The Lonesome Jubilee - John Mellencamp

It was a mistake I vowed not to repeat, John Mellencamp was supporting his 1987 album The Lonesome Jubilee with a concert tour.

I was down the shed working away on Sunday afternoon refurbishing a cylinder head and the radio announcer was raving about how great the concert at the Perth Entertainment Centre was. John Mellencamp played the The Lonesome Jubilee tour Friday and Saturday nights on the 9th and 10th of April 1988 and I missed it - I was full of regret.

All my friends wanted to do was the same thing every Friday and Saturday night, that didn't interest me and I was looking to change my life, that happened in 1989, the year I completed my apprenticeship. I graduated to a tradesman and opportunities presented allowing me to move away from Perth. Moving to remote areas, my social life plummeted and I lived a mining existence as Western Australia is a huge land mass with next to no population.

Back in the 1990s we were not on the family friendly rosters that workers now enjoy, I was working away on long rosters, it was really very different to current work rosters. I was drive in/drive out, now most workers enjoy fly in/fly out contracts. So I filled my vehicle up with my belongings driving 600 km east to Kalgoorlie before heading a further 410 km north to Bellevue mine site.

So I had limited belongings packed into my ute, that included just 10 CDs owing with The Lonesome Jubilee making the cut. When you only have a handful of albums to listen to, you learn each and every song, you want to learn the story of the song. John Mellencamp is described as heartland rock, I love his mid-west background and his songs of middle America - he has my attention.