His first studio album, 1976’s The Chestnut Street Incident, was released under the name Johnny Cougar, with 5 of the 11 tracks covers of hits from the 50s and 60s, including “Jailhouse Rock”. Much, much later, he’ll reveal that he’s had something like 700 songs published, and that’s clearly not counting those discarded through the years. I’ve recorded 10 and I have 17 more to do and I’ll pick 10 of the 27 songs.” “I had planned to have the record out now but I haven’t finished. “Well, I’m halfway done with the record then the virus hit and I haven’t been in the studio since the virus started,” he says. “It’s going to get crazier.”Īs with all performers, he’s had to readjust his 2020 goals. Our conversation turns to this undeniably crazy year. Even the ones that are just for fun have so much heart. His songs are about real people, real issues, deep feelings. He’s actually not at all “nutty”, he stands strongly in his convictions and that’s how he’s had a nearly fifty-year music career generously balanced with giving back. Quickly, we cover a lot of ground-the trouble with men (and women) and the faults in human nature. “Maybe…but so, what? You’re nutty too,” I say. “Then you’re nuttier than a fruitcake,” he laughs. “That’s why I’m talking to you because I want to hear your opinions. “I’m not saying that I know it all because I don’t…I don’t know shit, but I have opinions.”
“You’re going to find out that I have a lot of fucking opinions and I just want to clarify right now that these are only my opinions,” he tells me. He currently calls hour-away Bloomington home, though he’s calling today from his house on South Carolina’s Daufuskie Island, off the Georgia coast. Seymour, Indiana, as we all know from his 1985 hit “Small Town”, is a humble place, under 20,000 people, known, interestingly, for its downtown railroad which intersects the north/south, east/west lines. He speaks with a gravely Southern lilt, even though born and raised above the Mason-Dixon line. I don’t believe him, but I like him already. What do you want to talk about?” It’s a cold, cloudy East Coast afternoon, and, for so many reasons, including John’s 69 th birthday on Oct.
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