Artist - John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp’s career in music, spanning more than 35 years, has seen him transition from pop star to one of the most highly regarded songwriters of a generation. The Voice of The Heartland continued to evolve artistically with Plain Spoken, John's 22nd full-length album. Mellencamp is incredibly acclaimed. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Grammy winner, a recipient of the John Steinbeck Award, ASCAP Foundation’s Champion Award, The Woody Guthrie Award and Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also one of the most successful live concert performers in the world. Recently, at the 33rd annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Los Angeles, Mellencamp added another prize to his collection: the Founders Award, the top honor assigned by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The social activism reflected in his songs helped catalyze Farm Aid, the concert series and organization that has addressed the struggle of American family farmers for more than 25 years. John recently completed an 80-city tour in North America and Canada that began in January 2015 and saw Mellencamp hitting 13 all-new cities. The tour will pick up its seventh leg in October this year. John continues to focus on another facet of his artistic expression: painting. His style has progressed over the years as evidenced by several gallery shows and published portfolios, and in recent years he has increased his output by completing over 100 new works. His pieces were shown in 2012 at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville under the title “Nothing Like I Planned: The Art Of John Mellencamp” and, more recently at the Butler Institute of American Art in an exhibition entitled “The Paintings Of John Mellencamp.” “The Paintings of John Mellencamp” traveled to the Museum of Art-DeLand, Florida and John’s art was recently seen at ACA Gallery in New York. The unique instrumentation of his band and his poignant songs about everyday life in the American heartland, are widely credited with being the forbearer of the Americana/No Depression genre of rural-inflected music. An extraordinary collaboration performed by an ensemble cast of 15 actors and a four-piece live band, comprised of members of John Mellencamp’s band is The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a musical with music and lyrics by John Mellencamp, a libretto by author Stephen King and production by T Bone Burnett . The show is being further developed in London, with a table reading expected this year. John is currently working on a new album featuring Carlene Carter titled “Sad Clowns and Hillbillies.”