The Austin Sessions

THERE CAN’T be that many people, of a certain age, who don’t know the music of Kris Kristofferson in one form or another.

His early songs were covered by a wide variety of performers, from Janis Joplin to Johnny Cash, and this collection, which revisits and reworks many of those hits, confirms his status as a writer.

Recorded in Austin and produced by guitarist Fred Mollin, the album sees Kristofferson joined by a galaxy of singers who offer harmony to counter his voice, among them Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Catie Curtis, Matraca Berg and Mark Knopfler.

The latter also plays lead guitar on ‘Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends’, joining other string slingers like Stephen Bruton and John Willis, while Jim Cox plays some expressive keyboards throughout.

The Austin Sessions is a good introduction to Kris Kristofferson who at 63 is still a vital writer, singer, poet, actor and photographer. A welcome alternative to the many compilations out there, it serves to underline the deceptive simplicity and strength of his work. Let’s hope that Atlantic will put him in the studio with some new material, which if it turns out anything like his last album, A Moment Of Forever, will be well worth waiting for.