Mellencamp Honors Springsteen

The centerpiece of the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. was the musical tribute to honoree Bruce Springsteen, which began with John Mellencamp’s slowed-down version of Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”

“We did it as a folk-blues song the first half,” says Andy York, who played electric guitar with the house band. “John played acoustic, and halfway though he did a verse and chorus a cappella–and then counted it off and we finished it the Bruce way with the big hooks. So it ended with the full band playing with [John’s former drummer] Kenny Aronoff in the house band on drums.”

Mellencamp had prefaced his performance with a heartfelt recollection of his first exposure to Springsteen’s music.

Recalling how he heard a new artist’s music being played in a store, Springsteen’s future fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer went up to the clerk and asked who the artist was. After being told it was Bruce Springsteen—and that the album was the store’s only copy of “The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle”—John asked if he could buy it.

It was the best $3.99 he ever spent, he said, then dedicated his version of “Born in the U.S.A.” to the soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mellencamp was followed by Jennifer Nettles, Melissa Etheridge and Sting. Springsteen’s fellow honorees were Robert De Niro, Mel Brooks, jazz legend Dave Brubeck and opera star Grace Bumbry.

The annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala, which recognizes artists for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts, is the highlight of the Washington cultural year. Sunday’s event was recorded for broadcast on CBS on American television.

Dylan, Mellencamp and Nelson Tour Together

Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson are teaming up for the 2009 Ballpark Tour in the US. The jaunt kicks off July 2nd in Illinois, with the trio playing minor league baseball stadiums across the country until August 15th. The tour  is a family oriented event with free admission for children 14 and younger.

News of the trek first spread when Joan Baez let the word slip after playing “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right” during a concert in Bloomington, Indiana. With John Mellencamp in the crowd, Baez said “Mellencamp? Are you really going to go on tour with that guy [Dylan]? Seriously, come talk to me after the show.” Mellencamp’s Website later promised a tour of minor league baseball stadiums with two major artists in tow. Check below for the current run of 2009 Ballpark Tour dates.

Bob Dylan/John Mellencamp/Willie Nelson

July 2 – Sauget, IL @ GCS Ballpark
July 4 – South Bend, IN @ Coveleski Stadium
July 8 – Louisville, KY @ Louisville Slugger Field
July 10 – Dayton, OH @ Fifth Third Field
July 11 – Eastlake, OH @ Classic Park
July 13 – Washington, PA @ Consol Energy Park
July 14 – Allentown, PA @ Coca-Cola Park
July 15 – New Britain, CT @ New Britain Stadium
July 19 – Syracuse, NY @ Alliance Bank Stadium
July 21 – Pawtucket, RI @ McCoy Stadium
July 23 – Lakewood, NJ @ FirstEnergy Park
July 24 – Aberdeen, MD @ Ripken Stadium
July 25 – Norfolk, VA @ Harbor Park
July 28 – Durham, NC @ Durham Bulls Athletic Park
July 29 – Sevierville, TN @ Smokies Park
August 4 – Round Rock, TX @ The Dell Diamond
August 5 – Corpus Christi, TX @ Whataburger Field
August 7 – Grand Prairie, TX @ QuikTrip Park
August 11 – Glendale, AZ @ Camelback Ranch
August 12 – Las Vegas, NV @ Cashman Field
August 14 – Fresno, CA @ Chukchansi Park
August 15 – Stockton, CA @ Banner Island Ballpark

620 W. Surf – Michael McDermott

620 W. Surf was the 1991 debut album from Chicago based Irish-American singer songwriter Michael McDermott and it quickly attracted comparisons with Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp.

It was an ambitious and sprawling album that showed that Mc Dermott had the potential to match those artists he was being compared to.

The albums centrepiece is the rambling Your Silence I Will Always Admire For Its Being, which clocks in at almost 10 minutes. It’s a great song but one that probably needed to be on a third album – songs like this are a big challenge for a new audience!

The thing that Mc Dermott had most in common with Springsteen on debut was the sheer torrent of words he provides on his debut album. Like Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park NJ, it was like Mc Dermott had been stockpiling these words for years of playing Chicago coffee houses and he was going to get as many of them out on this debut album as he could – just in case he never got the chance to do it again.

Mostly they were an interesting bunch of words, arranged into appropriate groups and in a good order – these ones made for things called “songs”. Every now and then they just sound like a bunch of words that come together more for effect than meaning.

But most of the time the songs work well – signalling Mc Dermott as a talent to be reckoned with.

Mc Dermott certainly had a lot of his Catholic upbringing informing some of these songs – the religious references are frequent and powerful and the album shows a young artist prematurely dealing with the issues of redemption and guilt.

He’s got an extremely appealing voice – a little ‘country’ in parts but  always easy to listen to. In 1991 McDermott sounded as young as he was – but he came across as an older restless soul residing in a young life.

Life caught up with McDermott pretty quickly – the standard rock demons of drink and drugs became McDermott’s poison and although he continued to record and release albums such as Gethsemane and a self titled effort he was never destined to reach the heights of his contemporaries.

McDermott did reach rock bottom a few years ago with a cocaine arrest and subsequent night in prison but he has rebounded well in the last few years and is recording and performing regularly again.

