Although a firm release date has not been announced, indications are that the long anticipated retrospective box set John Melencamp has been working on should be out by summer.  A post on his web site promises On The Rural Route 7609 will be out before Father's Day.  Unlike most career spanning collections, the song sequence on it will not have a chronological order.  Instead, Mellencamp is said to have opted to group them according to the context of each, and to sequence them as he would a new album.  Included in the collection are alternate takes of several songs, a few relatively recent compositions and several previously unreleased titles.
Mellencamp.com

MORE JOHN MELLENCAMP INSIGHTS  ALL CURRENT STORIES