Kris Kristofferson’s career can best be defined as an atomic bomb that attracted electrifying attention to country music’s culture and industry that reframed its social impact.
However, it’s how, in the wake of his impact, he embodied all facets of where country, rock, related genres and popular culture could comfortably co-exist that his legacy best exists.
The ‘elegant simplicity’ of Kristofferson’s songwriting
“Kris wrote with elegant simplicity — simply, but not simple, elegantly, but not elegant. He said the things we all say daily and set it to music in a way nobody had ever done before. The new vistas his work opened up for the songwriting community challenged us to write better songs,” noted “Whispering” Bill Anderson to The Tennessean.
Anderson, 86, is a contemporary of Kristofferson’s who himself is currently the longest-tenured Grand Ole Opry member, plus a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, plus is a BMI-awarded Songwriting Icon.