Record Club:
WEEK 351 — October 19-25, 2025
The Silver Tongued Devil and I
by Kris Kristofferson
LISTEN:
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PICKED BY FRANK
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ALBUM DETAILS
GENRE: Outlaw country, singer-songwriter, progressive country, country rock
RELEASED: July 1971 (unknown exact date)
LENGTH: 32:22
TRACKLIST:
- The Silver Tongued Devil and I
- Jody and the Kid
- Billy Dee
- Good Christian Soldier
- Breakdown (A Long Way from Home)
- Lovin' Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
- The Talker
- When I Loved Her
- The Pilgrim, Chapter 33
- Epitaph (Black and Blue)
LYRICS: Genius.com
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ARTIST DETAILS
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ABOUT: Kristoffer Kristofferson (that's not a typo, that's his birth name) was born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas. Tough to whittle down everything in his biography into a dinky little blurb. He was a prolific songwriter, performer, actor, and advocate. Where to begin? He landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash's lawn? He was dating Janis Joplin when she died? He provided moral support for Sinead O'Connor when she was booed post-Pope-ripping? Feels like he was on the right side of history in a lot of what he spoke about, and wrote about. He spent much of the 1970s acting, and much of the 1980s as part of the Highwaymen country supergroup. He hustled until his retirement in 2021. Kristofferson passed away on September 28, 2024, surrounded by family in Maui. So much more to say. He was a Rhodes scholar! He wrote "Me and Bobby McGee"! He is a three-time Grammy winner! He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a college football player! A wild life. I'm sorry this blurb cannot do it justice.
DISCOGRAPHY: Let's see, this is the second of eighteen solo albums. His debut, Kristofferson, was released a year earlier, in 1970. The most recent solo album is 2016's The Cedar Creek Sessions. In addition to his solo work, he collaborated with other artists on nine other albums, including three with the Highwaymen, and also notably the film soundtrack to A Star Is Born with Barbra Streisand.
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ADDITIONAL INFO
READING SOME SHIT: a random-ass interview I found copy-and-pasted into a random-ass internet forum from who knows when
WATCHING SOME SHIT: live in 1970
RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: The most obvious one is that he was part of the Highwaymen with RC alumnus Willie Nelson. And we can't forget to mention that the Highwomen are an RC O.G. Who plays the Kristofferson role in that group? Maren Morris, maybe?
You can make plenty of connections if you go digging through the country legends, e.g. the producer of this album, Fred Foster, played a significant role in Dolly Parton's early career, etc.
You can make plenty of connections if you go digging through the country legends, e.g. the producer of this album, Fred Foster, played a significant role in Dolly Parton's early career, etc.
As mentioned, Kristofferson dated Janis Joplin, but this was after her stint with Big Brother and the Holding Company. As mentioned, Kristofferson starred in A Star Is Born, which would eventually be remade with RC alumna Lady Gaga (his costar Babra Streisand is not an RC alum, but she almost was).
Stop me if I start stretching it too far, but Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, starring Kristofferson, also features Jodi Foster, who famously starred in Silence of the Lambs, which was sung about by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine on their RC album A Beginner's Mind.
The Grammy for Best Americana Album was created in 2010. Kristofferson lost the award in 2017. Four RC albums have also lost the award: Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Walk Through Fire, Years to Burn, and Tigers Blood. Kristofferson won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Since that time, seven RC alumni have won the award as well: the Velvet Underground, Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Black Sabbath, Funkadelic, Talking Heads, and Bobby McFerrin.
Some other random notes. Kristofferson has an album called To the Bone, which shares a name with the RC album by Steven Wilson. This is our second silver album title after Silver Ladders. Tyler Childers covered the Kristofferson song "Help Me Make It Through the Night" on Rustin' in the Rain. Film Club will eventually watch Heaven's Gate, which also stars Jeff Bridges, who was featured on J-Brekkie's RC album.
Stop me if I start stretching it too far, but Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, starring Kristofferson, also features Jodi Foster, who famously starred in Silence of the Lambs, which was sung about by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine on their RC album A Beginner's Mind.
The Grammy for Best Americana Album was created in 2010. Kristofferson lost the award in 2017. Four RC albums have also lost the award: Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Walk Through Fire, Years to Burn, and Tigers Blood. Kristofferson won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Since that time, seven RC alumni have won the award as well: the Velvet Underground, Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Black Sabbath, Funkadelic, Talking Heads, and Bobby McFerrin.
Some other random notes. Kristofferson has an album called To the Bone, which shares a name with the RC album by Steven Wilson. This is our second silver album title after Silver Ladders. Tyler Childers covered the Kristofferson song "Help Me Make It Through the Night" on Rustin' in the Rain. Film Club will eventually watch Heaven's Gate, which also stars Jeff Bridges, who was featured on J-Brekkie's RC album.
MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: PoYB covered Highwayman for A Year of Blind Spots. Film Club covered Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore this past May.
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OTHER ALBUMS TO CHECK OUT
LAST WEEK'S ALBUM: Street Love by Lloyd, and make sure to check out the reviews if you wanna see what we thought of it!
RC@5: We're relistening to the Record Club album we featured exactly five years ago this week. The RC album for this week in 2020 was The Rising by Bruce Springsteen.
RC f/u: We're attempting to catch up on all the new albums from our esteemed Record Club alumni. Mini-reviews coming next Saturday, this week for AIN'T NO DAMN WAY! by Kaytranada and X's for Eyes by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.
LAST WEEK'S ALBUM: Street Love by Lloyd, and make sure to check out the reviews if you wanna see what we thought of it!
RC@5: We're relistening to the Record Club album we featured exactly five years ago this week. The RC album for this week in 2020 was The Rising by Bruce Springsteen.
RC f/u: We're attempting to catch up on all the new albums from our esteemed Record Club alumni. Mini-reviews coming next Saturday, this week for AIN'T NO DAMN WAY! by Kaytranada and X's for Eyes by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.
SHADOW RECORD CLUB: Each week, we're exploring the genres of last week's album. If there is a genre that has a #1-rated album that I've never heard before, I'll download it. If not, I'll just give you my best recommendation. Last week's Street Love was a contemporary R&B album. We're listening this week to Blonde by Frank Ocean. I've surprisingly never heard it before.
NEXT WEEK'S RC ALBUM: In case you need some extra time with an album to write a review for it, you can get a head start on [redacted—you won't need an extra week, trust me]!
COUNTDOWN: 69 Weeks Until Week 420
We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. I am happy to announce that during Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. I am also happy to announce that Week 420 of Record Club will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people.
THIS WEEK: We are 69 weeks away from Week 420.
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COUNTDOWN: 69 Weeks Until Week 420
We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. I am happy to announce that during Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. I am also happy to announce that Week 420 of Record Club will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people.
THIS WEEK: We are 69 weeks away from Week 420.
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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!
Have a great week!
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