Mellencamp - Jena 6

Mellencamp sings of Jena 6 case

[ The man who sang "Small Town" is now using his Americana rock sound to weigh in on the "Jena Six" case.

"Oh oh oh Jena, take your nooses down."

Those are the words repeated over and over in the chorus of John Mellencamp's newest song, "Jena," according to his official Web site, www.mellencamp.com.

Mellencamp has been working with producer T-Bone Burnett on a "very exciting and intriguing new album" and already has filmed a video for "Jena," according to a release on the site.
The video -- shot in black and white with red writing on the screen throughout -- has been posted on his Web site, on Mellencamp's MySpace.com page and on YouTube.com.

It features images of the civil rights movement, people being lynched by nooses, images from Jena, La., and recent news clippings from the Jena Six case, in which six black high school students were charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white student. Civil rights leaders organized a rally last month that drew 20,000 or more to Jena.

Reaction to the video has been mixed. Some have commented on Web pages that they will never again listen to or support Mellencamp. Others have said they think he is bringing light to a much-needed issue. ]

Vaquero got e-mail that says Mellencamp is going to join T-Bone tomorrow afternoon at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in SF. This is something they just now decided to do! (Vaquero takes off tomorrow for the festival, with guitar, laptop and cowboy hat; he's performing Sunday, at the Porch stage, 3:30 p.m.)