John Mellencamp Reveals Why Staying in His Home State of Indiana Saved His Life (Exclusive)

John Mellencamp and his catalog of songs about small-town life have long been linked to the state of Indiana — and now, his Hoosier State legacy has been cemented (or make that bronzed).

The legendary singer-songwriter was honored with a life-size bronze sculpture of himself playing the guitar at Indiana University in Bloomington on Oct. 18, and it’ll live on the campus’s Fine Arts Plaza, beside a statue of Hoagy Carmichael.

“There’s Hoagy sitting there trying to play the piano, and I always thought that was a pretty nice thing,” Mellencamp, 73, tells PEOPLE. “So when it was suggested to me, I said, ‘Well, as long as I’m next to Hoagy, this would be great.’ So it’s like I’m standing there with Hoagy Carmichael and it looks like we’re writing together.”

The statue was created by Michael McAuley, and is based on a photo taken by Mellencamp’s ex-wife Elaine Irwin, according to the Indianapolis Star.

The rocker celebrated the occasion with an acoustic set, and told PEOPLE he had a solid crowd there to support him, including his 93-year-old dad Richard, his girlfriend Kristin Kehrberg, sons Hud, 30, and Speck, 29, and daughters Michelle, 53, and Justice, 39.

“IU and I have been joined at the hip for quite some time, and the new president there [Pamela Whitten], she’s just fantastic,” he says. “So I would say that she’s made a lot of this happen… The legacy of my involvement with Indiana University goes back a long, long time.”

Born in nearby Seymour, Mellencamp has lived in Bloomington since the 1970s, and has a long history with the school. The John Mellencamp Pavilion opened in 1996, and the musician received an honorary doctorate in 2000. 

Last year, Mellencamp announced he’d be donating an archived collection of his life and work to IU, and an art exhibition of his oil portraits and multimedia pieces, titled Crossroads: The Paintings of John Mellencamp, is on display at the IU Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art through Dec. 15.

“There were a lot of people who helped me through this journey and lucky break for me,” he said at the ceremony, according to the Star. “You’re looking at the luckiest guy in the world.”

The “Jack & Diane” singer credits his humble Indiana existence with having saved his life, as it prevented him from heading down a potentially dangerous path amid the allure of drug-fueled rock and roll.

“When I got in the music business, there were just so many distractions. Let’s put it that way,” says Mellencamp, who’s been sober since 1971. “And if I would’ve gone to New York or Los Angeles, I’m sure I would’ve got caught up in those distractions the same way so many of my peers did. Staying put in Indiana gave me the ability to stay focused on what I’m supposed to be doing, and not outside activity.”

Despite his 25 studio albums, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Grammy award and countless other accolades, Mellencamp says legacy isn’t much on his mind. The star says he “never thought much” about being famous or making money, and was always just focused on his work, whether it was music or painting.

“My dad used to say to me when I was a kid, he would go, ‘John, here today, gone tomorrow, forgotten in two weeks.’ And that stuck with me,” he says. “It made my life easier. People struggle and they worry about their legacy and what they’re going to leave behind. I never gave a fuck about it. I didn’t care about it because in my brain, it just wasn’t real. I didn’t need that motivation, for legacy. I was always just motivated because I’m lucky. You’re talking to the luckiest guy in the world.”

Regardless of his concern for legacy, Mellencamp is still writing new tunes, and says he has plans to head into the studio in January. He released two albums — Strictly a One-Eyed Jack and Orpheus Descending — back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, and was on the road all summer on the Outlaw Music Festival tour.

“I’ve got maybe, I don’t know, 20, 30 songs written,” he says. “Songwriting, you have to be… You’re like an open vessel. I’ll be doing something and all of a sudden it’ll be like, ‘Okay, John, put down what you’re doing and go write this down.’ It’s like, I don’t want to write a f—ing song, but then it always gets the best of me.”