Kris Kristofferson is sounding soulful on his latest recording. Feeling Mortal is the title of the CD which has a cover as dark as a coffin.
Kristofferson was in Geneva this week on the first leg of a solo European tour to promote the disc.
Even old songs like Bobby McGee that made him internationally famous seemed to underscore a spiritual dimension.
one of his new numbers, Sunday Morning Coming Down, is a call to prepare for the next life.
Ramblin' Jack is about a wandering singer "with a face like a tumbled-down shack" of "wild and righteous, wicked ways" who "ain't afraid of where he's goin'."
Daughter Kelly, 22, a banjoist and vocalist, joined Kristofferson on stage for several numbers, while son Jesse was selling the new CD and the black t-shirts at a stall outside.
After the concert, the Kristofferson family left for Zurich and Vienna to continue the tour.
"This may be our last goodbye," he sang in a final song. "We may not pass this way again."
Kristofferson, 76, is a former Rhodes Scholar, a country music composer, former roustabout, film actor and singer, who has been married three times and is the father of eight.