I've been listening to and enjoying John Mellencamp's music ever since his Johnny Cougar days. His concert at Maple Leaf Gardens on the Lonesome Jubilee tour was one of the first that Nancy and went to together and turned me into a lifetime fan. (His cover of Richard Thompson's "Shoot Out the Lights" was even darker and more intense than Thompson's version).
His latest album, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, is solidly in the tradition of outcast Americana music. This New Yorker profile describes it as "blundering, bleak and engrossing", all of which is true. It isn't a happy album, but it's very listenable and fits the mood of our times. Springsteen fans should note that he performs on three songs, including the single, "Wasted Days".
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