![]() ![]() Just in recent years, Wanchic has resumed playing with Mellencamp. From 1977 to 1999, Mike Wanchic, originally from Lexington, Kentucky, was a guitarist and musical director for the band before moving on to producing albums for various groups, including Cowboy Mouth and the Why Store. (Their first band that played outside of their hometown was called Trash.) Since leaving Mellencamp, Crane has led his own group, worked as a sideman for various artists, and landed acting jobs (with his first role being opposite Mellencamp in Falling from Grace, 1992). Five years younger than Mellencamp, Crane, who also grew up in Seymour, started playing with John at age fourteen and stayed with him until 1991. Of the many long-running members of Mellencamp’s band-past and present- Larry Crane (guitar) goes back the farthest. I've had people say to me, 'John, have you ever had writer's block?' And I would say no, all you've got to do is look out the window.Mellencamp Band Members – Another way in which John Mellencamp has stayed true to his Indiana heritage is by surrounding himself with other Hoosier musicians. "What I learned from him was to be a good observer of life," Mellencamp said. Mellencamp's "Lonely Ol' Night" is a thematic cousin to Springsteen's 1984 hit "Dancing in the Dark" in the narrators' late-night search for a connection. You can see, in "Scarecrow," Mellencamp creating a musical world from what he knew growing up in the Midwest, much like Springsteen did for the Jersey Shore. It raised him to the level of someone who was an important musical voice in the culture."Īs someone who didn't think much about songwriting until he had a record deal, Mellencamp saw others around him setting a high benchmark and thought, "I better step up my game." He mentioned Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell. "But the sense of him looking at the world, taking his personality as someone who grew up in Seymour, Indiana, and making a wider statement about it, that was all a big deal for him. "There were certainly signs of it before, like on 'Jack and Diane' and 'Pink Houses,'" he said. "I think John really found his voice on this album," said veteran music writer Anthony DeCurtis, who contributed liner notes to the reissue. 7, excepting one shelved when his first record company dropped him. Still, the singer professionally christened "Johnny Cougar" against his will at age 21 admits he made five albums before making a good one. "I didn't know," he said, "because I didn't know I had to change my game." He'll remind you of hit songs that predated the album. in the USA," which neatly summarized the musical approach - even if Mellencamp had to be talked into putting it on the album.Īsk him now, at age 71, whether "Scarecrow" represented an elevated standard, and you'll discover the chip that remains on his shoulder. The Indiana-bred singer embraced his roots in the anthem "Small Town." At age 34, his writing in "Minutes to Memories" showed a new maturity about life.Ī high standard is maintained through the closer, "R.O.C.K. In that first song, "Rain on the Scarecrow," Mellencamp described the financial crisis that was swallowing family farms in the Midwest. It elevated Mellencamp from a generic heartland rocker to a serious artist with something to say, helping spark Farm Aid, a movement that lives on. The disc, which is getting the deluxe reissue treatment this week, stands as a rare reputation-changing work. NEW YORK - An urgency in the ringing guitar and thunderous drums that opened the 1985 album "Scarecrow" was the first hint that this was something different for the artist then billed as John "Cougar" Mellencamp. ![]()
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