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Within four months of her tragic death from a heroin overdose, Janis Joplin became the second artist to score a posthumous US number one hit with the rollicking country blues rocker ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. It was her only chart topper, but gained her the wider recognition that her unique take on the blues and charismatically soulful vocals had always warranted. Starting off as a gently swaying country number with Joplin’s prominent East-Texan accent its most distinctive feature, the singer’s recording of the number builds to a blues-rock crescendo that brings her trademark, deep-throated rasp to the fore. Behind her,...

Singer, songwriter & actor Kris Kristofferson dead at 88

On this day, June 22, 2024, we celebrate the extraordinary life and multifaceted career of Kris Kristofferson, a true legend whose influence has woven itself into the very fabric of American music and cinema. Born in Brownsville, Texas, Kristofferson’s journey from Rhodes Scholar to country music outlaw and Hollywood star is a saga of artistic rebellion, heartfelt storytelling, and a relentless pursuit of authenticity.>>>The Songs that Define a LegendTo distill Kris Kristofferson’s musical contributions to just ten songs is no small feat, but here we go, each one a masterpiece in its own right: •"Me and Bobby McGee" - A...

Best Friend From Heaven sees Kristofferson voice a dead pooch sent back to earth to arrange his owner’s nuptials. It’s a new low for the ‘talking animals’ genre https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=KfD8nLAeMDQ You would think that, by now, people would have stopped making films about talking animals. You would think that, after witnessing the monstrosities that were Andy the Talking Hedgehog, A Talking Cat!?! and Kevin Spacey’s Nine Lives, producers would run a giddy mile from such a flat-out dismal genre. And yet. Not only is there a new contender in town, but it might be the most inexplicable of them all. The...

Kris Kristofferson has been battling memory loss for several years, but his condition has taken a marked turn for the better due to a surprising diagnosis. Doctors have been telling Kristofferson that his worsening memory loss was caused either by Alzheimer’s or by dementia that was brought on by blows to the head he suffered in his athletic youth, when he took regular part in rough sports including football, boxing and rugby. The iconic singer-songwriter and actor tells Rolling Stone Country that it got so bad, he sometimes couldn’t remember what he was doing from one moment to the next....

LAS VEGAS — Ethan Hawke might want to avoid crossing paths with Toby Keith in the near future. The country star lit into the actor for an article Hawke wrote in the new issue of Rolling Stone about Kris Kristofferson. In it, Hawke refers to a blowup Kristofferson had with an unnamed country star back in 2003 that sounds a lot like Toby Keith. But a furious Keith, speaking backstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards, said it wasn't true, and added that Hawke did not name him in the story because he did not want to face him...

The Dixie Chicks appear to be more popular than the president these days. President Bush's approval rating has plummeted, but the Chicks are on top of the pop and country charts with their first album since publicly criticizing Bush three years ago. They did it without the support of country radio, which largely ignored the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines told a London audience in 2003 that the group was ashamed Bush was from their home state of Texas. The new album, "Taking the Long Way," took the No. 1 spot Wednesday on the country albums chart and...