The Executioner's Last Songs

Product Description Eighteen songs penned by such luminaries as Hank Williams, Louvin Brothers, the Adverts, Johnny Paycheck, Stanely Brothers, Johnny Cash, and Merle Haggard. The release, celebrating/mourning America's grim fascination with the savage cycle of crime and vengeance, benefits Artists Against the Death Penalty and the Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium Project. Amazon.com The Executioner's Last Songs is an album with a political purpose--artists' proceeds benefit charitable organizations working to end the death penalty--but by and large it doesn't preach. Instead, Jon Langford, his Pine Valley Cosmonauts, and a bevy of guest vocalists--many of whom also appeared on the Cosmonauts' cowboy-jazz covers record, Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills--simply sing "songs of murder, mob-law, and cruel, cruel punishment." Although "stars" like and chip in, the best cuts come from lesser lights deploying a range of tactics: Some are faithful, including (who covers 's "Sing Me Back Home") and Brett Sparks of the ("Knoxville Girl"), while others take chances that pay off--in particular , who does justice to 's nearly impossible-to-cover "Oh Death." Then there's the creepy (Janet Bean of skipping through the tune "The Snakes Crawl at Night"), the unexpected ( Jenny Toomey's take on Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets"), the oddly nonchalant ( doing the standard "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive"), and the downright weird (the little-heard Chris Ligon's "Great State of Texas"). --Anders Smith Lindall