NASHVILLE CALLED KRIS KRISTOFFERSON A “HIPPIE WHO COULDN’T SING.” HE WROTE OVER 100 SONGS THAT OTHER ARTISTS TURNED INTO HITS — INCLUDING 3 THAT WON SONG OF THE YEAR. They said his voice was too rough. Too raspy. Not “country enough.” So he swept floors at Columbia Recording Studios, hoping someone would just listen. Johnny Cash finally did — and recorded “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” It won CMA Song of the Year in 1970 while Nashville still called Kristofferson a nobody. Janis Joplin took “Me and Bobby McGee” to #1. Ray Price turned “For the Good Times” into a standard. Gladys Knight, Al Green, Elvis — they all recorded his words. The man Nashville dismissed as a janitor with a guitar became the most covered songwriter of his generation. Meanwhile, the executives who rejected him never wrote a single line anyone remembered. A Rhodes Scholar who mopped floors. A “terrible singer” whose songs won every award there was. Nashville told him no for years — and he just kept writing until the whole world said yes…
Nashville Called Kris Kristofferson a “Hippie Who Couldn’t Sing.” The Songs Proved Otherwise. Long before Kris Kristofferson became a respected…