John Mellencamp Is No Better Than This

US rocker John Mellencamp is to release brand new album, No Better Than This, in August.

Mellencamp recorded the album during his break days when he was on tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson last year, and it was recorded on vintage equipment – a 55 year-old Ampex tape recorder with just one microphone.

The three locations that Mellencamp chose to record the album -  the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Sun Studios in Memphis and room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio – are also very significant.

The First African Baptist Church is the first Black church in North America dating to pre-revolutionary times while Sun Studios were obviously where Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash recorded some of their most iconic work. And Room 414 of the Gunter Hotel is where Robert Johnson first recorded for Brunswick Records in November of 1936.

The thirteen songs on the album were written in thirteen days. "I was tightly focused,” says Mellencamp. "I got up every day and wrote and wrote and wrote.” The songs apparently reflect various American traditions including blues, folk, western, gospel, rockabilly and country.

"It was absolutely the most fun I’ve ever had making a record in my life,” he revealed. "It was about making music – organic music made by real musicians – that’s heartfelt and written from the best place it can come from.”

The album was produced by T Bone Burnett and will be supported by a North American tour later in the year. The tour will include a screening of It’s About You, a film that Kurt Markus made during the album sessions and while Mellencamp was on tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

Here’s the tracklist:

Save Some Time To Dream
The West End
Right Behind Me
A Graceful Fall
No Better Than This
Thinking About You
Coming Down The Road
No One Cares About Me
Love At First Sight
Don't Forget About Me
Each Day of Sorrow
Easter Eve
Clumsy Ol' World

Mellencamp also releases brand new career retrospective On The Rural Route on 21 June.

The four disc set contains rarities, unreleased material and classic Mellencamp tracks drawn from his whole career.