tavis: good evening. i am tavis smiley. we brought up a week of music and conversation with john mellencamp. his cd "no better than this" is the 25th of his career. he will perform "pink houses". he will be on hand in milwaukee to celebrate the 25th anniversary of farm aid. his u.s. tour kicks off in indiana. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance proudly

supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: tonight we hear two songs from john mellencamp. brielle ofone last the new project. the disk is called "no better than this" and here is john performing "thinking about you". it is not my nature ♪

♪ i sat by the phone last night waiting for you to call ♪ beenust wanted to say i've thinking about you ♪ ♪ did you get my message i left

the other afternoon ♪ said,young girl's voice call you back wilson ♪ i've been to say thinking about you ♪ ♪ ago those summer afternoons ♪ first met you ♪ don't make no trouble, don't

want to bother you non-♪ somet wondering about you ♪ ♪ if you ain't go ttime to return this call ♪ ♪ i understand that you're busy ♪ ♪ i just wanted to say i was thinking about you ♪ ♪ thinking about you ♪

♪ thinking about you ♪ [applause] tavis: i sat down with john mellencamp on the eve of his release of this cd. we started talking about the unique american germany that served as the backdrop for the new project. -- journey that served as the backdrop for the new project. i want to talk about the new song. let me start by asking about the process, how you made this. you travel around the country and used some authentic and old equipment. tell me about the process. >> i was on tour, bob dylan and gheit were on tour. i had written the song and i thought this is an awfully good

song for me. i will play live. i played it and i thought, i will be in this location and that location. i started to look geographically and i wanted to be in savannah, georgia where the first african baptist churches, where the underground railroad started and people went through. i am going to be in memphis with sun studios which is where sam phillips recorded howling wolf and johnny cash. i will be close to santonio which is robert -- where robert johnson recorded. i started thinking. if i am going to record in these historic locations, we should use that type of gear. those guys like johnson treated the recorded straight to the

record. i thought that is what we will do. that turned out to be problematic. no one does it anymore. we went with a 1954 field recording machine and an rca microphone. we rearecorded the old-fashioned way. set up a microphone and everyone gathers around it and you play. the drums are sitting over there. sam phillips made it easy for us. he had x's or the vocalists were supposed to stand and the drum kit is supposed to set up. the minute we started playing, this sounds like the sun sessions, it sounds like johnny cash. >> tavis: you wrote 13 songs in 13 days. is that true? >> i had to. once we decided to do it, you

know me. i have never played anything in my life. it kind of falls out. by the time that we decided we were going to do this, we were behind schedule. i called up t-bone burnett and said you got time to do this? i can work this into my schedule. everything was kind of like, being worked in and made up as we went along. busy and everyone wants to work with him. what is the relationship? why does everyone want to work with him? >> i cannot speak for anyone else. t-bone and i met and kind of became brothers. you know how that works. you meet somebody and it is like you have known them your entire life. i had been knowing him for,

casually, socially, for about 10 or 15 years or so. i had seen him around. when we got in the studio, it was like we were connected. it worked. it is nice to be able to meet a guy that you can say, you got it. take it from here. that is what i am able to do with him. i trust him more than i trust myself. my nature is to decorate the christmas tree too much. put to many ornaments on the tree. t-bone's nature is to address the trade. tavis: 2 strip it down. >> it is the first time someone said john, shut up.

tavis: how did you handle that? >> the same way you did. i started laughing. it was just funny. we have been friends ever since. socially and professionally. >> i reminded there is a dalai lama connection to one of these songs. he came to in the attic to give a lecture. i will you tell the story about the song. it is on the record. >> my wife elaine, the dalai lama has come to indiana a couple of times. the center is there. my wife is like his escort. she goes with him everywhere and make sure he is there. they were having a lunch and elaine says, do you know your

plan today at the luncheon? -- playing today at a luncheon? the dalai lama is on stage and they introduce him and he introduces me and i play this song. the greatest thing happened. he changed his entire conversation about what he was going to speak about that date and address the topics of the lyrics of "save some time to dream." how they played into and were like buddhist philosophy. i am not a buddhist. i was really flattered by that, to have the holiest man on earth talking about a song that some dumb kid from indiana rep. it was pretty astonishing to me. i would look out in the audience because i was on stage and the lane is going -- elaine is

going, do you believe this i am sitting behind the dalai lama and he is smiling and shaking his head. i am deafer than a doornail. in picking up half of what he is saying. after the fact, someone play the tape and i was so flattered and humbled by the fact that the holiest guy on earth is like commenting on one of my songs. tavis: the next question is about the content. >> "save some time to dream" came to me and i accepted it the way was i did not try to put any of my bull in it. i did not try to guide it. it was a surprise to me. it worked so well that every song in this record ended up being that way. i did not try to write these

songs to go any particular way. i let them present themselves and followed their path. tavis: i know this church in savannah. it is -- what is it like recording in that locale? it is the underground railroad and theire are holes in the floor so the slaves, my ancestors, could breathe and not osuffocate. tell me what it was like recording in that place. >> even better than that, i will tell you what it was like to be baptized. i have a song that said ♪ i ain't go no church ♪ and someone said you have not been baptized? she said would like to be baptized here? i said, yeah.

this was unbelievable. this conversation was so unbelievable. it was like a wednesday. i would say 20 or 30 people took off work. i thought the minister would baptizes but they had attendants and people came and sang. it was a big thing. he kindness of this aggregation, it is what makes the church last. it was so kind and understanding, and i do not think there has been a lot of white folks in there. to be baptized there, i was so honored. the minister was fantastic. i had a couple of guys, a great big guys like you wanted to change my clothes. i can get dressed myself.

they stood there. they were my attendance. a -- attendants. it was a lovely experience and the congregation, i cannot say enough nice things about them. as far as recording, it was -- there were ghosts all over the place. right across the street from the church, a savannah, georgia is the most beautiful town in america. tavis: my grandfather is from midway. midway between savannah and the next town. >> there is 32 squares in savannah. each square, their houses or businesses built around it. there is a part. the square in front of the church was franklin square. they had that spanish moss that grows everywhere in savannah. it is in every tree. it is everywhere.

the square across from the church was the flooding square. with a flawed -- the flogging square. moss.is no spanish if you look hard, you can see on the trees the marks. i do not know if they're really they're but i saw them. t-bone saw them. i wanted to see them. tavis: does it make a difference when there is a project that is so historically and spiritually rooted in grounded? that makes a difference. >>i assume. >> it does. like i said, i never planned anything. i was very surprised and i think

t-bone was surprise. the liner notes said this record is full of ghosts. after getting baptized, i did not know i would feel uplifted for while. it did not last forever. there was a feeling of being uplifted. it is great to be my age and be able to still be surprised. see something you have never seen before. so many people, myself included, they get into iraq and they saya -- a rut and see the same thing. to be uplifted for a moment, it don't get any better than that. >> you have uplifted so many people over these 25 years with formate. -- farm aid.

are you surprised it has gone along? >> tavis will be hosting farm aid at the invitation of me about 15 minutes ago. i hope he hosts. it is the 25th farm aid. who are the folks to give out the nobel peace prizes? willie nelson should get one. workneil naand i from the neck down. willie has made so many decisions and help some money, he deserves to be recognized. i do not think there is any other charity event that has lasted 25 years, and

particularly that was born in the 1980's out of rock and roll kind of thing. back then, all these big corporations were having these charity things. they were phony baloney stuff. i probably should not say that. thought wasrm aid i real. it was a real effort. tavis: i need to pack for milwaukee. i will be there october 2. i hope you have enjoyed this great week of music and conversation. the cd is called "no better than this", and it has been getting great reviews. we would not let him get out of here without performing one of his classic songs. here is john mellencamp

performing his iconic hit "pink houses". good night from los. man with ablack black cat living in a black neighborhood captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- an in the a womoa

kitchen ♪ ♪ darling i remember when you could stop a clock ♪ america ♪hat ♪ home of the free ♪ ♪ little pink houses for you and me ♪ there's a young man in a t- shirt ♪ to rocking rowling

station ♪ ♪ that must be my destination ♪ ♪ they told me when i was younger, you're going to be president ♪ thoselike everything else old crazy dreams kind of came and went ♪ ♪ ain't that america, something to see ♪ ♪ ain't that america, home of the free ♪ ♪ little pink houses for you and me ♪ ♪

people and more people ♪ ♪ what do they now?

♪ go to work in some high rise and vacation down at the gulf of mexico ♪ ♪ there's winners and there's losers ♪ ♪they ain't no big deal man baby pays for the thrills, the bills, the pills that kill ♪ home ofthat american, the free ♪ ♪ little pink houses for you and me ♪ america, u.n. may ♪ ain't that america, home of

the free ♪ ♪ little pink houses for you and me ♪ ♪ [applause] >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org tavis: join me next time for conversation with rufus wainwright. we will see you then. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading.

>> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question in every answer, nor inationwide insurans removing obstacles to economic empowerment. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> be