Like his compadres Dylan, Cohen, Nelson and Prine, Kris Kristofferson’s voice is showing the results of too much living, but it still can convey more passion and commitment than a chartful of boy bands. On the title track, a recut version of an '80s album song, he emotes with all the wisdom of the later Johnny Cash, and indeed Don Was’ production of the album uses the same sparse approach that Rick Rubin brought to resurrecting Cash’s moribund career.
‘Wild American’ bows down before Native American activist John Trudell and personal heroes Haggard, Nelson and Earle. Tracks like the recut ‘The Burden Of Freedom’ and ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ are almost unbearably personal and intimate, while ‘The Show Goes On’ and ‘The Last Thing to Go’ nod generously to those of his colleagues who tried to say something honest and lasting. He turns ‘Chase The Feeling’ into a superb country blues with an eloquent harmonica solo and on ‘In The News’ he urges the ending of the war in Iraq.
This Old Road is brimful of gritty observations about life and learning, and the slight sourness of Kristofferson’s guitar tuning is itself a gut-wrenching comment on the world we have made for ourselves. He has been one of the bravest critics of Bush’s murderous campaigns and in these 11 songs he tells more truth than you’ll get in a week of Fox News. Tune in, and learn.