August 4th, 2010 -
Mellencamp.com will be offering advance pre-sale tickets for readers of the website. Our presale will begin Friday, August 6th at 10 AM CT. On Friday morning we will add a link to the tour table that will take you to a private ticket selling page for you to purchase your pre-sale tickets. Refresh the page just before the pre-sale starts for the link. We have a limited number of tickets available and quantities may run out - first come, first served. Presale ends on Wednesday, August 11th.Click HERE to view the seating chart with sections and prices. We will have a very small number of $150 gold circle tickets (plus applicable fees) in section A4. Our other allotted seats are field/floor level sections B3, B5, B6, C6 and fixed stadium seat section 107. All of those tickets will be $97.50 plus any applicable ticket fees. Several hundred tickets are available in our pre-sale.
Please email help@mellencamp.com with any questions/problems.
Read More »
August 2nd, 2010 -
MILWAUKEE—Farm Aid took to the field today to reveal details about its 25th anniversary benefit concert, scheduled for Oct. 2 at Miller Park in Milwaukee.
Farm Aid founders Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp joined executive director Carolyn Mugar by webcast at an on-field news conference at the home of the Milwaukee Brewers to reveal details about the all-day music festival that will mark their 25th year.
“For 25 years, Farm Aid has worked to keep family farmers on the land,” said Nelson. “This anniversary concert is a chance for everyone to join with Farm Aid to support the family farmers who are growing hope for America, through the good food they produce, the economies they build, and their care for the soil and water. Family farmers are the backbone of our country, and right now we need them more than ever.”
Mellencamp shared why Milwaukee is a perfect place to celebrate Farm Aid’s silver anniversary.
“Midwest farmers share the same struggle as family farmers across the country. They are survivors, and they’re on the land creating solutions for America’s most pressing issues,” said John Mellencamp from his home-state of Indiana. “Since 1985, Farm Aid has been a way for everyone in this country to step up and be part of the solution, because nobody is going to solve these problems on their own. It’s going to take all of us working together.”
Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America will feature Nelson, Mellencamp, and fellow Farm Aid board members Neil Young and Dave Matthews, with other top artists to be announced. The show will be broadcast live on DirecTV.
The all-day festival will be a celebration of music, family farmers and good food and will again feature HOMEGROWN concessions—family-farm identified, local and organic foods. Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Village will showcase hands-on activities that give concertgoers a chance to meet farmers, get their hands dirty, and learn how family farmers are protecting our land and water and connecting us to our roots.
“Today's headlines are dominated by the immense challenges we face right now as a result of unbridled corporate control, from our economy to the destruction of the environment and our health. None of these problems will be solved without family farmers,” said Farm Aid executive director Carolyn Mugar. “For twenty-five years Farm Aid has helped family farmers stay on the land so that they can be our country’s resource to address these crises.”
Set to take place at Miller Park, Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America will be the first Farm Aid concert to be held at a Major League Baseball stadium.
“We’re excited to be hosting Farm Aid in this special anniversary year,” said Rick Schlesinger, the Milwaukee Brewers’ executive vice president of business operations. “With Wisconsin’s prominence in the agriculture and farming industries, plus Milwaukee’s storied history in hosting music festivals, we believe there is no better place for this concert to be staged.”
Also appearing at the news conference were John Kinsman, president, Family Farm Defenders and Wisconsin dairy farmer; and Will Allen, founder and CEO, Growing Power, Inc.
Tickets for Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America will go on sale Saturday, August 14, at 9 a.m. CDT and are available at the Brewers box office, by phone at (414) 902-4000 or online at www.tickets.com. Ticket prices range from $39.50 to $97.50, including facility fee.
Farm Aid will offer special advance sale tickets to Farm Aid members beginning Friday, August 6. To become a Farm Aid member, visit www.farmaid.org.
Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews host an annual concert to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $37 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms. Read More »
July 30th, 2010 -
On Monday, August 2, at 11 a.m. CDT Farm Aid co-founders Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp will reveal details about the organization’s 25th anniversary celebration during a live webcast at www.farmaid.org/25 . This week, Nelson announced that the organization will mark its 25th anniversary with a concert event, “Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America,” in Milwaukee on October 2—the first time the concert will be staged in Wisconsin. WHAT: Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America Live Webcast
WHO: Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, co-founders, Farm Aid, Carolyn Mugar, executive director, Farm Aid
WHEN: Monday, August 2, 201011:00 a.m. CDT
WHERE: www.farmaid.org/25
Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews host an annual concert to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family-farmed food. Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised more than $37 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms. Visit www.farmaid.org/25 and follow Farm Aid at www.twitter.com/farmaid for anniversary updates.
