Billboard Magazine Reviews Plain Spoken

Rugged, rural and packed with an aging rocker's gimmick-free reflections on life and hope Plain Spoken is the first album in Mellencamp's "lifetime contract" with Republic. The stark, soul- baring lead single, "Troubled Man" like the rest of the album, follows the acoustic path of Mellencamp's last two project's 2010's No Better Than This and 2008's Life, Death Love and Freedom.