Johnson County Community College
Press Release

8/28/06
Story by Peggy Graham

Turning 70 in June of this year, Kris Kristofferson has reached living-legend status as singer, hit songwriter and film actor. Equipped with a solo acoustic guitar, harmonica and one of country music’s most distinctive voices, Kristofferson will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, n Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, with songs from his early years like Me and Bobby McGee and Sunday Morning Coming Down to songs from his 2006 CD This Old Road .

Kristofferson's story is fairly well known. He had a dream, along with the necessary talent and ambition, to become a star.

The son of a two-star general, Kristofferson spent most of his youth traveling from base to base before settling in California. He went to Pomona College where he lettered in football and majored in creative writing. During this period he won the top four out of 20 prizes in the prestigious Atlantic Monthly's annual short-story contest. He capped his collegiate career by receiving a coveted Rhodes Scholarship, taking him to England, where he studied William Blake, still his favorite poet. In 1960, he received a master’s degree in English literature.

After college, Kristofferson spent a tour of duty in the Army as a captain, going through Ranger school, jump school and pilot training. During a three-year tour in Germany as a helicopter pilot, he found the time to form a small band. The Army offered him an appointment to West Point as a teacher of English literature, but he resigned his commission in 1965 to pursue songwriting.

Hoping to get his foot in the door of the music business, Kristofferson took a job as a janitor at Columbia Record Studios in Nashville. He was also a bartender at the landmark Tally Ho Tavern, a songwriter's hangout where he learned the fine points of pitching a song. He later spent two weeks a month, for 20 months, flying helicopters to off-shore oil rigs.Kristofferson found success with hits such as Me and Bobby McGee , Help Me Make It Through The Night , Sunday Morning Coming Down and For The Good Times . His songs have been recorded by more than 450 different artists.

Kristofferson recorded 15 solo albums ( The Silver Tongued Devil and I was 1971), three with second wife Rita Coolidge and eight with The Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash). His rough, gravelly voice has brought Kristofferson loyalty from longtime fans and the music industry – the Country Music Song of the Year Award, Songwriter of the Year from the Nashville Songwriter's Association three times, selection to the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.

Kristofferson won a Golden Globe Award from the foreign press as Best Actor in A Star Is Born , the film which vaulted him to Hollywood stardom. His other film credits include Cisco Pike , Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore , Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid , Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia , Blume in Love , Vigilante Force , The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea , Semi-Tough , Convoy , Heaven's Gate , Rollover , The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck and his most current, Flashpoint and Songwriter .

But his first love is music. In an interview with New West Records, Kristofferson describes his return to the road without a band. “There’s an honesty in the sparseness. It feels like direct communication to the listener,” he said .For his This Old Road CD, Kristofferson has written deeply emotional and personal songs about love – including his feelings for his eight grandchildren, freedom and heroes.

Kristofferson continues to create and bless his listeners as a road scholar.