Read More »
July 29th, 2010 -
John's new album, No Better Than This - releasing on August 17th, is now available for pre-order through the Mellencamp.com store. In addition, we are offering individual No Better Than This t-shirts along with bundles that include the CD and a No Better Than This - themed men's or women's t-shirt. Head over to the Mellencamp.com store today to check out the pre-order and bundles!
Read More »
July 29th, 2010 -
The title track from John's forthcoming (in stores Aug. 17) album No Better Than This is the first single from the album. The song has been sent to multiple radio formats, including AAA, Americana and Non-Commercial, and is currently in rotation on AOL.com's Adult Rock channel. Find local stations in these formats by clicking HERE.
LISTEN TO "NO BETTER THAN THIS"
The track has been released for digital purchase/download to all major services including: iTunes, Amazon.com, Rhapsody!A video for the song, using footage from filmmaker Kurt Markus' It's About You documentary that chronicles the making of the album, is expected in a few weeks.
Click HERE to read more about No Better Than This
The cover of No Better Than This is below; the photograph is by Elaine Mellencamp and places Hud Mellencamp, John and Elaine's eldest son, in an enviable position. It's his second album cover appearance; a photo of a much younger Hud, also by Elaine, was used on the cover of 2003's Trouble No More.
Click HERE for a larger version of the cover.
Here are the lyrics for the track "No Better Than This":
"No Better Than This"
Written by John Mellencamp
Give me twenty-five dollars
And drive me around downtown
Solve all my problems
Don’t let me lose what I’ve found
Give me good lovin’
And seal it with a kiss
Then drop me off where the music’s loud
But it won’t get no better than this
Take me to a party
Where I’m the only man
With fifty women waitin’ on me
Who say they understand
Feed me milk and honey
Give me a story that I’ll never miss
Let me get one good night’s sleep
But it won’t get no better than this
Give me clear vision
And don’t let me miss anything
I’ll take the bird that whistles
And the world on a string
Fill my fist full of money
In these troubled times
And let me share the water
With all, all of mankind
Give me back my youth
And don’t let me waste it this time
Stand me up at the golden gates
At the front of the line
Let me lie in the sunshine
Covered in the morning mist
Then show me something I ain’t never seen
But it won’t get no better than this
Read More »
July 28th, 2010 -
John's new album, No Better Than This, was produced, as was the 2008's Life Death Love and Freedom, by noted producer T Bone Burnett. T Bone has produced dozens of critically acclaimed albums including Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand, Elvis Costello's "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" as well as recent offerings from B.B. King, Willie Nelson and Jakob Dylan. He won four Grammy's for his work on the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou? which received the prestigious album of the year award. This year he received an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category for "The Weary Kind," written for the film Crazy Heart. His liner notes for No Better Than This would seem to stand on their own as poetry while serving to convey his thoughts about the unique circumstance of the album's recording:"In the basement of the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, there are about half inch holes drilled in the floor in the shape of diamonds. In the 1800’s, they were thought to have significance as African tribal symbols, but in fact, they were air holes for travelers on the Underground Railroad hiding in the sub-basement. Across Montgomery Street, in Franklin Square, there is a Whipping Tree. Spanish moss grows in every tree in Savannah, except that tree. The church is filled with history. The vibe in the church is profound. This was the place John Mellencamp chose to begin recording his twenty fifth record. During the sessions, John and Elaine Mellencamp got Baptized underneath the altar where we were recording.
We next met up in Memphis at 706 Union Avenue, the site where the great record maker and civil rights pioneer, Sam Phillips, recorded Howlin Wolf and Elvis Presley. Mr. Phillips had put black x’s on the linoleum floor where each of the musicians was placed for the historic sessions with Mr. Presley. We set up on those x’s and put a ribbon mic between them. As soon as the band hit the first note, the room came alive. John was standing about five feet from the microphone. The room is the perfect size to record a four-piece band. The room compresses the sound in a distinctive and exciting way. The band blended itself - there was no need to mix it.
We ended up in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio where Robert Johnson first recorded. He recorded "Terraplane Blues" and "Dust My Broom" in that room. We set up as Don Law did - the recording equipment in one room and the microphone next door. We had heard that Mr. Johnson had sung into the corner, so John did the same. He sang into that corner like there was a hellhound on his trail. I have to say, that is one killer sounding corner.
