KK

Let’s be honest – Kris Kristofferson can play and sing any music that he wants to and people will shower the performance with praise. That’s all the more reason to celebrate the brilliance of his first release in three years, Feeling Mortal. What makes this Don Was-produced album so powerful is that Kristofferson does Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and his other musical idols proud by filling the album with songs that are as gritty and raw as his lead vocals are. Kristofferson weaves reflections on mortality, heartache and longing into love-gone-wrong songs such as “Just Suppose” and “Stairway to the Bottom.” Those same themes overflow on all of the tracks including the almost jaunty, Celtic-leaning “Bread for the Body.” Clearly, the 76-year-old Kristofferson has lived what he sings – and then some.