Kris Kristofferson, country music outlaw and movie star, dies at 88

His songs were like short stories

Rodney Crowell was one of many young songwriters drawn to Nashville by the beacon of Kristofferson’s success. “A lot of songwriters flocked to Nashville because of Kris Kristofferson. And I was part of that wave,” he tells NPR.

What set Kristofferson’s music apart, according to Crowell, was the way he wove a story and maintained a narrative in his songs. Take “Sunday Morning Coming Down” for example – a vivid portrait of bleak, hungover loneliness. Crowell calls the song “a beautifully written short story.”

Well, I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head up that didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad, so I had another for dessert

Then I rummaged through my closet for my clothes and found my cleanest, dirty shirt

And I shaved my face, combed my hair and stumbled down the stairs to face the day

Musician Steve Earle remembers that when he first heard “Sunday Morning Coming Down” as a teenager in Texas, it made such an impression that he rushed to buy Kristofferson’s first two records.

“The imagery and the use of language are definitely brought to a higher level than anything that’s ever existed in country music before,” says Earle.

Kristofferson, he says, “single-handedly raised the bar in country music lyrically to a point that writers still strive for, and I still strive for today.”.“

He was a master of seduction, both in song and on screen

For Nashville, Kristofferson’s 1970 song about naked, uncompromising desire, “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” was nothing short of revolutionary. “It was earth-shattering and a paradigm shift,” Crowell says. “It’s literally a form of seduction. It is a deceitful seduction.”

Take the ribbon out of your hair
Shake it loose and drop it

Feels gentle on my skin

Like the shadows on the wall

Come and lie by my side

Until the early morning light

I’m just taking your time

Help me get through the night

In person and on screen, Kristofferson was magnetic: a beautiful movie star, with a mischievous grin and bright blue eyes.

“Women loved him, you know? I mean, I absolutely fell over,” Crowell says. “He was a sex symbol and a rock star.”

For a young, eager musician like Crowell, Kristofferson was an intoxicating role model.

“It was like, ‘Hmm, that’s what I want to be,'” Crowell says. “I asked myself, ‘How do you do this? How come you’re so bragging?'”

Kristofferson brought the same sensual swagger to his film roles throughout his decades-long career. He starred in films, among other things Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Alice doesn’t live here anymore, A star is born, half-hard, Heaven’s Gate And Lonely starin collaboration with directors Sam Peckinpah, Martin Scorsese, Alan Rudolph and John Sayles, among others.

For a time in the 1980s and 1990s, Kristofferson was part of a country outlaw supergroup, forming the Highwaymen along with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Recalls this time in an interview with the British magazine Classic rock Years later he said: “I just wish I was more aware of how lucky I was to share a stage with these people. I had no idea that two of them [Cash and Jennings] would be done so quickly. Hell, I was up there and I had all my heroes with me – these are guys whose ashtrays I used to clean. I’m kind of amazed I wasn’t even more amazed.”

In the ’80s and ’90s, Kristofferson also became involved in a number of left-wing political causes. He protested the nuclear tests in Nevada and loudly opposed U.S. policy in Central America. He made several trips to Nicaragua to support the Sandinista government and criticized U.S. support for El Salvador’s military-run junta in that country’s brutal civil war. “I’m a songwriter,” he said in 1988 Fresh air Interview: “But I also care about my fellow human beings. And I care about the soul of my country.” His 1990 album, Warriors of the Third World Waris full of songs that express his political views:

Broken rules and dirty warriors spreading lies and secret funds
They cannot defeat the Campesino with their money and their weapons

Because he is fighting for his future, his freedom and his sons

In the Third World War

Music connected him with memory

In his later years, Kristofferson suffered from severe memory loss but continued to perform until 2020. Among those he shared the stage with was Margo Price. “Without a doubt,” she says, “he had the same charisma and sex appeal every time.”

On stage, Price says, Kristofferson was able to connect with his musical memories and “feel like he could be himself…” There were times when I came off stage with Kris and thought, ‘Great show, Kris!’ He goes, ‘Oh, thanks.’ You know, I wish I could have been there!’ I mean, that was the powerful thing about seeing him play his songs, that he could remember songs that he had written so long ago, but couldn’t remember something from five minutes ago.”

In a 2013 interview with NPR, Kristofferson reflected on his life and career. At 76, he had just released an album entitled Feeling mortal.

“To my surprise,” he told Rachel Martin, “I feel nothing but gratitude for being this old and still above the earth and living with the people I love.” I have had a life full of experiences, most of them were good. I have eight children and a wife who puts up with everything I do and keeps me out of trouble.”