John Mellencamp has revealed that he’s working on his 25th studio album, and he’s shared a one-minute clip of one of the new tunes at his official website, a dark-sounding acoustic track called “I Always Lie to Strangers.”
The 69-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer reports that he already had recorded 10 songs for the project prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he plans to return to a studio soon to work on an additional 17 tunes for the album.
In other news, Mellencamp will be releasing a live album and documentary titled The Good Samaritan Tour this spring that focuses on his 2000 trek of the same name. The film will be narrated by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. The tour featured a series of free, unannounced concerts held at public parks and on street corners in select major cities in the Midwest and on the East Coast. At the shows, John played acoustic guitar, backed by only a viola player and an accordion player.
Mellencamp has posted a sneak preview of the doc featuring a montage of photos taken at various concerts on the Good Samaritan Tour set to Mellencamp’s cover of poet and songwriter Lane Tietgen‘s “Early Bird Café.”
In addition, Mellencamp is planning to resume production on a previously reported as-yet-untitled stage play he’s co-writing that’s being directed by Tony Award-winning choreographer Kathleen Marshall and that will feature a book written by award-winning playwright Naomi Wallace.
John has posted a video of actors Connor Antico and Morgan Pereira rehearsing their parts in the production virtually at Mellencamp.com.
By Matt Friedlander
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