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Al Green coaxed out of recording retirement by Amazon

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 14 September 2018

Al Green has recorded his first new song in a decade. And it’s all thanks to Amazon. Thank you faceless multi-national corporation.

The recording is part of Amazon Music’s new ‘Produced By’ series. It assumes that people know the names of producers and will be interested in hearing them paired up with a variety of different artists. First up is Matt Ross-Spang, who this week has released new recordings with Margo Price, John Prine and now Al Green, the latter a version of ‘Before The Next Teardrop Falls’.

“As a lifelong Memphian, I’ve always been a massive fan of Al Green and his producer Willie Mitchell”, says Ross-Spang. “Together they created some of the most enduring soul music. Sonically speaking, Willie and Al also really invented a distinct sound that separated them from Stax or Motown. Growing up in a such a rich musical heritage I became captivated by these records and long dreamed of working with Al Green”.

Of their song choice, he goes on: “I’ve always loved the Linda Martell version of ‘Before The Next Teardrop Falls’ and kept it back pocket as a great cover idea for him. It follows in the footsteps of Willie and Al reinterpreting country songs like ‘For The Good Times’ and ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’. I still can’t believe we actually got to do it!”

Amazon Music users with one of those Echo devices can hear all of Ross-Spang’s new tracks by standing near it and saying: “Alexa, play the playlist produced by Matt Ross-Spang”. If you don’t have such a device, just shout that out as loud as you can and hope for the best. Or click here, whichever you prefer.