COUNTRY
“This Old Road”
Kris Kristofferson
New West
This CD brings back the classic Kris Kristofferson. All 11 cuts are new songs written by him, but are classic in the sense that the writing and delivery are as near perfect as possible.
Plenty of the credit, no doubt, must go to producer Don Was. He sat Kristofferson in a studio with an acoustic guitar and had him sing about, among other things love, rebellion, truth and freedom, long a favorite Kristofferson topic.
The disc has a predominantly folk sound, which fits the writing perfectly.
Many of the songs deal with current events, including “In the News,” which opens with a verse about the murder of Laci Peterson:
“Read about the sorry way he done somebody’s daughter/ Chained her to a heavy thing and threw her in the water/ And she sank into the darkness with their baby son inside her/ A little piece of truth and beauty died.”
When Kristofferson sings those words, they become a gentle tribute to Peterson and her unborn child. This is Kristofferson’s best work in years.
