Everyone knows that it doesn’t get any better than Kris Kristofferson singing a classic country hit with actor Russell Crowe.
Just joking there. No one is saying that, and no one actively knows that. In fact, there’s a chance that someone could stumble upon the video of this performance and think that it was created by artificial intelligence. What are Russell Crowe and Kris Kristofferson doing singing a duet on PBS?
I’m glad you asked. This video below is from a TV series called Soundstage, which aired on PBS and acted as a live concert TV series. It’s had three runs of being aired, originally starting in 1974 and going until 1985, returning for a number of seasons from 2003 to 2010, and had what we’ll call its final run (?) from 2016 to 2018.
Though the show didn’t focus in on any one genre, it featured such country greats as Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., John Prine, and Willie Nelson among others throughout its long tenure. Then in September of 2004, they featured a band fronted by actor Russell Crowe called the 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, and Kris Kristofferson joined them on stage.
Crowe, known for movies like Gladiator, and Kristofferson, known for country music hits like “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” stood up on stage together and played a full blown concert for those in attendance – and those watching at home through public access television. Before they got started singing Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” Crowe told a story that tied in Janis Joplin’s recording of the track:
“Earlier this afternoon, we were having a little sound check together. And this next song we’re going to do is obviously written by Kris. This other lady had done a pretty famous version of it.
He was just noting as I was singing, ‘You don’t sing it like Janis did.’ I got the sheet music when I was 8 years old, and I proved to these guys this afternoon that it is in the key of C.”
To be clear, Kristofferson and Crowe don’t sound bad together. In fact, they manage to vocally compliment each other rather well. I just personally can’t get past the visual of seeing a country music legend sharing the stage with a guy I watched play Maximus in the 2000 film Gladiator. And this performance took place a couple of years after that hit theaters.
Anyways, before I get deeper into the weeds, please enjoy this fever-dream-duet of Russell Crowe and Kris Kristofferson singing “Me and Bobby McGee” on PBS:
