Rogue Scholar: musical legend Kris Kristofferson appears along with John Prine at their upcoming Florida Theatre show.
American Beauty
A look at the long and uncompromising career of singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson KRIS KRISTOFFERSON with JOHN PRINE Saturday, May 14 at 8 p.m. Florida Theatre, 128 E. Forsyth St., Jacksonville Tickets range from $41 to $71 355-2787
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veryone knows his songs. Tunes like “Me And Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” are timeless compositions, all No. 1 hits for other artists. Yet those masterpieces barely scratch the surface of Kris Kristofferson’s career. Born the son of an Army general on June 22, 1936 in West Texas, Kristofferson excelled at rugby, football and track while attending California’s Pomona College in the ’50s, eventually studying at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. He served his own stint in the Army as a helicopter pilot, nearly taking a job as an English lit professor at West Point before moving to Nashville in 1965 to pursue songwriting full-time. In the ensuing years, Kristofferson swept the floors at Columbia Studios during Bob Dylan’s epochal “Blonde On Blonde” sessions, delivered songs to Johnny Cash by landing a helicopter in the Man In Black’s front yard, and dated Janis Joplin, Barbara Streisand and Joan Baez in quick succession. He’s even credited with growing the first beard in country music. At 35, Kristofferson took up acting, appearing in Dennis Hopper’s “The Last Movie,” and winning a Best Songwriting Grammy in ’72 for “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” Subsequent albums “Jesus Was A Capricorn” and “Full Moon” both hit the top of the country charts, before Kristofferson teamed up with infamous director Sam Peckinpah to steal scenes in “Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid” and “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.” Before ’74 was over, he had also starred as a wayward rancher in Martin Scorsese’s first studio production, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” cementing his role as a bona fide American icon — part James Dean, part Bob Dylan, part Marlon Brando, all rolled into one intelligent, masculine package. Much of that allure undoubtedly stemmed from his starring role alongside Streisand in 1977’s “A Star Is Born,” which earned Kristofferson a coveted Golden Globe for Best Actor — possibly because of how close his harddrinking character cut to the real-life bone. “I had a half-gallon of Jose Cuervo in my trailer and they never let it empty,” he told the UK Guardian in 2008. “I don’t know how much I was
drinking, but it was a lot. Doctor said my liver was the size of a football … I had a new little daughter, so I just went cold turkey. It was probably harder on the people around me than on myself.” The late ’70s and early ’80s were also rough on Kristofferson’s country music career, particularly because of his left-wing political leanings. In 1979, he performed at the Havana Jam in Cuba; he was an early critic of the Reagan administration’s role in Nicaragua’s civil war; and he appeared in controversial 1987 documentaries “Amerika” and “What I’ve Learned About US Foreign Policy.” But old age hasn’t affected his liberal heart — his website (kriskristofferson.com) even features the quote “God bless Obama. God bless America. And God bless the others outside our borders,” emblazoned at the top of every page. “Back when I was doing those things in the ’80s, a lot of people were mad about it because they didn’t agree with me,” Kristofferson told Aquarium Drunkard in 2009. “I’ve had audiences where 300 of ’em wanted their money back, and [luckily] it doesn’t happen that way anymore. Maybe it’s because more people have been exposed to the same news that I was, or maybe they’re just more tolerant of the old guy up there. They aren’t as rough on me as they used to be.” Kristofferson rocketed back to mainstream stardom in 1985 as one-quarter of The Highwaymen, the country supergroup that also included Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. A star turn in the 1996 Western mystery flick “Lone Star” also put Kristofferson back on the movie industry’s radar, with further projects like the “Blade” trilogy, “Payback” and “Planet of the Apes” only reinforcing his deep silverscreen résumé. A fresh record deal with New West led to bare-bones albums “This Old Road” in 2006 and “Closer To The Bone” in 2009, both of which charted well and garnered widespread critical acclaim. And Kristofferson keeps on selling out shows, with audiences young and old eager to have at least one live encounter with the man many consider the greatest songwriter still kicking. “Something [is] making a direct communication with the audience,” Kristofferson said in 2009. “I guess it must be down to the essence of the songs, because God knows there’s better guitar players and singers [out there]. But it seems to be working with my material — just me and the song.” Nick McGregor themail@folioweekly.com
MAY 10-16, 2011 | folio weekly | 27