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68-531: John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar , John Cougar , and John Cougar Mellencamp , is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock , which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, followed by an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018. Mellencamp found success in

136-1001: A 1960s rock sound while still remaining contemporary. "Our Country," the first single from Freedom's Road , was played as the opening song on Mellencamp's 2006 spring tour, and the band that opened for him on that tour, Little Big Town , was called on to record harmonies on the studio version of "Our Country", as well as seven other songs on Freedom's Road . Although Mellencamp had always been outspoken and adamant about not selling any of his songs to corporations for commercial use, he changed his stance and let Chevrolet use "Our Country" in Chevy Silverado TV commercials that began airing in late September 2006. He said, "I agonized. I still don't think we should have to do it, but record companies can't spend money to promote records anymore, unless you're U2 or Madonna . I'm taking heat because no one's ever done this before. People have licensed songs that have already been hits, but nobody's licensed

204-557: A brand-new song to a major company, and people don't know how to react". Mellencamp sang "Our Country" to open Game 2 of the 2006 World Series , and the song was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance category but lost to Bruce Springsteen 's "Radio Nowhere." Freedom's Road peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart by selling 56,000 copies in its first week on

272-489: A concert in Champaign, Illinois to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over the past 39 years, and as of 2024 the organization has raised nearly $ 80 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Mellencamp was born in the small town of Seymour, Indiana on October 7, 1951. He

340-590: A cover of Van Morrison 's " Wild Night " as a duet with Meshell Ndegeocello . "Wild Night" became Mellencamp's biggest hit in years, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 . The album also contained two protest songs in, "L.U.V." and "Another Sunny Day 12/25", in addition to the title track, which hit No. 41 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1994. With guitarist Andy York now on board as Larry Crane's full-time replacement, Mellencamp launched his Dance Naked Tour in

408-518: A duet of Bob Dylan 's " Like a Rolling Stone ," which Mellencamp performed as the penultimate song during each show on that tour. In 1989, Mellencamp released the personal album Big Daddy , with the key tracks "Jackie Brown", "Big Daddy of Them All", and "Void in My Heart" accompanying the Top 15 single "Pop Singer". The album, which Mellencamp called at the time the most "earthy" record he'd ever made,

476-542: A duet with Seger for the latter's Face the Promise album. Kid Rock's 2008 hit " All Summer Long " was inspired by Seger's classic " Night Moves " as well as " Sweet Home Alabama " by Lynyrd Skynyrd and " Werewolves of London " by Warren Zevon . Music critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote that on Rock n Roll Jesus , Kid Rock "extends the Seger-Mellencamp tradition of heartland rock". American indie rock bands

544-454: A few of his own songs. In the early 21st century, Mellencamp teamed up with artists such as Chuck D and India.Arie to deliver his second Columbia album, Cuttin' Heads and the single " Peaceful World ". Cuttin' Heads also included a duet with Trisha Yearwood on a love song called "Deep Blue Heart". Mellencamp embarked on the Cuttin' Heads Tour in the summer of 2001, before the album

612-551: A heart attack in 2002. Columbia Records executives, who were in attendance at the benefit shows, were so impressed with Mellencamp's live renditions of "Stones in My Passway" that they convinced him to record an album of vintage American songs, which ultimately became Trouble No More . The album was a quickly recorded collection of folk and blues covers originally done by artists such as Robert Johnson , Son House , Lucinda Williams and Hoagy Carmichael . Trouble No More

680-463: A life of grueling poverty. Writing and recording great songs that millions of people like and buy is not part of that sentimental picture—regardless of how comfortably the music itself sits within the genre's parameters." Shortly after finishing Scarecrow , Mellencamp helped organize the first Farm Aid benefit concert with Willie Nelson and Neil Young in Champaign, Illinois on September 22, 1985. Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over

748-716: A movie." Mellencamp played for over two hours and included 24 songs on his tour's setlist. He brought the No Better Than This tour to Europe in the summer of 2011, opening in Copenhagen on June 24. One reviewer called the opening gig of the European leg of the tour "maybe the best rock performance ever in Denmark." The No Better Than This Tour returned to the U.S. for one final round of shows from October 25 to November 19, 2011. The tour finally concluded with

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816-560: A new A&E Biography series called Homeward Bound . The show featured performers returning to small venues where they performed early in their careers. The program aired on December 11, 2008, and featured an in-depth documentary tracing Mellencamp's roots. Mellencamp participated in a tribute concert for Pete Seeger 's 90th birthday on May 3, 2009, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which raised funds for an environmental organization founded by Seeger to preserve and protect

