Remembering Kris Kristofferson, a poet with movie star presence

Back then, the old Guthrie Theater was known for hosting the coolest and often hottest musical acts. Led Zeppelin, The Who, James Taylor and Elton John sold out concerts long before they became household names.

For a special show in May 1971, after seats were full for Neil Young, Miles Davis and Laura Nyro earlier that year, the Guthrie drew a sparse crowd for Kris Kristofferson. Too few people knew about the Nashville songwriter who gained a burgeoning reputation thanks to his album “The Silver Tongued Devil and I.” John Denver, then a resident of Edina (remember, his then-wife Annie was a Minnesotan), sat there in front of me. Because anyone who knew knew: Kristofferson was something special.

He didn't have much stage manner or dynamism. But his lyrics permeated like the poetry of Charles Bukowski. Lively stories of everyday people who often struggle for their happiness, presented in lively voices.

Mr. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and Mr. “Help Me Get Through the Night”?

“I remember him in my locker room at halftime and he just stared at me and didn't say a word,” Kristofferson told me in 2009. “He looked like he was just shaking his head and wondering what it was everything about it.”

Kristofferson, who died Saturday at age 88, was the Mount Rushmore of country songwriters.

On Sunday night, Jimmy Webb, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, took the stage at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis and immediately announced, “I'm feeling weird tonight.” He spoke about the loss of Kristofferson, who, along with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash recorded his song “The Highwayman” as a country supergroup called the Highwaymen. Webb opened his concert with this selection.