By the time Kris Kristofferson recorded his debut album in 1970 he had already been a Rhodes Scholar, a failed British recording artists (under the name Kris Carson), a US Air Force helicopter pilot, had played the Isle Of Wight Festival, been befriended and championed by Johnny Cash, written hits for Jerry Lee Lewis and Roger Miller, and been a janitor at Columbia Records.
The album Kristofferson barely sold when first released, falling between country and the ccounterculture that shared at least some of the anti-authoritarian attitudes sported by the archetypal cowboy renegade.
Hence drifter classic Me and Bobby McGee and the ironic jibe at redneck politics, The Law Is For The Protection Of The People, but there were also glimpses of a country Leonard Cohen in Casey’s Last Ride and the drinker’s anthem Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down. A year later this was repackaged as Me & Bobby McGee and sold shed loads.
He never had to seek janitorial work ever again.
Kristofferson died at his home in Maui, Hawaii, on 28 September 2024. He was 88.
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