When you talk with people who geek out about music (*cough), they can often tell you they’ve got a favorite Dylan/Bowie/Lou Reed/prolific songwriter period. Don’t get me wrong, the body of work is great, but there’s a few albums that were released over the course of a few years that really speak to you. These albums are what you immediately think of as defining that artist, despite the decades worth of music they created; do you think about Blonde on Blonde or Highway 61 Revisited, Ziggy Stardust or Heroes, Loaded or Transformer? For me, Johnny Cash is no exception to this pantheon and that kind of explains why Murder by Death is so great.

Murder by Death, formed in 2000 in Bloomington, IN, culls the best part of Cash’s early songwriting and amplifies it into their own sound. And here’s the thing: it’s incredible. Adam Turla’s whiskey soaked voice croons and cracks over doleful tales of fate, family and love (and sometimes all three) with a backing band that would make Sergio Leone seethe with envy. Their sound is rich and dark and undeniably connective, playing with a sincerity reticent of country music’s formative years. All of these qualities are what I love about Cash’s early records, and what I love about the records Murder by Death continue to make.

Before their show at Radio Radio, Turla was gracious enough to perform two such songs for us: Fox Glove and Yes, both from the band’s 2010 release Good Morning, Magpie. Each song is simple and unpretentious in its songwriting, causing the listener to focus on the balance of the bittersweet lyrics and nostalgic guitar chords. There’s a power at work within Murder by Death’s music, and there’s no better example of it than right here in this performance.

MP3 Session Downloads:

Murder by Death - Fox Glove
Murder by Death - Yes

Recorded and Mixed by Jeff DuPont and Doug Fellegy
Filmed and Edited by Daniel Arthur and Joe Wallace
Described by Doug Fellegy