The songs are raw, unpolished, and brimming with potential, and they represent the evolutionary start point for a man who would greatly impact the modern American songbook. Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends: The Publishing Demos 1968-72 is a compilation of the early recording demos of Kris Kristofferson. Released Tuesday, it is the 50th title in the Light in the Attic catalog, and the culmination of a project six years in the making. The 16 songs presented in this collection – assembled with Kristofferson’s approval – are remarkably intimate, a rare and insightful glimpse of a gifted artist during the nascent period of his career.

What is gleaned from these previously unreleased recordings is the breadth of Kristofferson’s talent – his songwriting acumen, that unmistakable voice, his ear for arrangement – and how even as a prodigiously skilled, but still unrefined musician, there is no question of his ability or doubt that his star would ascend in the manner it did. Listening to the rough versions of “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Just The Other Side of Nowhere,” “Come Sundown” and “Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends,” it is immediately apparent that what is unfolding in front of you is the prologue to a compelling story whose outcome you already know, but can’t wait to hear time and again.

Purchase Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends: The Publishing Demos 1968-72 here.

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