All those ghosts. All those spirits. This is a haunted record." - T Bone Burnett, Summer 2010
Read More »
July 27th, 2010 -
Click HERE for full sized cover
While On The Rural Route 7609 offers a wealth of well-known material, a significant number of the tracks included are less familiar but equally compelling, especially in terms of providing an in-depth picture of Mellencamp's spectrum of creativity. The concept behind the four “albums” of the collection is to give long-term Mellencamp fans and newer listeners alike, a more complete and insightful view of the artist's role as a writer and artist whose catalog of songs and recordings resound with substance and nuance.
The songs selected reflect the artist’s pop idol origins through his ascent to the ranks of America’s most respected and socially active writers and performers. On The Rural Route 7609 offers 17 tracks previously unreleased on any John Mellencamp CD including guest readings of Mellencamp’s lyrics by Academy Award® winning actress Joanne Woodward and best selling author/educator Dr. Cornel West. The discs are packaged within a 72-page book that includes an exhaustive essay and comprehensive track-by-track annotation by award-winning writer Anthony DeCurtis. His marathon interviews with Mellencamp were conducted in Bloomington, IN where DeCurtis, coincidentally, earned his PhD in American literature at Indiana University. Mellencamp tells the story behind each of the songs included in the set and there's a scholarly introductory essay by DeCurtis as well. The package, a truly lavish assemblage, includes rare and evocative photos printed on heavy stock that make On The Rural Route 7609 a distinctive set of albums, in the sense that albums -- as originally conceived in earlier times -- are cohesive collections of music.
On The Rural Route 7609 Amazon.com YouTube Preview
While such Mellencamp hits including “Rain On The Scarecrow,” “Jack and Diane,” “Jackie Brown,” “Pink Houses,” “Your Life Is Now,” “Our Country” are presented, less familiar songs as well as demos for “Cherry Bomb,” “Authority Song” and other recordings serve to chronicle the maturation of Mellencamp as both an artist and songwriter over the years. As quoted by DeCurtis in the 4500 word introductory essay included in the package, he explains, “We tried to make it like a process of discovery, that perhaps somebody could listen to this set and discover these songs.” Material from early works through his most recently released album, Life Death Love and Freedom which Time Magazine called his "best in a decade" and Rolling Stone ranked #5 in its listing of 50 best albums of the year, gives the listener an opportunity to consider more than 30 years of Mellencamp's output in a musically coherent manner.
The title of the package is reflective of Mellencamp’s continuing role as a troubadour who conveys the hopes, heartbreak and realities of the heartland – that part of the country that politicians are wont to call “the real America,” a divisive jab that is at odds with Mellencamp’s true themes. Per DeCurtis, “..the set takes its title from a scarifying murder ballad on Freedom’s Road, ‘Rural Route.’"
Mellencamp explained to DeCurtis “I started making records in ’76, and the most recent track on the collection was done in ‘09. So Rural Route 7609; it’s like an address. I thought it sounded cool.”
Adds DeCurtis, “It does. But, more important, for anyone interested in finding the real John Mellencamp, this is where he’s been, and where he lives.” On The Rural Route 7609 is a musical journey that sheds new light on an American musician who, as both a songwriter and social activist, has never rested on his laurels or past accomplishments.
On The Rural Route 7609 Tracklisting:
| Disc 1 1. Longest Days 2. Grandma’s Theme 3. Rural Route 4. Jackie Brown 5. Rain On The Scarecrow 6. * Jim Crow with Cornell West 7. Jim Crow 8. Big Daddy Of Them All 9. Deep Blue Heart 10. Forgiveness 11. Don’t Need This Body 12. * Jenny At 16 13. * Jack And Diane (writing demo) 14. Jack And Diane |
Disc 2 1. * The Real Life with Joanne Woodward 2. Ghost Towns Along The Highway 3. The Full Catastrophe 4. * Authority Song (writing demo) 5. Troubled Land 6. To Washington 7. * Our Country (alternate version) 8. Country Gentlemen 9. Freedom’s Road 10. * Mr. Bellows (remix) 11. Rodeo Clown 12. Love And Happiness 13. Pink Houses |
| Disc 3 1. If I Die Sudden (live) 2. Someday 3. Between A Laugh And A Tear 4. * Void In My Heart (acoustic version recorded at Chess Studios) 5. Death Letter 6. * Sugar Marie (acoustic) 7. Theo And Weird Henry 8. When Jesus Left Birmingham 9. * L.U.V. (remix) 10. Thank You 11. Women Seem 12. * The World Don’t Bother Me None 13. * Cherry Bomb (writing demo) 14. * Someday The Rains Will Fall 15. A Ride Back Home |
Disc 4 1. My Aeroplane 2. * Colored Lights 3. Just Like You 4. Young Without Lovers 5. * To M.G. (Wherever She May Be) (acoustic) 6. Sweet Evening Breeze 7. What If I Came Knocking 8. County Fair 9. * Peaceful World (writing demo) 10. Your Life Is Now 11. For The Children 12. * Rural Route (acoustic) |
Preview the On The Rural Route 7609 Book
While viewing, use the tool on the top left to forward it to your friends to check out or post it on your Facebook/Twitter pages to help spread the word about John and his music! Learn more about how to spread the word about the box set.
