new songs. At weekends, he returned to Nashville, and for the following week he would pitch the songs around town before returning to Louisiana. The trips exhausted Kristofferson; his children were living with their mother in California and he felt his career as a songwriter was failing. Petroleum Helicopters International reprimanded him for his increased alcohol consumption. Upon returning to Nashville the same week, Kristofferson learned three of his songs had been recorded: "Jody and the Kid" by Roy Drusky, "Help Me Make It Through the Night" by Jerry Lee Lewis and "Me and Bobby McGee" by Roger Miller. Through June Carter, Kristofferson made his first attempt to pitch material to her husband Johnny Cash. Carter took the demos, which were eventually lost in a pile of other material Cash had received. At the time, Kristofferson worked on the weekends for the Tennessee National Guard. To attract Cash's attention, Kristofferson landed a helicopter in Cash's property. Cash eventually invited Kristofferson to a "guitar pull" party in his house. Cash was impressed and invited Kristofferson to perform with him at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival. Unsatisfied by Buckhorn Music, Kristofferson decided to change labels. The director of Monument Records, Bob Beckham, invited Kristofferson to play songs for him and label owner Fred Foster. Kristofferson performed "To Beat the Devil", "Jody and the Kid", "The Best of All Possible Words" and "Duvalier's Dream"; Foster was impressed and offered Kristofferson two contracts; one as a recording artist for Monument Records and one as a songwriter for Combine Music. The ten-year contract required Kristofferson to submit ten records containing songs he had written. Kristofferson was surprised he had been signed as a singer; he told Foster at the time: "I can't sing, I sound like a frog!" Kristofferson later said Buckhorn Music had not allowed him to record demos of his own compositions. Recording and content In 1969, Kristofferson left Nashville to join the production of Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie in Peru. In his absence, Cash continued to promote Kristofferson's original songs with other singers. Upon his return to Nashville, Kristofferson learned of his new popularity and started to work on his debut album. As his manager and producer, Foster had decided to keep some of Kristofferson's original material from being passed to other artists. The new material, as well as his songs that had already been recorded by other artists, were included