884-533: A predominantly romantic genre, celebrating "urban backstreets and rooftops", and its major themes include alienation, despair, "unemployment, small-town decline, disillusionment, limited opportunity and bitter nostalgia". Many major heartland rock artists began their careers in the 1960s, as with Bob Seger , or the 1970s, as with Springsteen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ; the former after two critically highly regarded but modestly selling albums with

952-505: A saxophone. However, this common definition may represent an oversimplification given that Bruce Springsteen 's Born in the U.S.A. made heavy use of synthesizers, most notably on the hit singles " Dancing in the Dark ", " Glory Days " and the title track . Lyrics are often presented in a style that is raspy and unpolished, adding a sense of authenticity. The genre was most strongly influenced by American country, folk , 1960s garage rock ,

1020-738: A series of unannounced free concerts in major cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest as a way of giving back to fans who had supported him the previous 24 years. With a lo-fi setup that included portable amps and a battery-powered P.A. system, Mellencamp, armed with an acoustic guitar and accompanied only by an accordionist and a violist, dubbed the jaunt "Live in the Streets: The Good Samaritan Tour." At these dozen shows, which ranged from 45 to 60 minutes, Mellencamp covered several rock and folk classics and sprinkled in

1088-472: A social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment. The genre is exemplified by singer-songwriters Tom Petty , Bob Seger , Bruce Springsteen , Jackson Browne , and John Mellencamp and country music artists, including Steve Earle and Joe Ely . The genre developed in the 1970s and reached its commercial peak in the 1980s when it became one of the best-selling genres in the United States. In

1156-582: A solo career. Mellencamp's next studio album, 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee , included the singles " Paper in Fire " (No. 9), "Cherry Bomb" (No. 8), "Check It Out" (No. 14), and "Rooty Toot Toot" (No. 61) along with the popular album tracks "Hard Times for an Honest Man" and "The Real Life", both of which cracked the top 10 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. As Frank DiGiacomo of Vanity Fair wrote in 2007, " The Lonesome Jubilee

1224-425: A tour of Canada in the summer of 2012. Mellencamp took part in two Woody Guthrie tribute concerts in 2012 as part of a year-long celebration surrounding the 100th anniversary of the folk icon's birth. Heartland rock Heartland rock is a genre of rock music characterized by a straightforward, often roots musical style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers , and a conviction that rock music has

1292-474: A year to record, promote, and tour behind 1978's A Biography . The record wasn't released in the United States, but it yielded a top-five hit in Australia with " I Need a Lover ." Riva Records added "I Need a Lover" to Mellencamp's next album released in the United States, 1979's John Cougar , where the song became a No. 28 single in late 1979. Pat Benatar recorded "I Need a Lover" on her debut album In

1360-403: Is also the last to feature the "Cougar" moniker. In 1991, Mellencamp said: "'Big Daddy' was the best record I ever made. Out of my agony came a couple of really beautiful songs. You can't be 22 years old and had two dates and understand that album." Mellencamp was heavily involved in painting at this time in his life and decided not to tour behind Big Daddy . In his second painting exhibition, at

1428-482: Is of German and Dutch ancestry. He was born with spina bifida , for which he had corrective surgery as an infant. Mellencamp formed his first band, Crepe Soul when he was 14. Mellencamp attended Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, starting in 1972. During this time, he abused drugs and alcohol. During his college years, Mellencamp played in several local bands, including the glam rock band Trash, which

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1496-436: The E Street Band , he achieved his breakthrough in 1975 with Born to Run , which presented stories of loss, betrayal, defeat and escape in the context of his native New Jersey shoreline, with songs influenced by 50s rock and roll , Dylan and Phil Spector 's Wall of Sound . While Springsteen struggled for three years with legal disputes, other artists in a similar vein came to the fore. These artists included Bob Seger and

1564-614: The Hudson River . Mellencamp performed solo acoustic renditions of Seeger and Lee Hays' " If I Had a Hammer " and his own "A Ride Back Home." While he was on tour, Mellencamp recorded a new album titled No Better Than This that was again produced by T Bone Burnett . The tracks for the album were recorded at historic locations, such as the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia as well as at

