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Kristofferson likes to disparage his own singing ability. Says he: "Good God, anyone who sings my songs sings them better than me." In truth, he caught on quickly as a performer. Lean and bearded, he radiated both a searing sexuality and a boyish vulnerability. That combination was translated into a fast rise in movies. His first, Cisco Pike (1971), about a pop idol down on his luck, merely suggested his film potential. Several more —Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Blume in Love, Alice Doesn 't Live Here Anymore —followed. Last year's A Star Is Born, in which he played Barbra Streisand's aging, self-destructive mentor, made Kristofferson a superstar.
Just before the concert tour, he completed the trucker movie Convoy (TIME July 4). No more films are on his agenda —at least for now. Like his Texas buddies Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, he wants to "get back to the basics"—of music, mixing with the musicians, jamming a little and hearing other groups. The other day he liked a song on the radio, but had not the slightest idea what it was or who was singing it (he later learned that it was the Swedish group ABBA). Kristofferson does not like being that far out of touch. Like any pop composer, he feeds on what is going on around him. And so he looks on the tour with Rita as a time to rev up: "My circuits are almost on overload. I need a groove, any groove."
Right now Kris is grooving on Rita's Higher and Higher fame. No longer are the marquees likely to read KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, FEATURING RITA COOLIDGE. Even though he has been through it all himself—the crowds, the lights, the adulation—he knows as well as anyone when to seize an advantage. Says he: "Because Rita has a hit, it would be crazy not to go out now. It is not the time to lag behind. It is the time to work."