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This Old Road

by

Kris Kristofferson

 
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This Old Road
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Avg: 4.0 (98 ratings)

Kristofferson — old and improved.

  • We Say...

    Review by Keith Harris

    Kris Kristofferson would surely belong on any list of the greatest American singer-songwriters but for one simple fact: He can't sing. For much of his career, this niggling detail has been a bigger handicap than his admirers admitted — an even bigger handicap than his lyrics' gradual devolution into good-hearted but wooden agitprop.

    So it's news enough that as Kristofferson closes in on seventy, his croak has at last settled warmly into its distinctive crags on This Old Road. But here's the real crazy part: This Old Road works not in spite of, but because of, the vocals. Don Was produces the album respectfully yet with noticeable intimacy, displaying the same hands-off tendency with which Rick Rubin originally recorded Johnny Cash. In other words, it's mostly Kristofferson and his beat-up acoustic guitar.

    This Old Road is an old man's album, and Kristofferson makes for a damn credible old man. Age-earned wisdom doesn't necessarily surface in the lyrics — he still loads up his songs with plenty of angels and highways and roams the faux folkways that lazy songwriters think provide a shortcut to the Truth. But on the title track, the weathered authority of his voice allows him to wring a wholly unforced pathos from a wistful glance at an old photo of himself. And "Chase the Feeling" is an uncommonly perceptive take on addiction that understands the addict's justifications while still calling him on his bullshit.

    As for politics, Kristofferson's still a Hollywood radical, and at best his comfortable distance from the disenfranchised battles his genuine empathy for them to a draw. Still, the old-fashioned sing-along "Pilgrim's Progress" sounds genuinely rally-worthy, and its chorus's insistence on self-betterment personalizes its politics as well. On "The News," God responds to those who go to war believing He's on their side with "Not in my name/ Not on my ground." And on "The Burden of Freedom," the man who famously once considered freedom just another word for nothing left to lose now sees it as a responsibility to be borne. "Lord, help me to shoulder the burden of freedom," he sings, and apparently He's responding. When an icon like Springsteen or even a scrapper like Steve Earle takes on that kind of weighty significance, he strains and wobbles underneath its weight. Kristofferson? He's never sounded more comfortable.

  • They Say...

    Review by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

    This Old Road is the first recording of all new songs by Kris Kristofferson in the 11 years since Moment of Forever was released by Justice. (Interestingly enough, that album was originally recorded a few years earlier by producer Don Was for his Karambolage label, which lost its distribution deal.) Was is on-board here as a producer and as a musician, as are drummer Jim Keltner and old friend Stephen Bruton on guitar. Most of these 11 songs, however, are simply Kristofferson accompanying himself on guitar. The years -- Kristofferson turns 70 in 2006 -- haven't softened the old poet's social conscience -- "Pilgrim's Progress," "Wild American," "In the News," and "The Burden of Freedom" are every bit as radical as those found on his last two Mercury records, Repossessed and Third World Warrior in the mid-'80s. But Kristofferson is also wise enough to believe in love and forgiveness -- "Thank You for a Life," "The Last Thing to Go," "Holy Creation," "Final Attraction" -- and still remembers how to write a killer outlaw country song (check out "Chase the Feeling"). The tunes with the band are solid, but there is something utterly irresistible about the man with only his guitar. His voice is no better and no worse than it was in all those years form the 1970s on. But his phrasing as a singer has improved considerably. Kristofferson is dead-on here, razor-sharp, economical in his language, and to the bone in his insight. This is a welcome comeback for Kristofferson; as an artist, he proves he still has plenty to offer to anyone willing enough to listen.

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