There was a few hit single opportunities on this album – most notably A Wall I Must Climb (which was a bit of a hit), the Mellencamp–like Shadow Of The Capitol and  Murder In the First Degree, which were catchy up tempo rock songs that should have found a place on radio back then.

The album was produced by Don Gehman (Mellencamp, REM) and benefited from a crack rhythm section of Denny Fongheiser (drums) and John K (Jack) Pierce (bass) who lift even the most wordy songs into a nice groove.

I’m glad Michael McDermott is still playing and still has a sizeable fan base . Although he never reached the heights that this album suggested he might he was much too good to disappear completely.

All Star Pete Seeger Celebration

There’s some shows that could only happen in New York. One such show is the upcoming one-off concert celebrating legendary folksinger Pete Seeger’s 90th Birthday on May 3rd at Madison Square Garden.

The concert will feature performances from over 40 artists spanning musical
genres and generations, including John Mellencamp, Joan Baez, Ben Harper, Ani DiFranco, Dave Matthews, Michael Franti, Emmylou Harris, Juanes, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Taj Mahal, Eddie Vedder, and Keller Williams.

Called The Clearwater Concert: Creating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders, the event will benefit and raise awareness for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a Seeger-founded environmental organization with the mission to preserve and protect the Hudson River through inspiration, education, and action.

Nearing 90, Pete Seeger remains the foremost voice in American folk music and political activism. A contemporary of  Woody Guthrie, he was a member of the controversial 1940s folk group The Weavers, of “Goodnight Irene” fame and other classics including “On Top of Old Smokey” and “Wimoweh.” His continuing solo career has been marked by such famous songs as “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” and “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season).

Concert Review – John Mellencamp & Sheryl Crow

In what turned out to be the only Melbourne show on this tour (with the Rochford Winery show cancelled due to the inclement November weather) John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow proved conclusively that the passage of time has treated their respective catalogues well.
The Melbourne weather prevented me getting to Rod Laver in time to catch Shane Nicholson, but by all reports (including Sheryl Crow’s) he was impressive.

Sheryl Crow made is clear that her status as a “support act” wasn’t going to mean we get the stripped back version of her touring band. Crow was joined on the diamond shaped stage by a band of six plus two backing singers in a line-up that actually out-numbered the headliner.

Now here’s the thing about Sheryl Crow. I thought she made a promising start with the impossibly catchy All I Wanna Do (albeit in a Rickie Lee Jones-lite kinda way). From there I felt she just kinda blended into the mainstream with the occasional hit that kept her in a record deal. I certainly didn’t perceive her as an important artist; more a respectable purveyor of decent pop confectionery.

I think I slightly under-rated her.

I’m happy to move her up a few rungs on my personal pecking order, on the basis of sheer weight of good songs with a few bonus points for her own quality taste in music.

There wasn’t too many slow moments in her set – Songs like My Favourite Mistake, Every Day Is A Winding Road, Soak Up The Sun and If It Makes You Happy (which admittedly did plod a bit) are very solid fan favourites but the highlights included the lesser known Out Of Our Heads (a terrific anthemic pop/disco/calypso song), a very good version of Crowded House’s Mean To Me and a solid version of First Cut Is The Deepest supplemented her own hits very well, with the countrified Strong Enough being another popular song.

That’s plenty of good songs to fill 45 minutes. Crow is a good singer without being a mind blowing vocalist, her band is professional and impressive without being jaw dropping. All in all she more than help up her part of the bargain struck with the audience willing to pay for an international support act.

John Mellencamp has come to terms with his place in the rock panthenon. He’s probably be on a par with Tom Petty, a couple of rungs below Bruce Springsteen when the rankings of the American heartland rockers are set in stone.
He offers plenty as a live performer. He’s not afraid to give the audience the hits they want – Paper and Fire, Pink Houses, Small Town, Jack and Diane and even a brief acoustic reprise of I Need A Lover all get an airing and the naturally get the expected response. Even the indisputably cheesy R.O.C.K In The USA is excusable placed where it was towards the end of the set.

But it is the balance of the set that actually lifts Mellencamp into rarefied territory as an important voice. There are two sections of the show that particularly worked for me. His solo acoustic brace of songs starting with Minutes To Memories and leading through the new Longest Day and Big Daddy underlines his credentials as a storyteller and emotionally poignant lyricist not afraid to question his own morality.

Later a powerful run of songs starting with the incomparable Scarecrow and grinding through the Troubled Land (also from the new album), another new song If I Die Sudden and Love and Happiness became the cornerstone of the concert for me. If I Die Sudden was a revelation. Somewhat maudlin on the new album Love Death Love Freedom, this song electrified in concert becomes a stomping tour de force.

Mellencamp does seem pre-occupied with issues of mortality and taking stock at this stage of his 59th year. He tells a story about the grandma who died aged 100 and one about his best mate who also died. He references one song by saying he wrote it when his wife was 13 years old and for the encore he is joined on stage by his own 13 year old son playing guitar. The theme is clearly generational and he handles it with a healthy degree of cheerful resignation.

Mellencamp may have mellowed a little across the journey and although he still has strong political and social positioning he delivers it in the clear context of him accepting his role as an entertainer. He draws from a very deep catalogue of great songs in a very smart way and provides a well balanced set that amply displays why he is legitimately a high level, enduring rock artist.