Howlin Wuelf Media

England's daredevil musical miscegenationists, Alabama 3 – trading under the name "A3" in the U.S. – are releasing a definitive retrospective of their beats-driven gospel/blues/country fusion titled Hits & Exit Wounds. This collection is being released by One Little Indian this Summer. Hits & Exit Wounds features material from Exile on Coldharbour Lane, La Peste, Power in the Blood and Outlaw plus previously unreleased material and includes their signature song "Woke Up This Morning," the opening theme to the Emmy Award-winning television drama The Sopranos.

The seeds of Alabama 3 were sown when Larry Love came upon The Very Reverend Dr D Wayne Love at a bleary-eyed house party in South West London who was singing Hank Williams songs over pounding house beats. The two were quick to form a creative alliance and began formulating their shotgun marriage of hard-bitten roots Americana with hard-hitting dance beats. Recruiting other like-minded souls they began releasing 12" singles and putting on over-the-top live shows that attracted a huge London following and eventually a record deal with One Little Indian.

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Right from the start, they created groundbreaking work effortlessly fusing gospel, country and blues with house music. Alabama 3 broke down the barriers between line dancers and ravers and writers began referring to their unique oeuvre as "Chemical Country." The band sang, rapped, and preached in heavy Southern accents and inserted samples of cult leader Jim Jones’ preaching. At the same time the songwriting was strong and imaginative and their lyrics' dissection of contemporary U.K. culture were insightful and dryly witty. All of this was driven by vicious, pumping beats.

Their concert performance eventually prompted England's The Guardian to anoint them, "The best live band in Britain" and their fans would include authors Irvine Welsh and Stephen King. King appeared onstage with them and Welsh declared: "[they're] the first band I could ever dance to in the daytime hours without chemical assistance. That says a lot." Alabama 3 have since released six albums starting with Exile On Coldharbour Lane in 1997, the latest being last year’s MOR all garnering considerable critical acclaim. Their American releases have all been issued under the name "A3" due to a lawsuit by U.S. country-lite outfit, Alabama.