Freedom's Road: John Mellencamp's Best Album to Date

The long-awaited and highly anticipated release of Freedom's Road was well worth the five-year wait. Freedom's Road is pure unparalleled John Mellencamp. Always evolving to reflect the joy and sorrow of our day-to-day lives, and the often turbulent and changing times of the world we live in, Freedom's Road goes a step further and is perhaps one of John Mellencamp's best and most personal albums to date.

John Mellencamp is one of the greatest storytellers of our time. From the landscapes of the mid-west, to a peek into the back windows of pink houses across the US, to the sweltering heat of the political climate, John Mellencamp's music always paints a picture, an image at times breathtakingly beautiful and other times heartbreakingly sad. With an unrepentant candor, John Mellencamp's music reflects the triumphs and struggles of society in an ever-changing world.

Freedom's Road is perhaps the greatest story John Mellencamp has ever told. With music complex and rich with emotion, this album is a long and winding journey as personal and unique as the individual listening. The strains of an achingly beautiful violin can bring tears to the eye, the funky bass line and old-school drumbeat inspires the free-spirited carefree desire to dance, and the echo of a haunting guitar resonates through the mind and body to settle upon the soul where its imprint will remain long after the last note fades. Freedom's Road is an introspective journey into the truths of our personal perception and pride as individuals, and as Americans.

With "Someday", the album's first track, John continues to strengthen that thread of hope for humanity, one tightly woven into every album since "Scarecrow".

"Ghost Towns Along the Highway", the violin exacting the lonely haunting images of desolate towns boarded up and abandoned along the highways, speaks on a deeper, more profoundly personal level to the choices we make in our lives. This song is about the Ghost Towns we all leave behind in our lives. We are free to choose the direction of our own lives, but how do we deal with the regret for the things we should have done and the people we might have been? Our hearts still yearn for that lost destination, as John says, "Our love keeps on moving to that nearest faraway place". Let this song settle into the soul. Let it be a reminder to stay true to the dreams that sustain us.

"The Americans" at first listen, is a patriotic celebration of American pride, its chorus partnered hand in hand with 4^th of July picnics and Presidential campaigns across the US. Read the news, with eyes wide-open take a good look around at the poverty, the education crisis, and the current state of the government and its people. "The Americans" represents not the America we try in vain to show the world, but an America we must strive towards, a place where all people can live with equality, tolerance, forgiveness, and acceptance.

"Forgiveness" peers into the depths of John Mellencamp's soul as he seeks forgiveness for himself and for us all," Thank God for forgiveness, I don't know how else we could get along, without forgiveness". So simple the words, yet so complex the meaning. In order for us to move forward as a society and as a nation, we must learn to forgive.

The title track, "Freedom's Road" is a "promise to the people, you'll never fool us now, with all your lying and cheating, if you're here wanting a crown in Heaven well it's out there of freedom's road, freedom's road, if you want to take a ride you've got to pay the toll". Freedom's Road is the journey toward peace; a tumultuous one hindered by malevolence, but we have learned to recognize the face of evil. We will not be fooled again. John is reminding us that we must pay the price and learn from our mistakes if we are to move forward in this world.

Joan Baez accompanies John Mellencamp on "Jim Crow", almost too honest and shameful at first listen to be likeable, but fans of John Mellencamp will liken it to "Jackie Brown". Listen to it once and it will not ever be forgotten. Racism exists in this world as blatant as Jim Crow of the past, or ignorantly disguised behind a mask of those in power, a friend, or a stranger. This song leaves it suspended in the air, not offering a solution, but begging for it to fall and shatter on the ground, disintegrating into oblivion for the last time.

The debate surrounding John Mellencamp, "Our Country" and its use in the Chevy commercials are part of the controversy that has followed John throughout his career. Acceptable or not, his political views and career choices always ignite controversy, demanding people think for themselves and take a stand. Lost in the fray is the song's Woody Guthrie-style anthem, "Let the voice of freedom sing out through this land, this is our country", a statement ever hopeful of peace and freedom for all people.

"Rural Route", based on a true story, tells the story of a 10 year-old girl abducted, raped, and murdered in a rural town. So vivid the story, images play across the mind, the music a haunting background full of anguish. John sings, "Here's my prayer loud and clear from the rural route, forgive us Lord and get us out of here, off this rural route. Oh merciful Father, show us the will here on the rural route, give us the mercy for the drug addicted and the mentally ill, on the rural route". Through the self-centered preoccupation of our daily lives, we find it easier to look the other way, grateful such tragedy has not touched our lives. But listen to this song, let the music reveal the heartbreak and sorrow of this tragedy. Let "Rural Route" remind us that we must share the responsibility for the failures and the horrors on the rural routes, the inner cities, and the suburban neighborhoods.

After the devastating truth of "Jim Crow" and "Rural Route", the next track, "My Aeroplane", just might tempt anyone listening to stop whatever they are doing, turn the song up just as loud as it can go, and dance with wild abandon. Anyone nearby who hears the song will soon be dancing right along, lost in flight, high above it all without a care in the world, flying in that aeroplane. In this song, John continues his eternal pursuit of writing that perfect song. He believes he has not ever written that one song, the one song that has the power to make a difference in this world. However, John Mellencamp's most loyal fans know that he has written not just one perfect song, but several.

The last listed track, "Heaven is a Lonely Place", lets loose on the evils of our modern world. From crystal-meth to homophobic hypocrites and journalistic lapdogs, this song offers up the shallow trappings and downfalls that keep us from heaven's golden gates. "Ain't you so hip now", says John, "you sure look cool, wonder what the price will be for acting like such a fool, heaven is a lonely place, taking down those golden gates".

The hidden, but by far the most outspoken track, "Rodeo Clown", articulates quite clearly John Mellencamp's feelings about our country's political leaders and the consequences of their lies. "When the truth is found the houses surely fall down, there's blood on their mouths of all lies and liars, the bloody red eyes of the rodeo clown".

Partnered with the world's greatest rock and roll band, John Mellencamp has created one of the best albums of his career. John Mellencamp's music always has a message and captures forever the defining moments in our lives. Freedom's Road exposes the worst humanity has to offer, racism, intolerance, war, and the atrocities committed against the young and the innocent. Yet, as only John Mellencamp can, each song finds its way toward hope, equality, acceptance, and forgiveness. Some may not like what John Mellencamp has to say, and that's okay he's used to that. Still others will turn their heads and look the other way.

For those willing to not only hear, but actually listen, Freedom's Road gives us permission to take a good, long hard look inside ours souls. Freedom's Road urges us to find the wisdom to learn from the past, and gives us the strength to continue to fight for a better world. A more peaceful, tolerant, accepting and forgiving world. John Mellencamp believes that world is possible.

John Mellencamp says, "If you want a better world, it starts with one person, and that's you".

Freedom's Road has the power to change the world one person at a time.