Listen to On The Rural Route 7609 Online:
Order On The Rural Route 7609 Online:
Amazon.com On-line Store
Mellencamp.com Store
Amazon.com MP3+Digital Booklet Download
iTunes Download (includes digital version of the book)
Special Mellencamp.com Store Promotion: The Official Mellencamp Store is offering a 25% discount on all Mellencamp concert merchandise purchased with the set! Use our special code in the shopping cart (Promo Code: RuralBoxSet) at checkout to get the concert merch discount. Note that third party items listed in the store but sold on other sites (i.e. books & CD's) do not qualify for the discount.
Click HERE for full sized image.
Read More »
July 26th, 2010 -
John Mellencamp is again joining Bob Dylan and his Band at select stops of Bob Dylan's 2010 Summer Tour visiting the western USA.
08.11.10 Billings MT - Dehler Park
08.12.10 Casper WY - Mike Lansing Field
08.18.10 Las Vegas NV - Caesars Palace
08.19.10 Ontario CA - Citizens Business Bank Arena
08.27.10 Bend OR - Les Schwab Amphitheatre
08.28.10 Troutdale OR - Edgefield
08.29.10 Troutdale OR - Edgefield
08.31.10 Missoula MT - Ogren Park @ Allegiance Field
09.01.10 Post Falls ID - Greyhound Park
09.03.10 Yakima WA - Yakima County Stadium
Read More »
July 25th, 2010 -
Click "Read More" to read Will Hermes' of Rolling Stone Magazine full review of John's new album No Better Than This. Here are some excerpts:"No Better shows Mellencamp channeling spirits and stepping into period styles. They fit him perfectly..."
"Mellencamp’s songs show a writer still on a hot streak after 2008’s Burnett-produced Life, Death, Love and Freedom, arguably the singer- songwriter’s best LP since his Eighties heyday. He shoots for timeless here..."
"these songs could have all been written 50 years ago or more..."
"Let’s party like it’s 1929..."
"Mellencamp has never sounded looser or easier on a record..."
"musical storytelling for hard times: far-fetched, violent, sexy, played for laughs. It doesn’t get more timeless, or American, than that..." Read More »
July 25th, 2010 -
The title track from John's forthcoming (in stores Aug. 17) album No Better Than This
is the first single from the album. The song along with the entire CD has been sent to multiple radio formats, including AAA, Americana and Non-Commercial.
Be listening for it! To find your local station in these formats please click HERE and search for your local area. Click "Read More" for a list of stations that should be playing the single or album. They definitely have it. So if one of these is in your area please focus on them. Click HERE for the complete list of phone numbers, emails and request contact information. Read More »
July 25th, 2010 -
Here is an excerpt from Tampa Bay's Pop LIfe No Better Than This review by Sean Daly: "But for all the talk of ghosts, this is one of Mellencamp’s liveliest records..."
"consistently inspired - most of the songs catch and cook, especially the title track. If you want to weep, try out the wistfully weathered "Thinking About You..."
Click "Read More" for the full review Read More »
July 25th, 2010 -
Here is an excerpt from Pennsylvania's Daily Local Newspaper No Better Than This review by Sean Hickey:
"John Mellencamp went back to the basics to record his new album. Really back to the basics..."
"The record is a testimony to old-time values and craftsmanship, and good, old-fashioned talent..."
Click "Read More" to read the full article. Read More »
July 25th, 2010 -
Rounder Records - September 2010 Issue 202By Bob Mehr
Veteran rocker hits the road for stellar album of "routes" music.
