Kristofferson is the debut album from famed country outlaw Kris Kristofferson, perhaps best known for his time with The Highwaymen alongside Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Waylon Jennings. But well before he became a well-known proponent of alternative country, Kristofferson was but a 34-year old man still looking for his way in life. In between dead end jobs and working as a helicopter pilot for oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico, Kristofferson wrote and pitched songs to singers on Music Row in Nashville in between shifts, eventually finding spots on records by artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roger Miller, and the aforementioned Cash.
Kristofferson is the summation of the work he was putting in at that time as a struggling songwriter– the demos he had written at a frantic pace, as well as some of the songs that had been picked up and recorded by artists like Lewis and Miller. It’s an album that feels raw and unsure of itself, reflecting both that period of his life as well as the hallmark songwriting style which would eventually become a hallmark of his style.
Standout Songs: “Me and Bobby McGee”, “Casey’s Last Ride”, “Just The Other Side of Nowhere”, “The Law Is for Protection of the People”
