Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
From Rhodes Scholar to decorated military helicopter pilot to janitor is hardly the most promising of career trajectories, but Kris Kristofferson finessed that downward arc into something extraordinary when he made the jump from Nashville studio dogsbody to the singer-songwriter who, according to Willie Nelson, hauled country music "out of the Dark Ages" – a process depicted in downbeat but gripping manner on these hitherto unreleased demos.
Included are prototype versions of several future standards with Kristofferson's weather-beaten baritone defining the notion of "old before his time". Of particular interest is the juxtaposition of "Me And Bobby McGee", first recorded by his friend Janis Joplin, and "Epitaph (Black And Blue)", written in tribute after her death.
Download this: Me And Bobby McGee; Epitaph (Black And Blue)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments