CMA Country Music : We are heartbroken
to learn about the loss of legendary Country Music icon Kris Kristofferson.
The beloved artist, singer, songwriter and Country Music Hall of Fame member
has forever left a mark on music’s history. Our sincere condolences go out to
his family and loved ones.
Grand
Ole Opry Thank you for all the songs and your
incredible dedication to country music, Kris Kristofferson We'll
be sure Kris' songs will live forever on our stage and across our
airwaves.
“There’s not a singer, songwriter or musician of my generation that wasn’t influenced, inspired, or in awe of Kris Kristofferson. RIP.” - Terry McBride / McBride & The Ride
“Kris Kristofferson made great music for us that was brought to life by Elvis, Cash, Joplin, and Kris himself (and many others). What a sad day to lose him. I recorded with him at John Carter Cash's cabin studio on a Carter Family song (Gold Watch and Chain), and met up with him several times over the years before and after that. While watching his solo show in St. Petersburg, Florida I was amazed at the calm control and love he got from his audience.” - John McEuen
“Kris had one of the greatest songwriting minds ever. What a gift that he shared with all of us. He was a very talented man. May he rest in peace.” - Moe Bandy
“Kris
Kristofferson will go down as one of the most prolific writers in music
history, but to most he will go down as one of the nicest, most down-to-earth
talents that our business has ever known. I was honored to have the pleasure of
working with him and calling him a friend.” - T.G. Sheppard
“I have known Kris my entire career. He was truly one of a kind! My prayers for his family.” - Johnny Lee
“I was saddened to find out a few minutes ago that one of America’s great poets is gone! Kris Kristofferson was a true Renaissance man, a Rhodes scholar, a soldier, a helicopter pilot, a songwriter/recording artist, an actor, an author, and more. But to me, he was the living legend that made me feel good about myself at an award show one night when he ran us down to tell us how much he enjoyed our performance! RIP Kris Kristofferson – “Please don’t tell me how the story ends.” - Heath Wright / Ricochet
“Kris was always so sweet to me. They would throw us in the cornfield together on Hee Haw; those are some of my fondest memories. My prayers for his family.” - Lulu Roman / Hee Haw
“We lost a friend and hero yesterday for all of us who look upon country music songwriting as poetry. Kris Kristofferson was the gold standard in sharing emotions and stories in song. Condolences go out to his wife Lisa and their entire family. Thank you for showing us all how it's done. Rest well.” - Dallas Wayne
“It’s always at a special event when I see Kris. The last two times were when he and my brother Lefty were getting inducted into “The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame” and we both were gonna do a show for the event where he had heard I forgot my harmonica for the show and gave me one of his. Then a few years ago the NSAI had its 50th anniversary event and I was there with Shelly West to do “You’re The Reason God Made Oklahoma.” I got to visit with Kris before the show. What a great talent and we are gonna miss him!” - David Frizzell
“There are very few times in life you get to share the stage with a real hero. Kris Kristofferson was a hero of mine, and I can remember almost every detail of the night I played piano while Kris sang "Help Me Make It Through The Night" on the Grand Ole Opry. What a writer, and there was so much emotion in his voice when he sang. It was raw, raspy, and true. R.I.P., Kris. There will never be another like you.” - Tim Atwood
“I had the honor of playing a few festivals with Kris. I admired his work and know the music community feels a deep loss at his passing.” - Rhonda Vincent
“I’m saddened to hear about the passing of Kris Kristofferson. He was truly a country music icon. I remember when my Uncle David asked me to learn his classic “Help Me Make It Through the Night”. Always enjoy singing it. Rest easy, Kris, you will be missed.” - Makenzie Phipps
“It is with a heavy heart that I extend my sincerest condolences and prayers to the family of outlaw country music trailblazer, Kris Kristofferson. A true legend. He will be greatly missed.” - Trey Calloway
“The death of Kris Kristofferson hits me on a very personal level. As a kid, I remember my own father playing songs like "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and “Me & Bobby McGee.” His sound was that of a true songwriter and we have lost a true talent.” - Will Wesley
"It’s crazy how many greats weren’t initially welcomed and accepted in Nashville. Thank you Kris for reminding us that great talent and great songs always find their way. RIP" - Robby Johnson
“I grew up idolizing Kris Kristofferson. His voice and lyrics spoke to my soul, drawing me into the world of music. His performances were nothing short of magical. It’s a profound loss to our music community, his legacy will live on through his music and the countless number of artists he inspired.” - Billie Jo Jones
“Country music lost a true storyteller with the loss of Kris. My heart aches for his family & friends as they mourn this loss!” - Paige King Johnson
"Country music has lost another legend. RIP Kris Kristofferson. Your music will live forever!” - Josie Sal
He was a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, a defensive back, a bartender, a Golden
Gloves boxer, a gandy dancer, a forest firefighter, a road crew member, and an
Army Ranger who flew helicopters. He was a peacenik, a revolutionary, an actor,
a superstar, a sex symbol, and a family man. He was commissioned to teach
English at West Point, though he gave that up to become a Nashville songwriting
bum.
