With his bushy beard, world-weary songs, gnarled looks, weather-beaten voice and
an enticing sense of danger and rebellion, Kris Kristofferson was one of the
country music ‘outlaws’ who, like his friends Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and
Willie Nelson, reconstructed the image of country music from the overly
sentimental clichés commonly associated with Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry.
Born in Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936, his grandparents came to the US
from Sweden and his father was a major general in the US Air Force, meaning the
family never settled for long in one pl...