Freedom's Road | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 23, 2007 | |||
Recorded | June–October 2006 | |||
Genre | Rock, country rock | |||
Length | 48:46 | |||
Label | Universal South | |||
Producer | John Mellencamp | |||
John Mellencamp chronology | ||||
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Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 65/100 [1] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Entertainment Weekly | C+ [3] |
Los Angeles Times | [4] |
Music Box | [5] |
NeuFutur | (6.2/10) [6] |
The Phoenix | [7] |
PopMatters | [8] |
Rolling Stone | [9] |
Stylus Magazine | C+ [10] |
Uncut | [1] |
Freedom's Road is the 19th studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 2007. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 5 in late January 2007, becoming the highest debuting album of Mellencamp's career. [11] The song "Our Country" received significant exposure prior to the release of the album, as it was featured in frequently-aired commercials for Chevrolet trucks. The country band Little Big Town provides background vocals on eight songs on the album, including "Our Country."
Mellencamp intended for Freedom's Road to have a 1960s rock sound while still remaining contemporary, and he feels that goal was achieved. "We wanted to make sure that it had the same feeling of some of the great songs from the '60s but also had the message of today and had the backbeat of today. I think we came up with a pretty timeless sounding album," Mellencamp told his online radio station in late 2006.
"Our Country" was nominated for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards (held February 10, 2008).
All songs written by John Mellencamp.
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
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US Billboard 200 [12] | 5 |
John J. Mellencamp, previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, followed by an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.
Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, multi-instrumentalist David Immerglück, bass guitarist Millard Powers, and guitarist Dan Vickrey. Past members include the drummers Steve Bowman (1991–1994) and Ben Mize (1994–2002), and bass guitarist Matt Malley (1991–2005).
Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy, released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The group's music has been called old-time, folk, and alternative country. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs.
Scarecrow is the eighth studio album by John Cougar Mellencamp. Released on July 31, 1985, it peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200. The album contained three top-ten hits: "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", which peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100; "Lonely Ol' Night", which peaked at number six; and "Small Town", which also peaked at number six. "Lonely Ol' Night" also peaked at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, his second chart-topping single on this chart.
Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Their musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead vocalists. Fairchild and Westbrook have been married to each other since 2006.
Uh-Huh is a 1983 album by John Cougar Mellencamp and a transition from his early work under the names Johnny Cougar and John Cougar. It was Mellencamp's seventh studio album and the first in which he used his real last name. It charted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200.
Dance Naked is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp released on June 21, 1994. The album was released in response to the record company's accusations that Mellencamp's previous album, Human Wheels, didn't "fit the format." Mellencamp was irritated with this remark, feeling that none of his albums ever fit the format. As a result, he wrote several purposely radio-friendly songs and recorded them within the span of 14 days at his Belmont Mall recording studio in Belmont, Indiana, intending to show the lack of effort required to produce the type of album they were asking for. It is also the shortest of Mellencamp's albums, clocking in at just 29 minutes.
Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by American rock and roll artist John Mellencamp. This two-disc set was released October 19, 2004 on the Island and UTV Records labels. It is a retrospective of Mellencamp's career at the time of its release, and features at least one song from each of his studio albums released between 1978's A Biography and 2003's Trouble No More. Two songs, "Walk Tall" and "Thank You", were recorded exclusively for this album. No songs from Mellencamp's 1976 debut album Chestnut Street Incident or 1977's The Kid Inside are represented. Also omitted is Mellencamp's cover of "Without Expression", which was released on his previous compilation album The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988.
Big Daddy is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Cougar Mellencamp, released in 1989 by Mercury Records. The album peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200 and contained the singles "Pop Singer" and "Jackie Brown", which peaked at No. 15 and 48, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. A re-mastered version of the album was released on May 24, 2005, and contains a bonus acoustic version of "Jackie Brown". Like The Lonesome Jubilee, Big Daddy is folk-inspired as violins and fiddles are significantly utilized on a number of tracks. The album's lyrics largely take a serious tone and the album as a whole is regarded by some as Mellencamp's most reflective.
Cuttin' Heads is the 17th album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released on October 16, 2001. It was his second album for Columbia Records, and it peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 in early November 2001. The album contains only one single, the India.Arie duet "Peaceful World".
III is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Joe Nichols. It was released on October 25, 2005 by Universal South Records. The album produced Nichols' second #1 hit in "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off", as well as the top-10 hit "Size Matters (Someday)" and "I'll Wait for You". Overall, it was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of well over 500,000 copies.
The Road to Here is the second studio album by the American country music group Little Big Town. The album was released on October 4, 2005 on Equity Records and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album was nominated for Best Country Album and "Boondocks" was nominated for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
Heartbreak Town is the debut studio album of American country music artist Steve Azar. Released on River North Records in 1996, it features the singles "Someday" and "I Never Stopped Loving You" that peaked at numbers 51 and 50, respectively, on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts that year. Azar did not release another album until Waitin' on Joe six years later. The track "I Go Crazy" is a cover of Paul Davis' hit single from 1978.
Avery Millard Powers III is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and Grammy-nominated recording engineer. While a student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the 1980s, he collaborated with fellow student Ben Folds and with Alabama-based singer-songwriter Owsley, both of which he continued to work with as a musician and as a producer for the next several decades. Since 2005, he has played bass guitar in the band Counting Crows.
No Better Than This is the 21st album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp. Produced by T Bone Burnett, the album was released on August 17, 2010. It was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States. The title track was the album's first single and was sent to multiple radio formats on June 28, 2010.
On the Rural Route 7609 is a box set by rock singer/songwriter John Mellencamp that was released on June 15, 2010. The first part of the title refers to the song "Rural Route" from his 2007 album Freedom's Road and the fact that Mellencamp's music and lifestyle have always been very rural in nature, and 7609 references that the set spans Mellencamp's entire recording career from 1976 to 2009. Said Mellencamp in the set's liner notes: "I started making records in '76, and the most recent track on the collection was done in '09. So Rural Route 7609; it's like an address. I thought it sounded cool."
Life, Death, Live and Freedom is a 2009 live album by John Mellencamp featuring eight songs from his 2008 album Life, Death, Love and Freedom. It was released on June 23, 2009.
Kiss 40 is a compilation released by Kiss to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary.
Somedays the Song Writes You is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Guy Clark. It was released on September 22, 2009, under Dualtone Records, and was nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Sad Clowns & Hillbillies is the 23rd studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp. It was released on April 28, 2017 by Republic Records. The album features significant contributions from Carlene Carter, who worked with Mellencamp on Ithaca, the movie he scored for Meg Ryan; she sang on the track 'Sugar Hill Mountain' for the soundtrack. Carter opened every show of Mellencamp's 2015–2016 Plain Spoken Tour.