Kris Kristofferson Rest in Peace

[Litig8r 418]

my sort of KK story.  My former law partner's father was Fred Carter.  He was a famous Nashville session writer and wrote and played the intro to the S & G's the Boxer.  He said there were always musicians hanging around.  He said when he was little kid this hippy dude who didn't bath often slept on their couch for a couple of months until his mother ran him out.  Yep it was KK.  

[UTexasFight 9794]

4 hours ago, Bojack said:

That song really helps set the tone for this scene. I've always interpreted it as Rust's selection on the jukebox.

 Glad someone posted this.

I’ve listened to Casey’s Last Ride about 10 times since yesterday. 

[Anastasis 23714]

God damned American legend. Rip. 

[tx 3 putt 78664]

[Chad Fuck 18134]

12 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

That kid is going places!

 

[Gil Bang 26229]

Margo Price wrote this essay today:

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Lighting a Candle for Kris Kristofferson Last thoughts on the poet, picker, prophet, singer, storyteller, soldier, activist, Rhodes Scholar, Renaissance man and true-blue American hero. Margo Price Sep 30     READ IN APP   Performing with Kris Kristofferson and the Texas Gentleman at Newport Folk Festival in 2016. Photo by Adam Kissick.   I’m lighting a candle for Kris Kristofferson and remembering every song he ever wrote. I’m thinking about of how lucky I was to come into his orbit if even for a short time, because he was, without a doubt, one of the best songwriters to ever walk the face of the earth. Kris was, like the words of his song; ‘The Pilgrim, Chapter 33,’ a poet, a picker, a prophet, a pusher, a pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he was stoned. He was also a song crafter, a storyteller, a movie star, a soldier, a helicopter pilot, an activist, a Rhodes Scholar, a Renaissance man, a father, a family man, a veteran and a true blue American hero.  Me and Kris at Willie’s 4th of July Picnic, Austin, Texas, 2016   I first met Kris in 2016 at Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic in 2016 when I chased him down for a photo in the parking lot. But the second time I met him was the most memorable of all our encounters. Just a couple weeks later, I was backstage at Newport doing an interview with Rolling Stone when my friends in the Texas Gentlemen called me. “Do you know the words to ‘Me and Bobby McGee?’’ they asked in a panic. “Like the back of my hand.” I replied. They proceeded to tell me that they were backing up Kris and that Patti Smith was supposed to come sing a Janis inspired vocal at the end but she got stuck in traffic. I ended the interview immediately and rushed to join them. Kris’s memory was starting to go and he looked a little confused as I stepped on stage. I knew he probably didn’t remember me from our brief encounter in Austin, but when I started singing the “Call him my lover, call him my friend, la-de-de-da part” he began to smile from ear to ear. He came closer as I kept singing and pulled me in for a big hug and a kiss on the cheek at the end of song.    I met him many more times after that and he always greeted me warmly. I had witnessed the power of music and song lyrics and how they would suddenly bring Kris back for a moment, like a bolt of lightning to his memory. You’d see that electric spark in his ocean blue eyes and you could tell he was fully present. It seemed like everything just made sense while he was singing songs that he had written. I doubt he knew who I was most of the time, but he was always warm, gentle and kind. I always thought maybe I reminded him of a young Barbara Streisand or someone else he knew from his past. Kris and I performing together at Glastonbury Festival, June 23rd, 2017.   I performed with Kris at Glastonbury Festival, while Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Bradley Cooper casually watched from the wings. It was the largest crowd I’d ever seen, let alone performed in front of. Kris’s songs carried everything. They floated across a sea of people, connecting us all by one thin thread. It was a spiritual journey when you attended his shows, even during those last performances, with his supportive angel of a wife, Lisa, running the show and the teleprompter from side stage. His voice full of gravel and his words echoed with the gravity of time and wisdom. If you listen hard, you’ll hear his ethos and humanity all woven through the fabric of his songs. I sat in with him also at The Basement East in Nashville alongside his daughter Casey and Merle Haggard’s son, Ben playing guitar. He came out to see Jamey Johnson and I performing The Last Waltz and we burned a hooter backstage. At Bridgestone Arena I got him to autograph my guitar. After Kris autographed my guitar at Bridgestone Arena, January 12th 2019.   We also got to visit for a while backstage at Willie’s 90th. His performance with Rosanne Cash that evening of “Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again” quieted Hollywood Bowl and when they were finished singing, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. His wife, Lisa told me that when they were watching me sing side stage, Kris pointed to me on the stage and then leaned over to her and said, “I feel like I know her.” Lisa whispered back to him, “You do.”  Kris, Willie and Ramona. Thanksgiving at the Nelson’s, Nov 23rd, 2023. Paia, Hawaii I have a sacred memory of the time we spent Thanksgiving at Willie’s together in Maui last year. My daughter Ramona sat quietly at Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson’s feet, playing on the floor with some old toy trains. Kris and Willie were sitting there side by side, listening to the unreleased album Willie had been working on that his son Micah had been producing, called “The Last Leaf on the Tree.” It was one of those spiritual moments that feels like a dream looking back on it now. Ramona was barely four years old at the time and she would normally be climbing the furniture, but it was like she could sense that she was standing among some very tall, very wise trees. She sat there with us, intently listening to the entire album. Willie Nelson "Last Leaf On the Tree" One of the things that always inspired me about Kristofferson was the way he navigated his songs and his career by his heart. Going back through his lyrics, you can use his words as a roadmap to navigate the trials of life. I was driving in my truck a couple weeks ago and put on his song ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ and just broke down crying. Kris had been on my mind a lot lately and I needed some hope on that particular day so I put that song on and let myself just sit in the heaviness of it all. His words are like salve on the wound that is humanity.  Pilgrim's Progress by Kris Kristofferson Kris didn’t play by anyone else’s rules. He was the embodiment of story telling in Country Music, but he was also a folkie. Just a few weeks ago, I was speaking to Kris’ longtime friend, musical collaborator and a brilliant artist in his own right, Billy Swan about the legacy of Kristofferson. He told me that Kris once said to him, “You know Billy, Nashville in the 1960’s was what I imagine Paris would have been like in the 1930’s.” Bob Dylan once said, “Kristofferson came into Nashville like a wildcat that he was and just changed everything. You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris.” Kris was politically charged, often outspoken and sometimes misunderstood. His 1986 release of “The Law Is For The Protection of the People” and “What About Me” questioned the rightwing’s military hostility and became an anti-war anthem. He paid the price at times in his career for speaking out about a multitude of human rights issues. He said, “I found a considerable lack of work after doing concerts for the Palestinian children, and if that’s the way it has to be, that’s the way it has to be. If you support human rights, you gotta support them everywhere.” This inspires me and gives me courage for this generation and others. I’ve been silent about the war because I’ve been trying to educate myself on the history. I’ve scared to say the wrong thing. But I definitely don’t believe our US tax dollars should be used to bomb children and I pray for and end to the violence every day. I loved how Kris showed solidarity alongside Sinead O’Connor when she was being booed on stage at Dylan’s Birthday Bash at Madison Square Garden after she spoke out against the Pope. They told him to go out there and pull her off stage but instead, he stood beside her, he put his arm around her and spoke in her ear, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.” No matter what collaborations or accolades that lie ahead, I can say, the greatest honor of my life was getting to share the stage with Kris. My heart goes out the Lisa Kristofferson, his family and friends who loved and knew him well.

