“MELLENCAMP”

By Paul Rees

Atria Books ($28)

It’s the hardest question for any biographer to answer: Why? While the hows, wheres and whens matter, too, ultimately most readers want to get inside the head of a book’s subject and understand their motivations.

Paul Rees certainly reveals some of what spurs the actions and inspires the art of John Mellencamp, the title subject of his latest music bio, “Mellencamp,” but ultimately the bruising singer-songwriter once known as Johnny Cougar remains something of an enigma.

Describing Mellencamp as he appears in the film “It’s About You,” a documentary-of-sorts about the work surrounding the 2010 “No Better Than This” album, Rees perhaps stumbles into his authorial conundrum. “John is magnetic,” he writes, “but also he remains elusive. The viewer is put onstage and in the room with him, but still he keeps his distance.”

If he appears a bit diaphanous in “Mellencamp” also, it is certainly not for any lack of care or rigor on Rees’ part. Mellencamp himself is quoted often, particularly from lengthy interviews Rees conducted in 2010 and 2014. Many of the members of Mellencamp’s touring and recording bands contribute observations, as do music industry professionals, friends and family members, most notably daughter Justice Mellencamp.

As well, Rees structures his biography thoughtfully. He largely looks at Mellencamp’s life chronologically, but with an interesting prologue about more recent events to draw readers in. Rees demonstrates deep understanding of Mellencamp’s work by breaking the book into sections that reflect the artist’s evolving sound and image, deepening writing interests and intriguing “outside” projects like a film, two musicals and what may actually be the work he values most, painting.

And, finally, Rees is unflinching in illustrating Mellencamp’s contradictions: callous and compassionate, loudmouthed and quiet, fidgety and still. More than once associates note that Mellencamp’s nickname “Little Bastard” can be well-earned, and Rees catalogues the star’s malfeasance as liberally as his high-mindedness and generosity. A scene in which Mellencamp strikes longtime guitarist Andy York over a question about using passing chords in a recording of the song “Your Life Is Now” proves especially difficult to forget or rationalize.

Perhaps such moments reflect the unknowable. Rees, various interview subjects and Mellencamp himself chalk up much of his temper, orneriness and general dissatisfaction with others to the genetic predisposition of Mellencamp men, but that feels like something of a cop-out. If Mellencamp has learned lessons about consistently treating others with more respect, all too often they are not reflected in even his more recent actions.

And yet, Mellencamp inspires fierce loyalty from many people who come into his orbit. In fact, York downplayed his studio dust-up with his boss and went on to tour behind the subsequent album. Others laud Mellencamp’s honesty, tough love tactics and relentless drive to forge great musical and visual art. Even daughter Justice, in recounting her father telling her she would have to sustain herself financially when she became pregnant at a young age, sees only wisdom in the “hard lesson” her dad taught her.

So, perhaps, Rees has done the best any writer could do in taking readers through his subject’s upbringing, detailing the writing and recording of his outstanding musical output, and fixing his place in the cultural landscape. And maybe what ultimately makes Mellencamp both so contentious and so brilliant is less important than his art itself. Above all, Rees vividly brings that work to life.

John Young teaches seventh-grade language arts and plays in the rock band The Optimists.

First Published: December 27, 2021, 12:00 p.m.