Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 180
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9
978-0-8108-8820-3 • Hardback • June 2015 • $62.00 • (£48.00)
978-0-8108-8821-0 • eBook • June 2015 • $58.50 • (£45.00)
Mary G. Hurd is retired from East Tennessee State University, where she was director of film studies and a member of the English department faculty. She is the author of Women Directors and Their Films and numerous articles and reviews.
Introduction
Chapter 1: Beginnings and Influences: “Pick up that guitar, Go break a heart”
Chapter 2: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”: 1965-1970
Chapter 3: “Had to try to tame a thirst he couldn’t name”: 1971-1975
Chapter 4: “The going up was worth the coming down”: 1977-1984
Chapter 5: Rebels, Outlaws, Highwaymen, 1985-1995
Chapter 6: “I don’t believe that no one wants to know,” 1985-1991
Chapter 7: “Ain’t you come a long way down this old road”: 1995-2014
Chapter 8 Conclusion
Further Reading
Further Listening
Further Watching
About the Author
Singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson first became known in 1970, when he was awarded the Country Music Award for his song 'Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,' as sung by Johnny Cash. Hurd provides the first detailed look at the 'arc of Kristofferson’s creative output', starting with his first LP in 1970, which featured his classic 'Me and Bobby McGee'; through his best songs combining country and folk-rock in the 1970s, such as 'Loving Her Was Easier' and 'Why Me'; to his work with Cash and Willie Nelson in the country supergroup the Highwaymen; and finally to his critically acclaimed 2006 album 'This Old Road,' recorded at the age of 70. Hurd is excellent at showing how all of Kristofferson’s work and life—including refusing to follow his family’s long tradition of serving in the military, and his stint in England as a Rhodes Scholar—are connected by one theme: 'His mandate to live an artist’s life as he thought it should be lived hinged on the concept of personal freedom.' This solid overview makes it clear just how important Kristofferson’s work has been to the history of country and rock music.
— Publishers Weekly
Kris Kristofferson: Country Highwayman succeeds in contextualizing the career of an unlikely country music icon: an educated liberal whose imperfect voice, organic songwriting, sophisticated lyricism, and introverted nature emerged during Nashville’s slick and commercially oriented countrypolitan period. . . . Hurd, a retired professor of English, accomplishes the difficult task of using songs to summarize Kristofferson’s turbulent forty-year-plus career. . . . Characteristically adept is her examination of Kristofferson’s award-winning song, 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' (1970). She peers beneath the surface depiction of a miserable hangover: 'Aching with loneliness and alienation, the speaker renders a powerful evocation of alcoholism and the loss of traditional values (family, home, and faith)—not unlike Kristofferson’s own situation—and the burden of freedom that follows that loss' (p. 35). . . . [T]he book might inspire casual readers to listen more intently—or perhaps for the first time—to Kristofferson’s songs. What this book does best is illustrate the intimate link between songwriter and song, and the complex layers such a link can entail.
— Thinking On Music
Hurd’s study of one of our greatest singer-songwriters offers biographical information, but more essentially, a detailed study of his work. . . .Now’s the time to fully examine and appreciate an astonishing body of work by a timeless artist. Fans of Kristofferson or anyone who admires the art of songwriting will find the book fascinating fare.
— Pop Culture Classics