Known for his pop hits and mile-wide acerbic streak, John Mellencamp's late career has seen a serious artistic renaissance, as evidenced on 2008's collaboration with T Bone Burnett, Life Death, Love and Freedom. Reuniting with Burnett, Mellencamp's latest is a concept piece recorded in a series of historic locations: Sun Studios in Memphis, the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio (where Robert Johnson cut his 1936 Columbia sides) and the landmark First African Baptist Church in Savannah, a former haven for runaway slaves. Which might sound like a stunt but results in a deeply felt and surprisingly enjoyable explorations of American vernacular music, a set of originals essaying everything from Appalachian mountain folk to boom-chicka country to jumping rockability. Burnett's unobtrusive old school production - the album was recorded and mixed entirely in mono - adds to the authentic ambience. Read More »
July 25th, 2010 -
Click HERE to read No Depression Blogger Adam Sheets's full review of John's new album No Better Than This. Here are some excerpts:" this one, which will be released on August 17th, by it's cover, because I'm guessing it looks as much like a country album from the '50s and early '60s to you as it does to me..."
"I knew he liked country music and often included elements of it in his work, but I never really expected it to go this far. But, trust me, it is a very pleasant surprise..."
" Mellencamp and producer T-Bone Burnett obviously belong together..."
"Both are men born a generation or two late: both would rather be in Clarksdale, Mississippi in the 1930s or Nashville in the 1940s than a modern corporate-run world where oil is gushing out of the ocean, the Supreme Court overrules the people's choice for President, and we are fighting a war against a country who didn't attack us. I'm not saying that not be political, but because it's the truth..."
"The locations where these two men chose to record and the equipment they used speak to that longing for a better time as well as the dual nature of American folk music..."
"he has been on a hot streak ever since Trouble No More, his 2003 album of classic folk, country, and blues covers and this may be his best yet. I haven't made up my mind whether it is as great as Life, Death, Love and Freedom, but I do think that most people, particularly roots music fans, would enjoy it more. Which is not to say you wouldn't love both. The fact is that they are the two best albums of Mellencamp's career and as he states on the title track to this one "It don't get no better than this"..."
Click "Read More" for the full article Read More »
July 25th, 2010 -
For the past ten years, Mark T. Gould has been the music columnist for Sound Waves, an entertainment monthly that covers Southern New England. He devoted his August column to John and the passion that is at the root of his creative endeavor. We asked Mark, who has a "day job" as a Superior Court judge in Connecticut, to describe himself so you'd have some insight into the source of his brilliant think piece. His response: "I'm just a fan who believes in this country as much as John does. He restores my faith in humanity." Here are some excerpts: "It is, to my ears, heart and conscience, more those somewhat less noticeable, but yet so vital songs, than the hits that have defined the career, and, of course, the passion of John Mellencamp. And, nowhere is that particular truth more evident, and those songs, those unique, united and meticulous contributions to our American way, more apparent then in his recently released box set, “On The Rural Route 7609,” and his upcoming new studio release, the ambitious “No Better Than This...”
"Sure, it would have been easy for him to just to repackage the hits, drop an unreleased track here and there, and sell, well, maybe another gazillion records. But, that’s not what John Mellencamp’s passion for his songs makes him do..."
"Yes, it’s Mellencamp’s passion that comes to the forefront of this project. From its name to its rustic packaging to its virtually total acoustic presentation, Mellencamp, yet again, thumbed his artistic nose at corporate convention, and went, for my money, for a much more difficult, yet ultimately rewarding, route..."
"And, if this box tour-de-force isn’t enough, we also have “No Better,” a collection of 13 brilliant new songs that, naturally, pits Mellencamp’s scaled down approach against contemporary, state of the art recording technology. Faced with and wholly rejecting a more modern approach, he, instead, bequeaths us a mono recording, produced by T-Bone Burnett, recorded on a 55-year-old tape machine over only two weeks, in the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, First African Baptist Church in Savannah and Room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, the last location where another Americana pioneer, Robert Johnson, once recorded..."
"In many ways, as both the box set and new release aptly reveal, John Mellencamp may well be this generation’s Woody Guthrie, singing and writing songs about responsibility, maturity and owning up to our place in society, in ways that other great writers and performers, for one reason or another, can only hope to do..."
"You may not always agree with what John Mellencamp has to say. At times, I certainly don’t, but he’s always had the guts, the nerve, and, yes, the passion, to get the debate going and get us off our collective asses to do something..."
Click "Read More" to read the complete article. Read More »
TO READ MORE NEWS USE THE ARCHIVE LINKS ON THE LEFT
© Mellencamp.com 2010. Powered by Signatures Network, Inc.
