recalling Springsteen’s “My Hometown,” Mellencamp’s “The West End” is a lament on urban decay and suburban flight. Mellencamp introduced the song in concert by saying it was about “what happens to a race of people when they become too greedy.” It’s About You offered a glimpse into the inspiration behind the song when Mellencamp was shown walking through downtown Memphis and noticed how deserted the buildings had become. He later explained the song wasn’t about any one particular city in America, but American cities as a whole.
“No One Cares About Me” is a lament on unemployment and includes the line “there’s no work for me now / I’m in the unemployment line.” Though the song sounds like it could have been recorded by Woody Guthrie in the 1940s, lyrically it’s just as relevant today as it would have been in Guthrie’s time.
Not all of the songs are gloom and doom – “Save Some Time To Dream,” the album’s opener, offers hope. Mellencamp explained the song was about taking a break from work for fun. Of the line “Your dream may save us all,” Mellencamp said, “Yeah – that’s true. I’ve had some pretty dumb ideas that turned out great.”
Mellencamp’s new direction has even effected his stage presentation and how he performs his older material. While on tour to promote his greatest hits set Words and Music in 2005, Mellencamp appeared on a very minimalist stage typical of most amphitheater shows. For his current tour of small theaters, Mellencamp is enveloped by a vaudeville setting very fitting for his newer material. As for the hits – “Authority Song” sounds much more like an Eddie Cochran send-up than an ‘80s anthem and “Jack and Diane” is given an Appalachian waltz arrangement.
Whether or not Mellencamp’s long-time fans will accept the artist’s new direction remains to be seen. If they choose to stay behind, however, it is clearly their loss.
