87-592: No Better Than This is the 21st album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp . Produced by T Bone Burnett , the album was released on August 17, 2010. It was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States. The title track was the album's first single and was sent to multiple radio formats on June 28, 2010. Mellencamp said that the album is "as American folk as I've ever been". He also told Rolling Stone in July 2009 that he
174-919: 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, the same manner as the classic folk and blues recordings of the 1930s and 1940s. Mellencamp wrote one song specifically for Room 414 at the Gunter Hotel , which is the exact room where Johnson recorded in November 1936. He told the San Antonio Express-News, "It's called 'Right Behind Me' or 'Right Behind Us,' I haven't decided yet. I wrote it just for this room. I could have done this in my studio. But I want to do it this way, and if I can't do what I want at this point, I'm not going to do it. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. I'm through digging
261-1001: 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
348-545: A Hole in It "), Charlie Rich , Junior Parker , and Billy Lee Riley recorded for Sun with some success, and others, such as Jerry Lee Lewis , B. B. King , Johnny Cash , Roy Orbison , and Carl Perkins , became stars. Phillips's pivotal role in the early days of rock and roll was exemplified by a celebrated jam session on December 4, 1956, with what became known as the Million Dollar Quartet . Jerry Lee Lewis
435-426: A ballad I don't think you would have heard of Elvis Presley." Phillips stated of his goals, "everyone knew that I was just a struggling cat down here trying to develop new and different artists, and get some freedom in music, and tap some resources and people that weren't being tapped." He didn't care about mistakes; he cared about the feel. Phillips met Presley through the mediation of his longtime collaborator at
522-557: 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
609-532: A completely different angle, was also important to the civil rights movement and, from another angle, so were Robert Johnson 's recordings at the Gunter." During Mellencamp's session at Sun Studios in late July 2009, he recorded several songs including "Each Day of Sorrow", "No One Cares About Me", "The West End", and "Easter Eve", which Rolling Stone magazine's David Fricke compared to "one of Bob Dylan 's talking blues ". Regarding this session, Mellencamp told
696-590: 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
783-573: A ditch". "John is a really great singer and I'm always happy working with him in any environment", T Bone Burnett told the Express-News . "The fact he chose these historic locations is a big plus. The stories that have come out of the sessions are extraordinary. The First African Baptist Church was started in 1775. It was an important stop on the Underground Railroad and central to the civil rights movement . Sun Studio , from
870-518: 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,
957-454: 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
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#17327904349661044-479: A fortune. He was one of the first investors in Holiday Inn , a motel chain that was about to expand to a nationwide franchise; he became involved with the chain shortly after selling Elvis Presley's contract to RCA , for $ 35,000, which he multiplied many times over the years with Holiday Inn. He also created two subsidiary recording labels, Phillips International Records and Holiday Inn Records . He also owned
1131-551: 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
1218-519: 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
1305-465: A major role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton . Phillips was the owner and operator of radio stations in Memphis; Florence, Alabama; and Lake Worth Beach, Florida . He was also an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels and an advocate for racial equality, helping to break down racial barriers in
1392-717: 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
1479-560: 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
1566-492: A painting entitled "Save Some Time to Dream". In October 2009, it was announced that a song recorded during the sessions for the album, entitled "Someday the Rains Will Fall", would be featured in an episode of NCIS and would appear on the album NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack – Vol. 2 . "Someday the Rains Will Fall" is not included on No Better Than This , but it is found on Mellencamp's four-disc box set, On
1653-500: A radio segment with her sister as 'The Kitchen Sisters' where they played music and sang. A January 18, 2013, article in the Alabama Chanin Journal honoring Becky quoted Sam as saying, "I fell in love with Becky's voice even before I met her." Becky described her first encounter with Sam to journalist Peter Guralnick: "He had just come in out of the rain. His hair was windblown and full of raindrops. He wore sandals and
1740-738: 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
1827-489: A smile unlike any I had ever seen. He sat down on the piano bench and began to talk to me. I told my family that night that I had met the man I wanted to marry." They wed in 1943 and went on to have two children in a marriage that ended in 1960. Becky Phillips died in 2012, aged 87. In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a DJ and radio engineer for station WLAY (AM) , in Muscle Shoals, Alabama . According to Phillips,
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#17327904349661914-582: 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
2001-595: A strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Mellencamp was born in the small town of Seymour, Indiana on October 7, 1951. He 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
2088-635: 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. Sam Philips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee , where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley , Roy Orbison , Jerry Lee Lewis , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , and Howlin' Wolf . Phillips played
2175-475: 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
2262-405: 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
2349-682: 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 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
