Pages tagged “john mellencamp”

For the first time, a Farm Aid concert will be taking place in New England. John Mellencamp will be bringing the annual big-ticket fundraiser to the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass. on Sept. 20 this year. Says the man formerly known as Couger: “New England was built on the strength of independent family farmers. We can honor that independent spirit by joining Farm Aid to grow the movement that is changing the way all of America eats.”

Rock icon gets candid and melancholic on latest

John Mellencamp’s blue-collar rock 'n' roll takes a somber turn on Life Death Love and Freedom, his first album since 2007’s Freedom Road. What a difference one year can make. Tackling some of the same subjects that fueled Freedom Road’s rousing sound, the fifty-six-year-old Mellencamp now pitches his tent closer to home, writing inward-looking songs that reflect his country’s troubles. “It seems like once upon a time ago,” he sings on the opening track, “I was where I was supposed to be.” The album proceeds accordingly, with Mellencamp singing quiet, rusty-throated declarations like “I know many, many people, but I ain’t got no friends” and “All I got left is a head full of memories and a thought of my upcoming death.”