1632-645: The Sun Studio in Memphis and the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio where blues pioneer Robert Johnson recorded "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Crossroad Blues". Mellencamp recorded the album using a 1955 Ampex portable recording machine and only one microphone, requiring all the musicians to gather together around the mic. The album was recorded in mono. Mellencamp wrote over 30 songs for

1700-406: The 1980s while "honing an almost startlingly plainspoken writing style" that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles, including " Hurts So Good ," " Jack & Diane ," " Crumblin' Down ," " Pink Houses ," " Lonely Ol' Night ," " Small Town ," " R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. ," " Paper in Fire ", and " Cherry Bomb ." He has scored fourteen Top 20 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds

1768-437: The 1990s, many established acts faded and the genre began to fragment, but the major figures have continued to record with commercial success. The term heartland rock was not coined to describe a clear genre until the 1980s. In terms of style, it often uses straightforward rock music , sometimes with elements of Americana with a basic rhythm and blues line-up of drums, keyboards and occasional horn section instruments like

1836-574: The Animals ' " Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood ," Lee Dorsey 's " Ya Ya ," and the Left Banke 's " Pretty Ballerina ." In 1985, Mellencamp released Scarecrow , which peaked at No. 2 in the fall of 1985 and spawned five Top 40 singles: " Lonely Ol' Night " and " Small Town " (both No. 6), " R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. " (No. 2), "Rain on the Scarecrow" (No. 21) and "Rumble Seat" (No. 28). According to

1904-572: The Churchman-Fehsenfeld Gallery in Indianapolis in 1990, Mellencamp's portraits were described as always having sad facial expressions and conveying "the same disillusionment found in his musical anthems about the nation's heartland and farm crisis." Mellencamp's 1991 album, Whenever We Wanted , was the first with a cover billed to John Mellencamp; the "Cougar" was finally dropped for good. Whenever We Wanted yielded

1972-632: The Drifters for his album Rough Harvest (recorded in 1997), one of two albums he owed Mercury Records to fulfill his contract (the other was The Best That I Could Do , a best-of collection). In May 2000, he gave the Indiana University commencement address, in which he advised graduates to "play it as you feel it!" and that "you'll be all right." Following the delivery of his address, Indiana University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctorate of Musical Arts. In August 2000, Mellencamp played

2040-566: The February 1986 edition of Creem Magazine , Mellencamp wanted to incorporate the sound of classic '60s rock into Scarecrow , and he gave his band close to a hundred old singles to learn "almost mathematically verbatim" prior to recording the album. Scarecrow was the first album Mellencamp recorded at his own recording studio, jokingly dubbed " Belmont Mall ," located in Belmont, Indiana , and constructed in 1984. Mellencamp sees Scarecrow as

2108-566: The Heat of the Night . In 1980, Mellencamp returned with the Steve Cropper -produced Nothin' Matters and What If It Did , which yielded two Top 40 singles – "This Time" (No. 27) and "Ain't Even Done With the Night" (No. 17). "The singles were stupid little pop songs," he told Record Magazine in 1983. In 1982, Mellencamp released his breakthrough album, American Fool , which contained

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2176-572: The Killers and the War on Drugs have been associated with the genre. British band Dire Straits and English singer-songwriter Sam Fender are known to have established their "British version" of the heartland rock genre. The influence heartland rock had on a number of punk rock bands led to the development of a sound which Kerrang! writer James MacKinnon termed heartland punk. MacKinnon cited bands in this style as including Social Distortion ,

2244-775: The Replacements , the Bouncing Souls , Hot Water Music , Dave Hause , Lucero , Against Me! , the Lawrence Arms , the Menzingers , Japandroids , the Gaslight Anthem and Gang of Youths . John Cougar (album) "I Need a Lover", upon the release of this album, became a Top 40 hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 28 in December 1979, after having been a No. 5 hit in Australia in 1978 when it

2312-652: The Rolling Stones , Bob Dylan , and folk rock acts such as Hank Williams , Woody Guthrie , Creedence Clearwater Revival , and the Byrds . Verses in heartland rock songs often tell stories. In some songs, those stories are about people undergoing hard times; choruses are often anthemic in tone. The genre is associated with working-class regions of the Midwest and the Rust Belt . It has been characterized as

2380-484: The Rural Route 7609 , stating in the set's liner notes: "'Sugar Marie' suffered from young musicians not knowing how to present the music. I've always had an affection for the song, and I've always known it had something I didn't get at on the album." On his inspiration for writing "I Need A Lover", his first Top 40 hit, Mellencamp said: "The song's about a friend of mine who goes to Concordia College. When that song

2448-651: The Silver Bullet Band , Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and fellow Jersey Shore residents Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes . In 1978, Springsteen returned with Darkness on the Edge of Town , which reached the top ten in the US and then the number one album The River (1980), which continued the themes of economic and personal dissolution, produced a series of hit singles, and has been seen as "getting

2516-495: The Top 40 hits "Get a Leg Up" and "Again Tonight," but "Last Chance," "Love and Happiness," and "Now More Than Ever" all garnered significant airplay on rock radio. In 1993, he released Human Wheels , and the title track peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard singles chart. "To me, this record is very urban," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine of Human Wheels in the summer of 1993. Mellencamp's 1994 Dance Naked album included

2584-514: The U.S.A. " as a tribute to Bruce Springsteen, who was one of the honorees at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors . "I was very proud and humbled to have been able to play 'Born in the U.S.A.' in a different fashion that I think was true to the feelings that Bruce had when he wrote it, "Mellencamp said. He performed "Down by the River" on January 29, 2010, in Los Angeles in tribute to Neil Young , who

2652-476: The follow-up to Chestnut Street Incident , in 1977. However, DeFries eventually decided against releasing the album, and Mellencamp was dropped from MCA records (DeFries finally released The Kid Inside in early 1983, after Mellencamp achieved stardom). Mellencamp drew interest from Rod Stewart 's manager, Billy Gaff, after parting ways with DeFries and was signed onto the small Riva Records label. At Gaff's request, Mellencamp moved to London, England, for nearly

2720-503: The genre. The first significant female artist in the genre was Melissa Etheridge , whose self-titled debut album issued in 1988 drew critical comparisons with Springsteen and Mellencamp. In the 1990s, many artists who would have been heartland rockers in the 1980s chose to pursue the recently emerged genre of Americana, and heartland rock dwindled to a few stalwart artists. Heartland rock can be heard as an influence on artists as diverse as Billy Joel and Kid Rock , who recorded

2788-612: The heartland rock bandwagon rolling", together with the stripped-down sound and darker themes of his next album Nebraska (1982). The genre reached its commercial peak with Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. in 1984. The 1980s saw the arrival of new artists such as John Mellencamp , Bruce Hornsby & the Range, Iron City Houserockers , John Hiatt , Lucinda Williams , and BoDeans . A number of roots music and country music artists like Steve Earle , The Tractors , The Hot Club of Cowtown , and Joe Ely also became associated with

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2856-518: The label. Issued a day before his 47th birthday in 1998, his self-titled debut for Columbia Records included the singles "Your Life Is Now" and "I'm Not Running Anymore," along with standout album tracks such as "Eden Is Burning," "Miss Missy," "It All Comes True" and "Chance Meeting at the Tarantula". The switch in labels coincided with Dane Clark replacing Aronoff on drums. In 1999, Mellencamp covered his own songs as well as those by Bob Dylan and

2924-486: The lineup it retained for the next several albums: Kenny Aronoff on drums and percussion, Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic on guitars, Toby Myers on bass and John Cascella on keyboards. In 1988, Rolling Stone magazine called this version of Mellencamp's band "one of the most powerful and versatile live bands ever assembled." On the 1984 Uh-Huh Tour, Mellencamp opened his shows with cover versions of songs he admired growing up, including Elvis Presley 's " Heartbreak Hotel ,"

2992-629: The market. On August 13, 2007, Mellencamp began recording his 18th album of original material, titled Life, Death, Love and Freedom . The album, released on July 15, 2008, was produced by T Bone Burnett . The first song with video, "Jena," was introduced on Mellencamp's website in October 2007. In an interview with the Bloomington Herald-Times in March 2008, Mellencamp dubbed Life, Death, Love and Freedom The album's first single

3060-442: The mid-1980s). Within the context of what was still undeniably the sound of a rock & roll band, he began incorporating instruments more characteristic of folk and roots music—dulcimer, mandolin, fiddle, accordion, dobro, and pennywhistle, among them. On albums like Scarecrow (1985), The Lonesome Jubilee (1987), and Big Daddy (1989), Mellencamp helped pioneer the sound of alternative country or No Depression, music that combines