2436-464: Is how they relieved the burden of what existed day in and day out." In addition to musical performances, Phillips recorded events such as weddings and funerals, selling the recordings. Phillips and Elvis Presley opened a new form of music. Phillips said of Presley: "Elvis cut a ballad, which was just excellent. I could tell you, both Elvis and Roy Orbison could tear a ballad to pieces. But I said to myself, 'You can't do that, Sam.' If I had released
2523-470: Is not concerned whether or not there's a large audience for such a raw, simple record. "I am done being a rock star", Mellencamp said. "I have no interest in that, in having the biggest concerts. I have only one interest: to have fun while we're doing this and maybe have something that somebody might discover." Rolling Stone placed No Better Than This at No. 12 on its list of the best albums of 2010. Mellencamp wrote over 30 songs for potential inclusion on
2610-531: Is the west end of the world. The album was released on August 17, 2010, on the Rounder Records label. Mellencamp gave the first live performance of the song "Save Some Time to Dream" for a concert audience on July 10, 2009, in Dayton, Ohio . He subsequently performed the song at several other concerts, including Farm Aid 2009 and a tribute to Myles Brand at Conseco Fieldhouse . He has also completed
2697-614: 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
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2784-631: The Prisonaires and others. The Memphis Recording Service also served as the studio for Phillips's own label, Sun Record Company , which he launched in 1952. Sun Records produced more rock-and-roll records than any other record label of its time during its 16-year run, producing 226 singles. Phillips recorded different styles of music, but he was interested in the blues: "The blues, it got people—black and white—to think about life, how difficult, yet also how good it can be. They would sing about it; they would pray about it; they would preach about it. This
2871-650: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame . He was the first non-performer inducted. In 1987, he was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame . He received a Grammy Trustees Award for lifetime achievement in 1991. In 1998, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame , in October 2001 he was inducted into
2958-591: 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
3045-533: The glam rock band Trash, which 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
3132-415: The music industry . Phillips was the youngest of eight children, born on a 200-acre farm near Florence, Alabama to Madge Ella ( née Lovelace) and Charles Tucker Phillips. Sam's parents owned their farm, though it was mortgaged. As a child, he picked cotton in the fields with his parents alongside black laborers. The experience of hearing black laborers singing in the fields left a big impression on
3219-574: 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
3306-573: 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
3393-632: 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
3480-567: 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
3567-566: 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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3654-506: The Memphis Recording Service, Marion Keisker , who was already a well-known Memphis radio personality. On July 18, 1953, the eighteen-year-old Presley dropped into the studio to record an acetate for his mother's birthday; Keisker thought she heard some talent in the young truck driver's voice, and so she turned on the tape recorder. Later, she played it for Phillips, who gradually, with Keisker's encouragement, warmed to
3741-543: The Nelson/Dylan tour, Mellencamp recorded No Better Than This at historic locations, such as the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia , as well as at the historic Sun Studios in Memphis and the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio , where blues pioneer Robert Johnson recorded blues staples such as " Sweet Home Chicago " and " Cross Road Blues ". Mellencamp recorded the album using
3828-570: The Rural Route 7609 . The album's first single, "No Better Than This", was released to radio stations on June 28, 2010. Mellencamp's 2009 summer tour of minor league baseball parks with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and the recording sessions for this album were filmed by renowned photographer Kurt Markus , who released a documentary titled John Mellencamp: It's About You that premiered in New York City and Los Angeles in January 2012 and
3915-630: The Sun Studio Café in Memphis. One location was in the Mall of Memphis . Phillips and his family founded Big River Broadcasting Corporation, which owns and operates several radio stations in the Florence, Alabama area, including WQLT-FM , WSBM , and WXFL . He also established radio station WLIZ in Lake Worth, Florida in 1959. In 1986, Phillips was part of the first group inducted into
4002-495: 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
4089-514: 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
4176-579: 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 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 ,
4263-541: The album but only 13 made the final cut. He debuted the first of those, "Save Some Time to Dream", on May 17, 2009, at a political fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis . "It's about individual freedom and thought—and controlling our own lives", Mellencamp said of "Save Some Time to Dream", which he performed solo on acoustic guitar throughout much of his 2009 summer tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson . During breaks on
4350-462: The first six months, the flip side, " Blue Moon of Kentucky ", Presley's upbeat version of a Bill Monroe bluegrass song, was slightly more popular than "That's All Right (Mama)". While still not known outside the South, Presley's singles and regional success became a drawing card for Sun Records, as singing hopefuls soon arrived from all over the region. Singers such as Sonny Burgess (" My Bucket's Got
4437-476: 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
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#17327904349664524-469: The idea of recording Elvis. Presley, who recorded his version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup 's " That's All Right " at Phillips's studio, became highly successful, first in Memphis, then throughout the southern United States. He auditioned for Phillips in 1954, but it was not until he sang "That's All Right (Mama)" that Phillips was impressed. He brought the song to Dewey Phillips , a disc jockey at WHBQ 560, to play on his Red, Hot & Blue program. For
