Kristofferson gets 'Justice'

Randall Jamail means no disrespect when he states the obvious: "Kris Kristofferson doesn't fit in with the system."

Neither, of course , does Jamail, whose Houston based self-distributed indie Justice Records label becomes Kristofferson's new home on August 15th, the dare the Don Was produced album "A Moment of Forever" is released.

"I've never been able to figure out the system either,"Jamail says. "We listen to music here, fall in love with it, and work it as far as we can to get it out there."

Such was the story at Justice last year with Willie Nelson's label debut "Moonlight Becomes You," which Jamail says drew the attention of both Was and Mark Rothbaum, who manages both Nelson and Kristofferson.

"With Willie's album, we never gave up because we were in love with the record and so honored to be working with an artist like Willie, who represents out 'rebellious outsider' attitude anyway-- as does Kris. Having an artist like Kris associated with us raises our whole level up a notch which in turn benefits all our artists, because once we get used to working at that level, it becomes the norm."

Was especially recognized this, Jamail adds, having seen Justice's successful commitment to Nelson-- to the tune of more than 250,000 units sold. Was also produced Nelson's final Columbia album, "Across the Borderline."

"He realized that we were really driven by music and we don't accept 'no' for an answer," says Jamail. "We find ways to get around obstacles and challenges, and we got Willie his first Grammy nomination in 10 years, not for country but for best traditional pop vocal."

Willie, of course, is Willie. Kristofferson, on the other hand, presents Justice with "so many intangibles" says Jamail "which allow us to work a lot of different angles. First of all, he's one of the great songwriters of the 20th century, who's written his first batch of love songs in years-- that in itself is an event. He's also a serious advocate for political and social justice.

Then, you have in Kris, a genuine movie star. So there are a lot of people out there who are touched by Kris Kristofferson in several different capacities.

Justice's challenge, then ,is how to reach the potentially broad audiences for Kristofferson, who is soon to be seen on the big screen again in John Sayles' "Lone Star." As Jamail notes, the artists movie fans don't necessarily go to record stores, "but that doesn't mean that they won't go if they know that 'A Moment of Forever' is out."

To this end, Justice has a 19-page bound marketing plan centering on the release date, when Kristofferson will be available by satellite feed for interviews with more than local stations in more than 30 major markets, as well as national entertainment TV outlets.

Also on August 15th, a full length BBC produced Kristofferson documentary will be shown on the Disney channel, to be followed by a one hour "meet and greet" with Kristofferson on the internet.

Other play dates for the documentary are Sunday (23), July 31, (during a free promotional "Preview Weekend) and August 25.

A heavy press push will highlight that the album is mainly love-themed as well as being Kristofferson's first album of new material since his heavily political 1990 Polygram release, "Third World Warrior."

Also being emphasized is the Don Was producer tie-in. Both artist and producer have been interviewed for an electronic press kit, which also contains excerpts from the BBC documentary along with tributes by such artists as Nelson, Johnny Cash, John Prine and Jackson Browne.

Retail efforts include giveaway items, co-op ad support with Radio, aggressive print ad programs, and listening-post saturation. The radio focus, meanwhile, will target triple A, Americana stations and country radio via varied emphasis cuts selected according to format.

"We won't spend a lot of time trying to change the minds of the 200-plus 'hot country' stations which play new country acts and have frozen out the legends," says Jamail. "But there's another 2,000 country stations that never lost sight of the legends who supported 'Moonlight' for us and will love this record."

College/alternative formats, he adds "have deep respect and loyalty for the legends of country music-- the Cashes and Waylon and Georges and Krises" -- and college formats may also be more responsive to Kristofferson's sociopolitical and human rights activism.

"Other labels have tried to sweep Kris' activist side under the rug, but we feel it's a very important part of who Kris Kristofferson is and part of why we're so proud having him on the label," says Jamail.

Justice, then, has positioned Kristofferson to present his views directly to "the people who want to hear him most--the college kids," first by having him appear at the upcoming College Music Journal college radio seminar in New York, where he'll sit on the political and songwriter panels. That will be followed by personal appearances on college radio stations.

Kristofferson says he hasn't felt such strong label backing "since, maybe 'Jesus Was A Capricorn' (1972), a dozen or so albums ago." The teaming with Was occurred when Was called Kristofferson after hearing "Third World Warrior" and asked if they could make a record together. "It was just a question of working me into his schedule," Kris says.

Was himself sites Kristofferson as "the most imitated and yet never equaled songwriter around and the most intelligent human being I've ever met."

-Jim Bessman, Billboard