A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song.

Production on the CD/DVD package began on June 15 2009 when T-Bone Burnett who is serving as the project's musical producer began laying down tracks in Los Angeles California for the songs Mellencamp wrote for the musical. "
Mellencamp's 1994 Dance Naked album included a cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night" as a duet with MeJohn Mellencampll Ndegeocello. So I just put those songs on a John Mellencamplf and cut it back down to a single record.

His songs document the joys and struggles of ordinary people seeking to make their way and he has consistently brought the fresh air of common experience to the typically glamour-addled world of popular music. ". Said longtime Rolling Stone contributor Anthony DeCurtis: "Mellencamp has created an important body of work that has earned him both critical regard and an enormous audience.