Kris Kristofferson was a giant in country music and in each realm of life he inhabited. He was a true renaissance man who was a Rhodes scholar, a gifted actor (he was in A Star Is Born with Barbra Streisand, among other films), and a remarkable singer and songwriter. He passed away in 2024 at the age of 88, having lived fully, brilliantly, and with grace.
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Kristofferson was also blessed with modesty, despite the many lofty achievements that defined his life and career. When he spoke of his friends Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash, who comprised the band The Highwaymen alongside him, it was with awe that they were even in his circle. Per rocksbackpages.com, he said of them, "I am just amazed looking back that these guys who were my heroes, got to be so close as friends." Kristofferson's last visit with Cash before his death in 2003 was singular and sentimental.
Kris Kristofferson Recalled His Emotional Last Visit With Johnny Cash
It was clear that Kristofferson deeply admired Johnny Cash, Per the outlet, he said this of The Man in Black. "Johnny Cash was unlike anybody I ever knew, and he never got smaller. John was always larger than life to me, but he was also human. He was just a great person. I'll never forget the last time I saw him, lying there in bed. He just held my hand. He couldn't talk. I feel very grateful to have been as close to him as I was."
He And His Fellow Highwaymen Were True Outlaws Of Country Music
Musing about the bond between him, Jennings, Nelson, and Cash, Kristofferson said, it was "our love for the music, our love for the songs...I think we all loved the song more than anything else."
Kristofferson Seemingly Had A Fatalistic View Of Life
Per the outlet, he said, "I have no control over where I'm going, any more than any of us. I'm surprised that I'm so unconcerned about it. I honestly feel so indebted to whoever is running this — God, or whatever you want to call it — that my life's been the way it is. As long as I'm grateful and trying to live up to that, I think I'll be OK."
Reading those insightful words now, almost two years after his death, you know that Kris Kristofferson is indeed "OK."