Sam Peckinpah cast him as Billy the Kid. Willie Nelson recorded an entire album
of his songs, then joined him in supergroup The Highwaymen, with Johnny Cash
and Waylon Jennings. Muhammad Ali sat side-stage at his concerts. Mama Cass
Elliot called him “No Eyes.” Atlantic Monthly published his
short stories.
He believed that songwriting is a spiritual communion of mind, body, and soul,
and he believed that William Blake was correct in asserting that anyone
divinely ordered for spiritual communion but buries his talent will be pursued
by sorrow and desperation through life and by shame and confusion for eternity.
“(Blake) is telling you that you’ll be miserable if you don’t do what you’re
supposed to do,” Kristofferson said in the Ken Burns’ documentary Country
Music.
Kristofferson’s devotion to spiritual communion brought much in the way of
sorrow, desperation, and misery, but it led to triumph.
“I took pride in being the best laborer, the guy that could dig the ditches the fastest,” he said. “Something inside me made me want to do the tough stuff . . . Part of it was that I wanted to be a writer, and I figured that I had to get out and live. I know that’s why I ran in front of the bulls in Pamplona.”
The son of a major general and a philanthropic mother, Kristofferson spent his childhood learning lessons in honor and civility, though he arrived at different notions of these things than did his parents. He graduated high school in San Mateo, California, in 1954, then attended Pomona College, where he played football (“I was pretty slow, but I was small,” he said) and studied writing under Dr. Frederick Sontag, who pushed him to apply for a Rhodes scholarship. At Oxford, he wrote stories and examined the works of William Blake.
Kristofferson earned his master’s from Oxford in 1960, then returned to California, married his high school sweetheart, joined the Army, and learned to fly helicopters. In the Army, he wrote funny songs inspired by Hank Williams, until he fell under the sway of folk maestro Bob Dylan.
“The direction Dylan was pointing in made it a respectable ambition, a respectable thing to do,” Kristofferson said.
The Army assigned Kristofferson to teach literature at West Point, a duty that frightened him once he found that he’d have to turn in lesson plans, explaining to superiors exactly what he’d be teaching in class. He said, “It sounded like hell to me.”
And so, in 1965, he came to Nashville to visit with Marijohn Wilkin, the songwriter of “Long Black Veil” and a relation of Kristofferson’s Army platoon leader. On Kristofferson’s first Nashville night, he met Cowboy Jack Clement, a renegade creative who would become a lifelong friend. Soon after that, Wilkin helped Kristofferson get a backstage pass to the Grand Ole Opry, where he met a pacing panther named Johnny Cash. In less than two Music City weeks, Kristofferson decided to resign his Army post and move to Nashville to write songs. Soon after, he met successful songwriter Tom T. Hall in a Nashville bar. Kristofferson introduced himself to Hall, who said “Good to see you . . . It’s a hairy-legged town.”
Kristofferson scuffled for more than four years in Nashville, entering his 30s as what his parents considered a ne’er do well who was dragging down the family name. He worked as a janitor at CBS’s Nashville studio, happy to empty trash cans and make coffee in exchange for access to recording sessions by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and others. He rode around on a well-bruised Honda motorcycle, and neglected family matters in ways that came to haunt him and that doomed his first marriage. He was heartened by praise from the people whom he hoped would become peers. When his “From the Bottle to the Bottom” was recorded by Grand Ole Opry star Billy Walker in 1969, Tom T. Hall said, “God, that’s a great song” and quoted lines back to the fledgling talent.
“That kind of thing was enough to keep me going back then,” Kristofferson said.
After more than four years in songwriting purgatory, things began to roll Kristofferson’s way. Ray Stevens recorded his “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” and Johnny Cash recorded the same song and took it to the top of the country charts. Cash performed “Sunday Mornin’” on his ABC television show, and, despite the cries of network censors, refused to change Kristofferson’s line “Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned” to “Wishing, Lord, that I was home.” That song was voted the Country Music Association’s song of the year in 1970.
Roger Miller, one of Kristofferson’s songwriting heroes, recorded “Me and Bobby McGee,” a song inspired by publisher and Monument Records boss Fred Foster’s suggestion that a song should be written about Foster’s secretary, Bobby McKee. And Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times” was recorded by the great Ray Price and became a No. 1 country hit.
After arguing with Foster about his validity as a recording artist (Kristofferson said, “I sing like a fucking frog,” to which Foster replied, “Yes, but like a frog that can communicate.”), Kristofferson’s first solo album came out in April of 1970. It contained now-classics including “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “To Beat the Devil,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Just the Other Side of Nowhere,” “Darby’s Castle,” and “Best of All Possible Worlds.” It began with “Blame It On the Stones,” a song that opened with the decidedly non-traditional line, “Mr. Marvin Middle Class is really in a stew/ Wonderin’ what the younger generation’s coming to.”
With that debut album, Kristofferson emerged as a luminous figure whose fame expanded far beyond country music. Janis Joplin recorded “Me and Bobby McGee,” which became her signature hit. And Kristofferson became a counter-culture darling, beloved by artists and listeners who had never before paid attention to country music.
“You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris, because he changed everything,” said Bob Dylan.
Kristofferson’s second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, came out on Monument Records in 1971 and contained “The Pilgrim – Chapter 33,” a song he claimed to write about friends Cash, Chris Gantry, Funky Donnie Fritts, and others but later admitted was mostly about himself. “He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,” he sang. “Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”
All those wrong directions led to some spectacular locales. In 1971, Kristofferson began a side career as an actor. He would go on to win a Golden Globe award for his role in A Star Is Born, and to act in numerous films including Semi-Tough, Songwriter, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Lone Star, and Blade. He toured the world with his band and with Rita Coolidge, his wife from 1973 until 1980. He moved from Nashville to California. And he released seven solo albums between 1972 and 1979.
This flurry of activity and the accompanying celebrity did not ease Kristofferson’s mind, which was prone to depression, or his problematic drinking habit. The heady years of grand success proved to be some of the most difficult of his life.
“The darkness is driving me farther away from the shore/ Throw me a rhyme or a reason to try to go on,” he wrote and sang in “Shipwrecked in the 80s.” He found rhyme and reason in the graceful form of Lisa Meyers, who married Kristofferson in 1983 and helped him get his life under control. The couple would have five children together.
In 1985, Kristofferson joined Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson to form the supergroup now called The Highwaymen. The group returned Kristofferson’s voice to radio, provided a larger audience for him to relay his critical and sometimes controversial views on American foreign policy, and offered him great joy.
“Every time I look at a picture of Willie and me and John and Waylon, I find it amazing that they let the janitor in there,” he told journalist Mikal Gilmore.
After two roundly ignored solo albums for Mercury Records, Repossessed and Third World Warrior, Kristofferson began working with producer Don Was in 1995. Their creative partnership proved fruitful, with Was’ restrained production allowing the gristly character in Kristofferson’s voice to be heard to full effect, and with Kristofferson writing pensive, eloquent songs that rank with his finest works. “It’s about making sense of life at this end of the game,” Kristofferson said about his 2009 Closer to the Bone album, and that comment also applies to Was-produced works A Moment of Forever (2006), This Old Road (2009), and Feeling Mortal (2013). On his 80th birthday in 2016, Kris released The Cedar Creek Sessions, which was nominated for a Grammy for best Americana Album six months later.
Until the pandemic in 2020, Kristofferson toured incessantly in the 21st century, a quiet man in worn brown boots, commanding stages with only his guitar and harmonica for accompaniment. His Gibson acoustic might go out of tune . . . no matter. In his final years he performed with Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers.
In 2003, Kristofferson received the Free Speech Award from the Americana Music Association and in 2004 he became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Since then, he received lifetime achievement honors from BMI, The Recording Academy, the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, among many others.
“When I got started, I was one of the people hoping to bring respect to country music,” he said. “Some of the songs I had that got to be hits did that. I imagine that’s why somebody might vote me into a Hall of Fame. I know it’s not because of my golden throat.”
On the back cover of The Silver Tongued Devil and I, Kristofferson advised that his songs were “Echoes of the going ups and coming downs, walking pneumonia and run-of-the-mill madness, colored with guilt, pride, and a vague sense of despair.”
Sometimes divine communion, then, is holy hell. Kristofferson brought some of that hell on himself, and he lived through times when guilt and despair were anything but vague, and when pride was hard to conjure. Asked about regrets, he said, “Listen, I have those. But my life has turned out so well for me that I would be afraid to change anything.”
Kristofferson's survived by his wife, Lisa; eight children, Tracy, Kris Jr.,
Casey, Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly, and Blake; and seven grandchildren, who offer
the following consolatory statement:
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our
husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on
Saturday, September 28 at home. We’re all so blessed for our time with him.
Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know
he’s smiling down at us all.” – The Family of Kris Kristofferson
The family asks for privacy during this time.
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