3128-566: The old Moondog shows," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine prior to the tour: "When you went to see his shows, there was a movie like The Girl Can't Help It or something, and then three or four bands played. I'm gonna come out and play with upright bass and cocktail [drum] kits and a lot of acoustic instruments. I'll play for, like, 40 minutes that way. Then the band will leave and it'll just be me with an acoustic guitar for 40 minutes, and then there'll be 40 minutes of rock 'n' roll. You'll get three different types of John Mellencamp, and you'll get

3196-520: The past 39 years, and as of 2024 the organization has raised nearly $ 80 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Prior to the 1985–86 Scarecrow Tour, during which he covered some of the same 1960s rock and soul songs he and his band rehearsed prior to the recording of Scarecrow , Mellencamp added fiddle player Lisa Germano to his band. Germano would remain in Mellencamp's band until 1994 when she left to pursue

3264-703: The record (only 13 made the final cut), and he wrote one song specifically for Room 414 at the Gunter Hotel. No Better Than This was released on August 17, 2010, and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 , becoming the 10th top 10 album of his career. No Better Than This is the first mono-only release to make the top 10 since James Brown 's Pure Dynamite! Live at the Royal , which peaked at No. 10 in April 1964. On December 6, 2009, Mellencamp performed " Born in

3332-521: The record company to add his real surname, Mellencamp, to his stage moniker. The first album recorded under his new name John Cougar Mellencamp was 1983's Uh-Huh , a Top-10 album that spawned the Top 10 singles " Pink Houses " and " Crumblin' Down " as well as the No. 15 hit "Authority Song," which he said is "our version of ' I Fought the Law .'" During the recording of Uh-Huh , Mellencamp's backing band settled on

3400-580: The record for the most songs by a solo artist to hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven. Mellencamp has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards , winning one. He has sold over 60 million albums worldwide, with 30 million in the US. His latest album of original songs, Orpheus Descending , was released in June 2023. Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid , an organization that began in 1985 with

3468-444: The second leg of the tour in the summer of 2005, Fogerty co-headlined with Mellencamp at outdoor amphitheaters across the United States. Fogerty would join Mellencamp for duets on Fogerty's Creedence Clearwater Revival hit "Green River" and Mellencamp's "Rain on the Scarecrow". Mellencamp released Freedom's Road , his first album of original material in over five years, on January 23, 2007. He intended for Freedom's Road to have

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3536-411: The single "Small Paradise" that it's "a deliberate, ballad pace with Cougar's raw vocal exuding tension and drama" and praised the hook and vocal performance. Record World said of the single "A Little Night Dancin'" that its "light Latin rhythm provides a backdrop for Cougar to project his vivid urban images." Mellencamp recorded a solo acoustic rendition of "Sugar Marie" for his 2010 box set On

3604-489: The singles " Hurts So Good ," an uptempo rock tune that spent four weeks at No. 2 and 16 weeks in the top 10, and " Jack & Diane ," which was a No. 1 hit for four weeks. A third single, "Hand to Hold on To," made it to No. 19. "Hurts So Good" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 25th Grammys . With some commercial success under his belt, Mellencamp had enough influence to force

3672-558: The start of the alternative country genre: "I think I invented that whole 'No Depression' thing with the Scarecrow album, though I don't get the credit." In the liner notes to Mellencamp's 2010 box set On the Rural Route 7609 , Anthony DeCurtis wrote of Mellencamp's influence on the No Depression movement: "In finding his voice as a lyricist and activist, Mellencamp also crafted a more fitting musical vision for himself (in

3740-460: The summer of 1994 but had a minor heart attack after a show at Jones Beach in New York on August 8 of that year. That heart attack eventually forced him to cancel the last few weeks of the tour. He returned to the concert stage in early 1995 by playing a series of dates in small Midwestern clubs under the pseudonym Pearl Doggy. In September 1996, the experimental album Mr. Happy Go Lucky , which

3808-413: The summer of 2012 and covered the entire United States, Canada, and much of Europe, Mellencamp opened each concert with a showing of a Kurt Markus documentary about the making of No Better Than This called "It's About You" before hitting the stage to play three different sets: a stripped-down acoustic set with his band, a solo acoustic set, and a fully electrified rock set. "It'll be like Alan Freed , like

3876-400: The truth-telling force of hard-core country with the instrumental attack of rock & roll. If he has not been properly credited for that groundbreaking role, it's largely because he committed the unforgivable sin of actually having hits while making innovative music. Part of the No Depression mythology requires either a tragic early death or decades of unacknowledged masterpieces created during

