Emergent / 92e
2006
The Pilgrim: A Celebration Of Kris Kristofferson
About This Album
The success of a tribute album is fully dependent on the contributors' ability to put their egos aside and kneel at the altar of the artist being feted. The crew honoring Kris Kristofferson here had no trouble doing that. Though some of the featured artists -- particularly Rosanne Cash, Shooter Jennings, Jessi Colter, and, of course, Willie Nelson -- were family and friends while others were admirers from afar, there's a palpable sense of love and respect permeating this cozy and homey 70th birthday party. Kristofferson, already in his thirties when Nashville took notice of him in the late '60s and early '70s, was a prime mover among the "outlaw" songwriters and singers who turned the country music business on its ear, bringing to it a rock & roll attitude marked by a stark new realism. His songs have been covered by many over the years, and the most successful interpretations have been those that drilled to the core and found the honesty and originality the writer gave them without slavishly aping the original. Only a few of the performers on this American Roots label collection, the follow-up to a similar set spotlighting Stephen Foster, stray far from Kristofferson's blueprints, but all understand who they're dealing with and what he's about.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 13)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.