Heartland rocker John Mellencamp has been recycling the same two or three songs for the last couple of decades, and Freedom's Road is no exception. For his first album of new material since 2001's Cuttin' Heads, he has given his protest songs a bit of garage-rock patina, but there's nothing particularly raucous about the sound. Mellencamp's in high-preachy mode throughout, rolling out platitudes extolling liberal values and open-mindedness. His heart's in the right place, I suppose, but lines like, "I try to understand all the cultures of this world/ I'm an American from the Midwest" don't exactly stir the soul. Order now and you'll get one of the most ubiquitous jingles on current TV, "Our Country," the theme song for the Chevy Silverado pickup! Someone should've told Johnny that Woody Guthrie already wrote "This Land is Your Land." 2 stars
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2007.