The Higwayman

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor I f you look elsewhere on this page, you’ll see that two of our regular contributors have penned pieces about the recent dedication of a statue of Arkansas’s own Johnny Cash at the U.S. Capitol, which, don’t get me wrong, is great. I love Johnny Cash. I mean, is there anybody who doesn’t love Johnny Cash (except maybe for that guy he shot in Reno just to watch him die)?

But I’m actually writing this column, in an example of sheer coincidence, about another country music icon, that being Kris Kristofferson. No, not just out of the blue. You see, Kris Kristofferson died this past Saturday at the age of 88. Kristofferson’s death, combined with the deaths of Dame Maggie Smith (of Harry Potter and Downton Abby fame) and Pete Rose (of baseball and being banned from baseball fame) on Monday, create one of those eerie “celebrity deaths always come in threes” deals that, frankly, is a little creepy.

In any event, ol’ Kris had a good run. In fact, all three of these famous people were in their 80s, and it’s of course, always sad when anyone passes away, but these three had long and successful lives, which is honestly pretty refreshing in a world where there’s also a famous list of celebrities called the “27 Club” who all died at the age of 27 (look it up, it’s also quite creepy). Side note: Since Pete Rose was given a “lifetime ban” from baseball, now that he’s dead, can he get elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame now? I only ask, because he’s the all-time leader in hits, games played, plate appearances and one of the more famous and important players in baseball history. He was banned for gambling and now there are teams advertising online sports betting right there on their ballpark fences. Just seems a little hypocritical at this point…

Interestingly enough, Kristofferson was in a super-group of country music legends with the aforementioned Johnny Cash. They, along with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, were The Highwaymen, and if you’ve only got a passing familiarity with country music, you probably know Kris Kristofferson from that collaboration. Another side note: Of all the big name country guys from that era, Willie Nelson (at age 91) is the only one left. Maybe there’s something to that “medicinal marijuana” after all …

Weirdly enough, I first knew Kris Kristofferson as an actor. “Convoy” was one of my guilty pleasure movies as a kid. It seemed to be the “Late, Late Show” on Channel 24 like once a month back then. He actually did a lot of movies, including a great version of “A Star Is Born” with Barbara Streisand, for those of you who only know of the recent Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga version. He was actually acting all the way up until 2018 and was even in the Blade movies and a Pee-Wee Herman movie (no, really). He even leant his voice to a handful of video game characters.

But yes, Kristofferson was a country music singer. Well, more accurately, Kris Kristofferson was a songwriter who also recorded country music songs. His all-time biggest hit was actually “Me and Bobby McGee,” which was a big hit for him but was a monster crossover smash for Janice Joplin. In fact, most of his biggest successes were from other people singing his songs. He won four GRAMMY Awards as a songwriter.

My personal favorite of Kristofferson’s actual recordings of his own songs is his rendition of “Why Me?” And ironically, considering his prowess as a songwriter, his cover of Robert Earl Keen’s “The Road Goes on Forever” with The Highwaymen is also an awesome song that everyone who loves “story” songs needs to know about.

And that’s what Kristofferson did – he told stories. His songs are rarely the verse, chorus, verse, chorus, guitar solo, chorus, chorus type of song. The crazy thing is that he almost wasn’t even a music guy. He was a military man and gave up an officer’s pension and a plush teaching job at West Point to sweep floors in Nashville just to be in the vicinity of people who were writing and recording music.

The best thing I ever heard anyone say about Kristofferson (and one of the best things I ever heard anyone say about anyone) was by Larry Gatlin in the wonderful Ken Burns documentary “Country Music,” who said, “All those words in the dictionary, and nobody knew what damn order they went in until Kris Kristofferson came along.”