3944-538: The week of August 2, 2008. Like Freedom's Road , Life, Death, Love and Freedom sold 56,000 copies in its first week. In its list of the 50 best albums of 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. 5 overall and also dubbed "Troubled Land" No. 48 among the 100 best singles of the year. On September 23, 2008, Mellencamp filmed a concert at the Crump Theatre in Columbus, Indiana, for

4012-462: Was "My Sweet Love". A video for the song was filmed in Savannah, Georgia, on June 9, 2008. Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town is featured in the video. She harmonizes with Mellencamp on "My Sweet Love". She also provides background vocals to three other songs on Life, Death, Love and Freedom , which became the ninth Top 10 album of Mellencamp's career when it debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200

4080-479: Was called the Words and Music Tour in the spring of 2005 featured Donovan playing in the middle of Mellencamp's set. Mellencamp would play a handful of songs before introducing Donovan and then duetting with him on the 1966 hit "Sunshine Superman". Mellencamp would leave the stage as Donovan played seven or eight of his songs (backed by Mellencamp's band) and then return to finish off his own set after Donovan departed. On

4148-578: Was even released. He opened each show on this tour with a cover of the Rolling Stones ' " Gimme Shelter " and also played a solo acoustic version of the Cuttin' Heads track "Women Seem" at each show. In October 2002, Mellencamp performed the Robert Johnson song "Stones in My Passway" at two benefit concerts for his friend, Billboard magazine editor-in-chief Timothy White , who died from

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4216-811: Was honored at the 20th annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala. Mellencamp sang the hymn " Keep Your Eyes on the Prize " at "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" on February 9, 2010. Mellencamp, who co-headlined 11 shows in the summer of 2010 with Bob Dylan , launched the No Better Than This theater tour on October 29, 2010, in Bloomington, Indiana . On this tour, which ran through

4284-496: Was named for a New York Dolls song, and he later got a job in Seymour installing telephones. During this period, Mellencamp, who had given up drugs and alcohol before graduating from college, decided to pursue a career in music and traveled to New York City in an attempt to land a record contract. After 18 months of traveling between Indiana and New York City in 1974 and 1975, Mellencamp met Tony DeFries of MainMan Management, who

4352-462: Was produced by Junior Vasquez , was released to critical acclaim. Mr. Happy Go Lucky spawned the No. 14 single " Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First) " (Mellencamp's last Top 40 hit) and "Just Another Day," which peaked at No. 46. After the release of Mr. Happy Go Lucky and a subsequent four-month tour from March to July 1997 to promote it, Mellencamp signed a four-album deal with Columbia Records , although he wound up making only three albums for

4420-424: Was receptive to his music and image. DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident , a collection of cover versions and some original songs, be released under the stage name "Johnny Cougar", claiming that the name "Mellencamp" was too hard to market. Mellencamp reluctantly agreed, but the album was a commercial failure, selling only 12,000 copies. Mellencamp recorded The Kid Inside ,

4488-548: Was released as a single from A Biography . "Miami" was also a hit single in Australia, his second Top 40 hit in that country. "I Need a Lover" was subsequently covered by Pat Benatar on her album In the Heat of the Night . In the U.S., however, "Small Paradise" was released as a single in place of "Miami", but it was not very successful, peaking at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1980. During concerts in 1979 and 1980, guitarist Mike Wanchic would trade lead vocals with Mellencamp on "Miami". Record World said of

4556-770: Was released in 2003, dedicated to Mellencamp's friend Timothy White, and spent several weeks at No. 1 on Billboard ' s Blues Album charts. Mellencamp sang the gospel song "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" at White's funeral on July 2, 2002. Mellencamp participated in the Vote for Change tour in October 2004 leading up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election . That same month he released the two-disc career hits retrospective Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits , which contained 35 of his radio singles (including all 22 of his Top 40 hits) along with two new tunes, " Walk Tall " and "Thank You" – both produced by Babyface but written by Mellencamp. In 2005, Mellencamp toured with Donovan and John Fogerty . The first leg of what

4624-440: Was the album in which Mellencamp defined his now signature sound: a rousing, crystalline mix of acoustic and electric guitars, Appalachian fiddle, and gospel-style backing vocals, anchored by a crisp, bare-knuckle drumbeat and completed by his own velveteen rasp." During the 1987–88 Lonesome Jubilee Tour, Mellencamp was joined onstage by surprise guest Bruce Springsteen at the end of his May 26, 1988, gig in Irvine, California, for

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