John Mellencamp, Stephen King and T Bone Burnett have announced they’re taking their “southern gothic, supernatural musical,” Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, on the road this Fall.
Written by best-selling author Stephen King, with music by John Mellencamp, and musical direction by Grammy Award-winning T Bone Burnett, the tour comes to Chicago’s Ford Center of Performing Arts Oriental Theatre on November 28th.
According to Mellencamp.com:
After Mellencamp brought the story idea to King and the musical developed, it became clear to the collaborators that Ghost Brothers had taken them into unfamiliar territory — and they liked it that way. “John can make rock & roll records and I can write books for the rest of our lives,” says King, “but that’s the safe way to do it, and that’s no way to live if you want to stay creative. We were willing to be educated, and at our age, that’s an accomplishment.” Eventually they enlisted T Bone Burnett, who has produced Mellencamp’s last two albums, as well as Grammy-winning albums like “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and the Robert Plant-Alison Krauss collaboration “Raising Sand”, to bring his signature shadowy ambience to the music.
Although Stephen King, John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett are not part of the stage performance (and I’m not a huge fan of musicals), this looks pretty damned intriguing.
-Spencer
