Kristofferson joins Obama’s backing band

Kristofferson joins Obama’s backing band
By David Smyth 28.03.08 More reviews by David Smyth
Voice of America: Kris Kristofferson is soon to play the Albert Hall

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Kris Kristofferson has made a career of bashing politicians in his songs. However, when the 71-year-old singer and actor plays the Albert Hall next week, he may find something more positive than the Bush administration to rant about — in Barack Obama.

“I really hope he’s gonna win,” he tells me, cowboy boots on the table in the back of the plush coach where he and his family will live for the duration of his spring tour. “I think the reaction to his candidacy is the most hopeful thing since the Kennedys. He’s talking like Kennedy did, about dealing with the world’s problems diplomatically, finding common ground through dialogue instead of bombing everybody.”

Of the many musicians who wear their politics on their sleeves, Kristofferson is one of the more vocal — and the author of such classics as Me and Bobby McGee and Help Me Make It Through the Night isn’t known for craven optimism.

On his latest album, This Old Road (New West), his dark song In the News speaks of “Mortal thunder from the skies/Killing everything they say they’re fighting for”, while Wild American states: “When they burn your brother down in the name of Freedom/I don’t care if it’s Left or Right/It’s wrong”. “They’re bleak songs, but not nearly as bleak as it really is,” he admits. “The world is in worse shape now than at any time I can remember — and the US government is responsible for most of it.”

While plenty of American singers are finding it easy to speak out against their leaders now that everyone else is doing it, sentiments like this are nothing new for Kristofferson. An army captain in his youth, whose father was a US Air Force major-general, now he is a member of the organisation Veterans for Peace. His 1990 album, Third World Warrior, featured songs criticising US involvement in Nicaragua, in support of the Sandinista rebels.

”I used to get in a lot of trouble for singing activist songs. People would stand outside my shows with signs. Now things have changed. Every now and again someone will yell out: ‘Ya communist bastard!’ But not often.”

It’s a long time since Kristofferson has been popular enough as a musician for the public to listen to what he has to say. This Old Road is his first album of original material since 1995. “When I was speaking out on controversial issues, it was my films that supported my band,” he says, referring to the good and not-so-good projects that have kept him busy in a second career as an actor since he first appeared alongside Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in The Last Movie in 1971. He finds he is most recognisable to the younger generation as the vampire hunter Whistler in the Wesley Snipes trilogy, Blade.

Now he’s on stage, alone with an acoustic guitar, singing out for what he believes in. Like the five American albums by his friend and former bandmate Johnny Cash, the songs on This Old Road benefit from stripped-down arrangements, leaving the focus on his poetic lyrics and gruff, weary voice. And this time, the political moments are sure to be met with cheers.

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