Album Preview: John Mellencamp - No Better Than This

For his latest album, No Better Than This, John Mellencamp dives deep into the heart of American folk music, stripping down thirteen songs to little more than his acoustic guitar and warm singing voice.  The album is the result of a collaboration with producer T Bone Burnett, who recently scored Grammy gold for his work on Raising Sand, the Americana album made by Led Zep singer Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

On No Better Than This, Mellencamp stated that he had no concern for maintaining the rock star trappings he may have once cared about. "I am done being a rock star," Mellencamp told Rolling Stone in 2009. "I have no interest in that, in having the biggest concerts. I have only one interest: to have fun while we’re doing this and maybe have something that somebody might discover."

Additionally, Mellencamp describes his new effort by saying it's "as American folk as I've ever been." And, in keeping with that vibe, Mellencamp took many of the recording techniques and subject matter from the influential figures of the past century. The singer and Burnett scouted such locations as Sun Studio, where Elvis made many of his greatest recordings, as well as the Gunter Hotel, where blues legend Robert Johnson laid down some of his best work.

While the old-timey methods used on No Better Than This may have resulted in a decidedly old-fashioned record, it's exactly what Mellencamp wanted. “The same mic I was singing into is the same mic that recorded the drums at the same time,” Mellencamp revealed on his website. “And everything was cut live with no overdubs or studio nothing! These are real songs being performed by real musicians -- an unheard-of process in today’s world. Real music, for real people!”

No Better Than This is in stores August 17th.

Justin Starling for Citadel Digital © 2010