[tbone_ 14438]

I've thought a lot about Kris over the past year as we lost my dad in the summer of 23 and Kris was his all time favorite.  Like someone up thread said -- when I think of my childhood I think of riding to the baseball fields in my dad's truck listening to Kris and Willie.

Born in 68. The entirety of my life in the 70s that I can remember was dominated by listening to Kris and Willie in the back seat of my dad’s car. Those songs are burned into my soul. Of course I was 35 years old before I knew what any of them meant

[tx 3 putt 78664]

the man had to put toby keith in his place, love it ….

 

Edited September 30 by tx 3 putt

[Carl Spackler 3614]

4 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

the man had to put toby keith in his place, love it ….

 

I've read accounts that KK denied that this interaction with Toby Keith occurred.  Would have been cool if it did occur, but it may not have. 

[PRONG HORN 3219]

 

 

[PRONG HORN 3219]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ten Bears 2500]

On 3/6/2022 at 5:34 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

The Dead played it better than Janis did.

 

 

In WTB's defense, he probably eats chili with noodles in it.

 

[jimmyjazz 47096]

7 minutes ago, Ten Bears said:

In WTB's defense, he probably eats chili with noodles in it.

That sounds like ass, just like every Grateful Dead song.

[abuelo gringo 333]

At Willie's first picnic, July 1973.  RIP Kris.

[boilerhorn 1621]

I know it was already posted.  Not sorry.  Just a sublime interpretation of a timeless song by 4 greats. RIP KK.

 

 

[Underdog 29160]

On 10/1/2024 at 2:02 PM, Ten Bears said:

 

In WTB's defense, he probably eats chili with noodles in it.

 

And?  Something wrong with that? 

[Chad Fuck 18134]

Nora Jones did a killer version of "Help Me Make It Through The Night" at ACL this past Friday.  Mickey Raphael played harmonica.  I hope someone out there got it on video.

[jimmyjazz 47096]

54 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

Nora Jones did a killer version of "Help Me Make It Through The Night" at ACL this past Friday.  Mickey Raphael played harmonica.  I hope someone out there got it on video.

I'm going to see her on Thursday, that would be a real treat.

[boilerhorn 1621]

A different Charlie Rose interview than what was posted a bit upstream.  NSIAP, as I looked