What better way to start the year that with Alabama 3 doing a cover of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues live at SXSW this past year….

Having a crap day, one that seems to get worse as it goes on, so I turn for Alabama 3 in hopes of a little comfort. Here is the video to “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”

Let’s see if that helps.

George Lamb, of BBC Radio 6, did a live set with Alabama 3 - a sweet, up paced, acoustic version of “Monday Don’t Mean Anything Thing” and an acoustic of version of “Woke Up This Morning”.

As usual, the songs are great…. 

You can download it here.

I’m a bit surprised that Alabama 3 decided to release a 3rd single from “M.O.R.” album, but they have. The single is “Monday don’t mean anything” and is available as a 4 track download, or 3 track 12″, that has new remixes for fans.

I know what I will be getting today…

Also, from the “how I wish I was going to be in the UK this winter” section of my mind, Alabama 3 and the Utah Saints will be playing shows on December 4^th and December 8^th.

How sweet is that!

I may simply be missing something when it comes to Joy Division but I never really cared for their music.  Yes, I like New Order (what Joy Division because after the lead singer committed suicide) but the original group never “yanked my crank” so to speak.

Their first song to chart, Love Will Tear Us Apart, seems to be one of the most covered songs in the history of music…  Just off the top of my head some of the groups who took a stab at the song include The Cure, 10,000 Maniacs, Fall Out Boy… umm…. Paul Young (remember him?) and now we can add Alabama 3 to the list.

Devlin Love sounds amazing, as always.  So does Larry.  Regardless of their talent and abilities, I just cannot get into the song.  Would I turn off the song, by no means but I won’t be running to play it either.

Here is the MP3 provided by One Little Indian, the Alabama 3 record label, for all to enjoy.  Yes, it’s free… No it’s not piracy.

While I knew this was written way before “The Sopranos” came along, I never knew the history behind it. Apparently, this is a song about a woman (need to find her name) who killer her abusive husband when she couldn’t take it any more…

Who knew!

Well, enjoy the video.

The acoustic version of this song is simply amazing.

Enjoy!

I have a habit in life, I tend to get on “kicks”. You know… where you listen to / eat / do the same thing over and over until, one day, you wake up and that desire is no longer with you. After getting off a “kick” I may go months, if not years, before revisiting the activity again.

Last November I started with what I thought was a music kick - listening to the entire back catalog of Alabama 3. Turns out that it’s not really a kick - I simply really like their stuff.

While surfing around I happened to find an effort by Matt Darey, Tall Paul and Alabama 3. Darey and Paul are remixers / producers who have been around for a good 12 years in the trance world. Since Alabama 3 isn’t exactly what one could call “dance” music I was really surprised to hear they worked together…. and the track is nothing short of a masterpiece (for me).

It’s nothing groundbreaking, yes, but Larry Love’s vocals sound amazing…

You can take a listen here.

I’ve been a fan of Johnny Cash for some time, he had one of the best voices ever to be recorded (if you ask me).  There is a remix album coming out on 10/14/2008 with some big name producers (Snoop Dogg, Philip Steir, Alabama 3) giving their own take on some of Johnny’s classics…

There are two stand out tracks one this album - Alabama 3’s remix of Leave that Junk Alone and Pete Rock’s remix of Folsom Prison Blues.  Frankly, the album is worth buying simply for these two alone.  I admit it, I’m a large Alabama 3 fan but, truly, what they’ve done here is outstanding in ever sense of the word.

The promo site is currently online @ johnnycashremixed.com and the best part all tracks can be streamed via Windows Media.