On the Rural Route 7609


On the Rural Route 7609 is a box set by rock singer/songwriter John Mellencamp that was released on June 15, 2010. The first part of the title refers to the song "Rural Route" from his 2007 album Freedom's Road and the fact that Mellencamp's music and lifestyle have always been very rural in nature, and 7609 references that the set spans Mellencamp's entire recording career from 1976 to 2009. Said Mellencamp in the set's liner notes: "I started making records in '76, and the most recent track on the collection was done in '09. So Rural Route 7609; it's like an address. I thought it sounded cool."
The liner notes for On the Rural Route 7609 were penned by veteran rock journalist Anthony DeCurtis, who also wrote the liner notes for Eric Clapton's Crossroads and Billy Joel's My Lives. DeCurtis wrote a 4,500-word essay on Mellencamp, and Mellencamp provides track-by-track commentary.

Summary

This box set contains four discs and 54 tracks and each disc is set up as an individual album with common themes rather than being presented in chronological order. The purpose behind this set is to highlight Mellencamp's songwriting.
While there are many standard album tracks included on the set, there is also quite a bit of previously unreleased material, although no new unreleased songs. Highlights include Mellencamp's newly recorded version of "Colored Lights", "Jenny at 16", and recently recorded solo acoustic versions of "Sugar Marie" and "To M.G. ".

Reception

Rolling Stone magazine senior editor David Fricke gave On the Rural Route 7609 four stars in the July 8, 2010 issue. Fricke wrote:

Track listing

Disc one

  1. Longest Days
  2. Grandma's Theme – In the Baggage Coach Ahead
  3. Rural Route
  4. Jackie Brown
  5. Rain on the Scarecrow
  6. Jim Crow - lyrics read by Cornel West **
  7. Jim Crow
  8. Big Daddy of Them All
  9. Deep Blue Heart
  10. Forgiveness
  11. Don't Need This Body
  12. Jenny at 16 *
  13. Jack & Diane *
  14. Jack & Diane

Disc two

  1. The Real Life - lyrics read by Joanne Woodward **
  2. Ghost Towns Along the Highway
  3. The Full Catastrophe
  4. Authority Song *
  5. Troubled Land
  6. To Washington
  7. Our Country *
  8. Country Gentlemen
  9. Freedom's Road
  10. Mr. Bellows *
  11. Rodeo Clown
  12. Love and Happiness
  13. Pink Houses

Disc three

  1. If I Die Sudden
  2. Someday
  3. Between a Laugh and a Tear
  4. Void in My Heart *
  5. Death Letter
  6. Sugar Marie *
  7. Theo and Weird Henry
  8. When Jesus Left Birmingham
  9. L.U.V.
  10. Thank You
  11. Women Seem
  12. The World Don't Bother Me None*
  13. Cherry Bomb *
  14. Someday the Rains Will Fall on NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack – Vol. 2
  15. A Ride Back Home

Disc four

  1. My Aeroplane
  2. Colored Lights *
  3. Just Like You
  4. Young Without Lovers
  5. To M.G. *
  6. Sweet Evening Breeze
  7. What If I Came Knocking
  8. County Fair
  9. Peaceful World *
  10. Your Life Is Now
  11. For the Children
  12. Rural Route *
* = Previously unreleased

** = Reading of lyrics