Trouble No More
Before John Mellencamp recorded his classicScarecrow, he learned hundreds of classic rock covers from the '60s. Here the Indiana troubadour ventures back to the very roots of American popular music, learning traditional songs associated with the likes ofRobert Johnson,Son House,Howlin' Wolf, andWoody Guthrie. The result is Mellencamp's rawest album to date, updating the acoustic sounds of those early idioms for modern times while keeping them firmly rooted in tradition. In that sense, it's not unlike his heroBob Dylan's two country-blues cover albums from the mid-'90s--though the ever-mischievous Mellencamp has a little fun with his definitions here, paying tribute to his Hoosier background by covering Bloomington nativeHoagy Carmichael's "Brooklyn Oriole" andLucinda Williams's 1980 ode to "Lafayette," while pulling a beautiful stark version ofSkeeter Davis's wonderful 1963 country-pop ballad "End of the World" out of left field. The formerJames Brownimpersonator has never sang better. The album closes with "To Washington," credited to Mellencamp, but actually a "borrowed blues" that's been used to address political figures as far back as Calvin Coolidge when recorded byCharlie Poole, theCarter Family, and Guthrie. This time, the song addresses one George W. Bush and surely won't gain Mellencamp any new fans among those who'd support aDixie Chicksboycott.--Bill Holdship