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Music sample:
John Mellencamp "Our Country" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
Sample from John Mellencamp's "Our Country". From the album Freedom's Road.
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Mellencamp released Freedom's Road, on January 23, 2007. "Our Country," the
first single from the album, hit radio in the fall of 2006. The song was played
as the opening song on Mellencamp's 2006 spring tour, and the band that opened
for him on that tour, Little Big Town, was called on to record harmonies on the
studio version "Our Country" as well as seven other songs on Freedom's Road.
"Our Country" began being featured in Chevy Silverado TV commercials in late
September of 2006, mostly during football games and big-time sporting events on
major American televisions networks. Mellencamp hoped that including the song in
the ads would bring it in front of a mass audience, since radio doesn't openly
embrace new material from aging rock artists.
Mellencamp shot the video for "Our Country," which is a patriotic anthem along
the lines of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," in Savannah, Ga. on
September 17 and 18 of 2006. He also sang the song to open Game 2 of the 2006
World Series.
Mellencamp wrote and produced all 10 songs on Freedom's Road, and the record
peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart by selling 56,000 copies in its
first week on the market, marking his highest charting release since Scarecrow
went to No. 2 in the fall of '85.
Notable tunes on Freedom's Road include "Jim Crow" -- a duet with legendary folk
icon Joan Baez and another song about racism -- "Heaven Is A Lonely Place," the
acoustically arranged "Rural Route," and the scorching opener "Someday," which
will be the album's second single.
The song "Our Country" contains classic social commentary, drawing together in a
country song the elements of patriotism, morality and freedom; as well as
science, religion and issues of poverty.
Movie career
Mellencamp has had a brief career as an actor, appearing in four films: Falling
from Grace (which he also directed) (1992), Madison (2001), After Image (2001),
and Lone Star State of Mind (2002). John's older brother Joe Mellencamp appears
in Falling From Grace as the bandleader during the country club scene.
Personal life
Mellencamp lives in Bloomington, Indiana and has been married to former
supermodel Elaine Irwin since September 5, 1992. Mellencamp has five children
from his three marriages: Michelle (born 1970) from his first marriage;
daughters Teddi Jo (1981) and Justice (1985) from his second wife; and sons Hud
(1994) and Speck (1995) from his current marriage.
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