4611-511: The instruments were placed, because Sam Philips walked around the room and decided where everything sounded best". Mellencamp wanted to record at the now-derelict Brunswick Records Building in Dallas, where Robert Johnson cut his final sessions in 1937, but the current owner of the building denied him permission to record there. As for the organic recording process of the album, Mellencamp says it's unique for this day and age. "The same mic I
4698-518: 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
4785-486: 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 ,"
4872-417: The magazine, "[T Bone] and I were laughing. We got five songs here last night. We asked ourselves, 'What the fuck were we doing in the 70s and 80s, spending days and days on a drum sound, when it was all right here the whole time?'" "Everything was set up exactly as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley recorded. They had 'X' marks made with electrical tape on the floor where Elvis and his musicians stood and where
4959-574: 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
5046-539: The mid-1960s, Phillips rarely recorded. He built a satellite studio and opened radio stations, but the studio declined, and he sold Sun Records to Shelby Singleton in 1969. In 1977 Sam's sons, Knox and Jerry, were working with John Prine at the Phillips Recording Studio when Sam Phillips joined them to oversee recordings that were eventually included on the album Pink Cadillac . Phillips launched radio station WHER on October 29, 1955. Each of
5133-442: 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
5220-566: 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
5307-522: 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
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#17327904349665394-703: 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
5481-521: 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
5568-518: The recordings to larger labels. Phillips recorded what the music historian Peter Guralnick considered the first rock and roll record : " Rocket 88 ", by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats , a band led by the 19-year-old Ike Turner , who also wrote the song. The recording was released in 1951 by Chess Records in Chicago. From 1950 to 1954 Phillips recorded music by James Cotton , Rufus Thomas , Rosco Gordon , Little Milton , Bobby Blue Bland ,
5655-444: 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
5742-489: 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
5829-559: 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
5916-513: The station's "open format" (of broadcasting music by white and black musicians alike) would later inspire his work in Memphis . Beginning in 1945, he worked for four years as an announcer and sound engineer for radio station WREC , in Memphis. On January 3, 1950, Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service, at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis. He let amateurs record, which drew performers such as B. B. King , Junior Parker , and Howlin' Wolf , who made their first recordings there. Phillips then sold
6003-460: 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
6090-413: 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
6177-400: 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
6264-538: 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
6351-482: The young Phillips. Traveling through Memphis with his family in 1939 on the way to see a preacher in Dallas, he slipped off to look at Beale Street , at the time the heart of the city's music scene. "I just fell totally in love," he later recalled. Phillips attended the now defunct Coffee High School in Florence. He conducted the school band and had ambitions to be a criminal defense attorney . However, his father
6438-412: The young women who auditioned for the station assumed there would only be one female announcer position, as was the case with other stations at that time. Only a few days before the first broadcast did they learn of the all-female format. It was the first all-female radio station in the United States, as almost every position at the station was held by a woman. Through shrewd investments, Phillips amassed
6525-462: 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
6612-539: Was bankrupt by the Great Depression and died in 1941, forcing Phillips to leave high school to look after his mother and aunt. To support the family he worked in a grocery store and then a funeral parlor . In 1942, Sam, 19, met Rebecca "Becky" Burns, 17, his future wife, while they were both working at WLAY radio station in Sheffield, Alabama . He was an announcer and she was still in high school and had
6699-479: 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
6786-578: 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
6873-811: 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
6960-495: Was playing piano for a Carl Perkins recording session at Phillips's studio. When Elvis Presley walked in unexpectedly, Johnny Cash was called into the studio by Phillips, leading to an impromptu session featuring the four musicians. Phillips challenged the four to achieve gold record sales, offering a free Cadillac to the first, which Carl Perkins won. The contest is commemorated in a song by the Drive-By Truckers . By
7047-462: 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
7134-427: 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 ,
7221-820: 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
7308-474: Was released in June 2023. Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid , an organization that began in 1985 with 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
7395-676: Was released on DVD and Blu-ray in June 2012. "It's not about me but about Kurt being with me—which is a whole different slant than these kinds of movies usually have", Mellencamp said. Markus had previously directed the music video for Mellencamp's 2001 single "Peaceful World". Mellencamp showed "It's About You" before his performance each night during his 2010–2011 No Better Than This theater tour, which began on October 29, 2010, in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana . All songs written by John Mellencamp. John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar , John Cougar , and John Cougar Mellencamp ,
7482-451: Was singing into is the same mic that recorded the drums at the same time," Mellencamp said on his website. "And everything was cut live with no overdubs or studio nothing! These are real songs being performed by real musicians—an unheard-of process in today's world. Real music, for real people!" Mellencamp has said in interviews to promote the album that the song "The West End" is not about a certain part of town but rather about America, which
7569-494: 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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