Want an indicator of John Mellencamp’s importance to the pop-cultural fabric? A standout track on Keith Urban’s splashy new album, Ripcord, is “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” a manifesto of Nashville values that (albeit cheekily) puts Mellencamp’s early showbiz moniker on a shortlist of essentials alongside God and working the land. We’d call that foundational, and you can hear shout-outs, both literal and stylistic, to the man’s work on records by Eric Church, Luke Bryan and many other Nashville stars, not to mention troubadours in the pop/rock and indie sectors.

Mellencamp’s ability to turn earthy heartland grace into mountains of pop platinum is more or less unrivaled, and Mercury/UMe is about to remind everyone of the depth of his gifts with five essential reissues on 180-gram vinyl. American Fool, Uh-Huh, Scarecrow, The Lonesome Jubilee, and Big Daddy will be available on 6/10, both individually and in a limited edition box set titled The Vinyl Collection: 1982-1989.

Let's review a few of the monster hits featured on these albums: “Jack and Diane,” “Hurts So Good” (both on 1982’s Fool), “Crumbling Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Authority Song” (Uh-Huh, ’83), “R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.” and “Small Town” (Scarecrow, ’85) and “Paper in Fire” (The Lonesome Jubilee, ’87), to name but a few.

Those glorious slabs of rootsy joy and introspection were cut from the original analog masters at Bernie Grundman Mastering and are available now for preorder. You’ll want to load up on these and crank up the turntable in your little pink house.