Kris Kristofferson: This Old Road : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Much like Johnny Cash's American recordings, This Old Road finds sixty-nine-year-old Kris Kristofferson stripped to his essential palette of voice, guitar and harmonica for one of the finest albums in his storied career. With a voice like bubbling tar paper and a heart full of thanks for his blessed life (the title track calls for "one more rainbow for the road"), Kristofferson taps into a timeless trove of country-blues melodies. "Final Attraction" name-checks Roger Miller, June Carter and Shel Silverstein among those who sought redemption in the power of song, and on "The Show Goes On" he spryly remembers hootenannies of yore when "the sweetest thing you ever heard was the singing of 'The Speckled Bird.' " Over rudimentary fingerpicking, "In the News" takes a stand against "the billion-dollar bombing of a nation on its knees," until the singer deigns to hear the voice of God declare, "Not in my name, not on my ground, I want nothing but the ending of the war/No more killing, or it's over, and the mystery won't matter anymore." Thirty-five years after winning a Grammy for "Help Me Make It Through the Night," Kristofferson has made an album to help us through our own dark times.