Life, Death, Love and Freedom is a folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 album by singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...

 and produced by T-Bone Burnett

T-Bone Burnett

Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...

. It was released on July 15, 2008. At the end of 2008, Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. 5 on its list of the 50 best albums of the year. The song "Troubled Land" was number 48 on Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

's list of the 100 Best Singles of 2008. Antimusic.com named it number 18 on their top albums of the decadehttp://www.antimusic.com/reviews/09/Tony_Ks_Best_Albums_of_the_Decade_25-1.shtml. The album was named No. 38 in Q

Q (magazine)

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

s 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008.

Mellencamp has characterized the album as a collection of "modern electric folk songs." The album's first single was "My Sweet Love," and it was serviced to radio on June 10, 2008.

Quotable:

"I realized our country has written some sad motherfuckin' songs. I wanted to see if I had it in me to write like that....I see darkness everywhere, and I have to write about it. I don't care if I just sell six records. All I can do is keep on writing songs and singing."

-- Mellencamp on Life, Death, Love and Freedom in Rolling Stone magazine's 2008 spring music preview issue.

Release

Life, Death, Love and Freedom was the first album release to utilize the ΧΟΔΕ (CODE) process. T-Bone Burnett worked with engineers to developed CODE, a proprietary audio technology that creates high-definition audio files. The CODE version of "Life, Death, Love and Freedom" is a DVD that was packaged along with the standard CD version of the album.

Track listing

All songs written by John Mellencamp.

1. "Longest Days" – 3:11
2. "My Sweet Love" – 3:27
3. "If I Die Sudden" – 3:45
4. "Troubled Land" – 3:23
5. "Young Without Lovers" – 2:49
6. "John Cockers" – 3:51
7. "Don't Need This Body" – 3:26
8. "A Ride Back Home" – 3:12
   • duet with Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town
     Little Big Town
     Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its inception: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet. The quartet's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all...
     
     
9. "Without a Shot" – 3:40
10. "Jena" – 3:41
11. "Mean" – 2:34
12. "County Fair" – 3:41
13. "For the Children" – 4:36
14. "A Brand New Song" – 3:58