The Executioner’s Last Songs Pt. 2 & 3

Pine Valley Cosmonauts: The Executioner’s Last Songs Pt. 2 & 3 Songs of murder, cruelty, and mob-law done to benefit Artists against the Death Penalty for the Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium Project
SONGS: Vol. 2: “Gallows Pole (trad)” — Tim Rutili with Sally Times, Rebecca Gates, Jo Walston & Jon Langford “Louis Collins(J. Hurt)” — Dave Avlin with Dean Schlabowske “The Fall of Troy(T.Waits, K. Brennan)” — Kurt Wagner “Banks of the Ohio(trad)” — Otis Clay “Homicide(MG Days, KR Lucas)” — Skid Marks with Sally Timms “Green Green Grass of Home(C Putman)” — Kelly Hogan “Death Row (R Bell)” — Rico Bell “Gulag Blues (trad)” — Lu Edmonds with John Rice “Horses (Langford, Timms, Croker)” — Chris Mills with Dean Schlabowske and Dave Alvin “Strange Fruit (L Allan)” — Diane Izzo with John Rice “One Dyin’ & a Buryin (R Miller)” — David Yow (live) “Delilah (JB Mason, LD Reed)” — Jon Langford with Sally Timms “Willie O’ Winsbury (trad)” — Charlotte Grieg	Songs: Vol. 3: “Bad News (JD Loudermilk)” — Alejandro Escovedo & Jon Langford with Dave Alvin “The Ballad of Billy Joe (Charlie Rich)” — Rebecca Gates “Dang Me (Roger Miller)” — Rhett Miller “Forever to Burn (R Hobart)” — Rex Hobart “Death Where Is Thy Sting (P Brennan)” — Pat Brennan “Long Black Veil (D Dill, M Wilkin)” — Sally Timms & Edith Frost “God’s Eternal Love (M Eitzel)” — Mark Eitzel “Hangin’ Me Tonight (A Wolpert)” — Gurf Morlix “John Hardy (trad)” — The Meat Purveyors with Rick Cookin’ Sherry “Pardon This Coffin (R Miller)” — John Rauhouse “Saviour (K Coyne)” — Kevin Coyne “Green Green Grass of Home (C Putman)” — Dave Alvin “Angel of Death (Hank Williams)” — Tom Greenhalgh “Tom Dooley (trad)” — The Sundowners (live)
Musicians: PVC are: Steve Goulding: drumkit Tom Ray: double and electric bass Jon Langford: guitar & vocals Drew Carson: mandolin Celine: guitars, banjo, fiddle, electric sitar, dobro, lap steel, bazooki (& mandolin on Dang me, Banks of the Ohio, saviour) Pat Brennan: piano, organ, mellotron & wurlitzer with: Barclay McKay: piano on Fall of troy, Ballad of Billie Joe, Delilah & electric pano on Gallows Pole & Forever to burn	Robert Coyne: gt on Saviour Luliasn Hayman: gt & Amy Domingues: cello on Willie O’Winsbury Chase Morrison: cello on Homicide Ken Sluiter: bas keyb & mellotron on God’s eteranl love, bass on Forever to burn & back vc on delilah Rico bell: harmonica on Death row Rick Cookin Sherry: jug on John Hardy Gurf Morlix: gt & steel on Hanging me tonight Jamal Ruhe: dr, bass, toy piano & back vc and jon Rauhouse: steel & hawaiin gt on Pardon this coffin Lu Edmonds: sa in Gulag Blues Joe Camarillo & Eddie Carlson: live PVC drums and bass on One dyin & a buryin
Meat Purveyors are: Jo: vc, Billy Bob: gt, Cherry Lou: harm voc, Pete Purveyor: mandolion Sunbdowners are: Don Walls: gt & voc, Bob Boyd: gt & voc, Curt Delayney: bass & voc	All songs recorded , mixed and mastered by ken sluiter at kingsize Sounds Labs, Chicago IL with instrumental overdubs at Phlosswwerx, Chicago IL Paintings by Jon Langford The CD is dedicated to the life and work of Richard Cunningham

LINER NOTES:

“Here’s the Pine Valley Cosmonauts playing their old death vs. death card & raisin’ a little more hell & cash to help wean America off its life threatening death penalty dependency. We’re glad to report there’s been some progress. On hearing Vol. 1 Illinois Governor George Ryan spontaneously cleared Death Row whispering, ‘Shit! those bluegrass commies know their chops!’, leaving us in little doubt that this super-sized sequel portends oblivion for the hangman & abolition lurks behind the very next wave (heh heh heh). Well we hope so BUT there’s still a bunch of bitter prosecutors, bad apples and right-Canutes out there trying to stem this tide of history/humanity, chucking rocks at our righteous surfboard & pushing their puny anarchronistic bodies against the current.

“If support for the death penalty is a mile wide and an inch thick (as we have found) the PVC is just one plucky little chisel trying to scratch a way through by getting cash into the hands of organizations and individuals who’ve rolled up their sleeves & fought this thankless, contentious, un-glamorous, non-fluffy battle inch by inch and case by case for years, in the courts, out in the dark, in the wilderness & on death row, where no one’s supposed to care.

“Since completing THE EXECUTIONER’S LAST SONGS Vol. 1 in 2002, the PVC played outdoors and in through Texas, New York and Illinois all the time plotting Vol. 2. We invited more of our favorite singers & songwriters to contribute voices and reputations & were pleasantly trampled by hers of willing collaborators (hence Vol. 3). They came in person (on planes, in taxis, dragged out of motel beds while sleeping off a Chicago show) or did digital magic thru the mail. They suggested deathly ditties unknown to us, wrote site-specific new ones or quietly bent to our cruel and unusual will, each trusting us to drag this dark beast to closure. For that we thank you all.”

This album is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Dick Cunningham