USA: KRIS KRISTOFFERSON ON TOUR IN SUPPORT OF HIS LATEST SOLO EFFORT 'THE AUSTIN SESSION'

Record ID: 388730

  • Title: USA: KRIS KRISTOFFERSON ON TOUR IN SUPPORT OF HIS LATEST SOLO EFFORT 'THE AUSTIN SESSION'
  • Date: 1st January 1999
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 26, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SOUNDBITE UNDER PREVIOUS VIDEO, (English) KRIS KRISTOFERSONSAYING: I'm looking forward to it (the tour)., going out with my old friend Steve Gruden back on guitar..I think we'll have that; just two guitars nad a bass, and I guess we'll be opening in New York"
  • Embargoed: 16th January 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA2NDXT8NBEB4JL22P0UJC7SBNE
  • Story Text: Kris Kristofferson has been credited with changing the face of country music in the seventies, as the "rebel with a guitar" he challenged the Nashville establishment by writing, performing, and winning awards for songs like "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Help Me Make It Through The Night".He is currently touring in support of his latest solo effort, "The Austin Sessions" which features collaborations with Vince Gill, Jackson Browne, and Steve Earle.
    Country singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson begins his North American tour this month in support of his new release on Justice Records entitled "The Austin Sessions".
    The music is a collection of his best known songs recorded acoustically by Kristofferson and some of his longtime pals including country rocker Steve Earle, Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, and Mark Kopfler.
    Speaking of the new versions of some of his most enduringmusic, Kristofferson says they're "leaner and meaner".
    "They don't have the strings and the elaborate production like the earlier versions that I did of the songs.As far as my own performance, I just think 30 years on the road has made me a lot more comfortable singing."
    Kristofferson is a true advocate of the "on the road"
    philosophy of Jack Kerouac, having spent most of his career travelling from town to town, honing his singing skills while writing with an insight and clarity that sometimes shocked but always won over the conservative Nashville country music establishment.
    The former soldier, West Point instructor, and Rhodes Scholar received his Country Music Award for songwriting in jeans and a scruffy beard in 1970.He'd won for "Sunday Morning Coming Down", which was turned into a number one hit by his friend Johnny Cash.
    Kristofferson's creative lyrics and memorable music soon made Nashville naysayers forget about his appearance as his songs sold millions and were covered by the likes of Cash,Janis Joplin, and Roger Miller.
    He has also acted in movies, contributed to soundtracks, and won his fair share of Grammy awards for his music and songwriting, but Kristofferson thinks all that is old news to today's audiences.
    "I could read in the paper any day that I'm dismissed as irrelevant because I'm not on the radio today.It's pleasing to see new ears like the old songs too, its gratifying to read good reviews after God only knows how many bad ones...that I of course never deserved."
    "The Austin Sessions" tour begins officially on October 16th in Kristofferson's native Texas.
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