Maps of Music

Kristofferson (1970)

Where the lyrics of Kristofferson take you, and where it was really made.

The debut album sold poorly in 1970 and returned only in 1971, under a new title, after Janis Joplin's hit version of one of its songs.

Key places

Monument Recording Studio, Nashville (1970)

Recording site Nashville — The album's recording sessions were held at Monument Recording Studio in Nashville between October 1969 and spring 1970. The point sits at city-center level for Nashville. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Kristofferson: debut studio album by singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson
• Produced by Fred Foster and released June 1970 by Monument Records
• Original release was a commercial failure
• Reissued in 1971 under the title Me and Bobby McGee

Background

• After a series of temporary jobs, Kristofferson became a helicopter pilot for oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico
• He wrote songs during his free time and pitched them to singers around Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee
• His songs were recorded by country singers Roy Drusky, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roger Miller
• Johnny Cash was persuaded to try his material and later invited him to perform at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival
• After the Newport performance, Fred Foster signed Kristofferson to Monument Records as a songwriter and recording artist
• Foster included songs other artists had already recorded, along with Kristofferson's new compositions

Recording

• Recorded at Monument Recording Studio in Nashville between October 1969 and spring 1970
• Kristofferson had no backing band, so Foster gathered musicians known to him
• Arrangements featured string orchestration
• Johnny Cash wrote the album's liner notes

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• American musician, songwriter and actor, born June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas; died September 28, 2024 in Hana, Hawaii, aged 88.
• A pioneer of the 1970s outlaw country movement, moving away from the polished Nashville sound toward a rawer, introspective style.
• Signed to Monument Records in 1969 after one single for Epic Records; recorded ten albums for Monument.
• Songs such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night" became hits for other artists.
• "Why Me" and "Highwayman" reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1973 and 1985.
• Member of the supergroup the Highwaymen (with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash) from 1985 to 1995.
• Acting career in films including A Star Is Born (1976, Golden Globe for Best Actor), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Heaven's Gate (1980) and the Blade trilogy.
• Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014; three Grammy wins from 13 nominations.
• Announced retirement from performing in January 2021; final performance at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29, 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critics gave the album a positive reception, but its original release failed commercially
• Billboard called Kristofferson a dynamite package and described its material as potent
• Rolling Stone called the album superb and praised the compositions as simple songs that speak eloquently of his experiences
• Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B− and called the songs perfunctory
• In its first year the album sold about 30,000 copies

Reappraisal

• Stephen Holden gave the album a negative review in the 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide, while praising the strength of the material
• Christgau lowered his rating from his original review to a C− in his later guide to 1970s rock albums
• In a 2001 review, Rolling Stone gave the album four stars out of five
• AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five
• Retrospective ratings are mixed, as some critics disliked Kristofferson's singing

Records

• Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down won Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards in November 1970
• Certified gold by the RIAA on 18 December 1974

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · de.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• When Foster signed him as a singer, Kristofferson said he could not sing and sounded like a frog.
• Kristofferson misheard the surname McKee as McGee, which became the title of Me and Bobby McGee.
• Monument Records changed a lyric in The Best of All Possible Worlds to remove the word black, and Kristofferson protested the change.
• In 2016 Kristofferson told Uncut that he probably would not record the album the same way now.
• Janis Joplin's version of Me and Bobby McGee led Monument to reissue the album in 1971 under that title.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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