Word: mellencamp
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PERFORMER: JOHN MELLENCAMP...
...BOTTOM LINE: By lacing his small town twang with urban soul, Mellencamp brews an all-American sound...
Like a troubadour adrift on the blue highways of America, John Mellencamp has hitched his muse to the hopes and broken dreams of the heartland. Even before the mid-'80s, when he renounced the pop artifice of his John Cougar past and took back his given name, he had found his calling as a spinner of hook-laden odes to the ordinary man. Early hits that hinted at the darker dimensions of suburbia, like Jack and Diane and Pink Houses, sold millions and made Mellencamp an MTV star. On later albums, like Scarecrow (1985) and The Lonesome Jubilee...
...Human Wheels, his 12th album, Mellencamp's social conscience remains as keen as ever, but his small-town twang has evolved into a lusher, worldlier sound. The album, like the diary of a Hoosier who went to the big city and returned tougher and wiser, is tempered by the neon images and jukebox sounds of urban America, melding straight-ahead electric-guitar licks with the staccato rhythms of the modern melting...
...show, we had more breathing room. We might put on a guest who wasn't a great talker but someone we really liked. Now we're going for the best possible performers." Among those scheduled for the first week: Robin Williams, Martin Short, Debra Winger and John Mellencamp. (In a nice bow to tradition, Letterman's very first guest will be Bill Murray, his inaugural guest...