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John Mellencamp was recently called an “old school cowboy,” by his close friend Christie Brinkley. John Mellencamp has continued to release albums of substance and soul over the course of a forty-year career.
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Over time, Mellencamp’s involvement with Farm Aid helped endear him to the heartland of America. The United States recession in the early eighties shaped the lyrical content of albums like Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee which are considered by many to be Mellencamp’s best work. His addition of Lisa Germano on fiddle in the mid-eighties had a major impact on John Mellencamp creating a unique sound of his own. It was a brilliant move because Mellencamp’s guitar oriented sound and mid-western vocal stylings proved enormously successful. However, Mellencamp’s quick response to the Springsteen comparisons was to jettison the piano player and steer towards a more Rolling Stones style sound with the release of the album American Fool and the single “Hurt So Good,” just a few years later in 1982. His early hits like “I need A Lover,” “This Time,” and “Ain’t even done with the Night,” were heavily dominated by Roy Bittan style piano playing and Springsteen style lyrical ideas. Mellencamp’s first two official album releases echoed the pop sentiments of late 1970’s FM/AM radio. Photo: By Andrea Sartorati, via Wikimedia CommonsJohn Mellencamp’s career began in the late 1970s in the shadows of artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger.