For those not in the know, Vinyl Me, Please is a wonderful service that sends subscribers an exclusive record each month, with the ability to choose a release from three categories: classics, essentials, and hip-hop. (Their releases also regularly pop up in Uproxx’s monthly vinyl round-up.) Now, the platform has announced a new category and quite the inaugural release to kick things off: As of March, Vinyl Me, Please will offer a country category and the first release is a reissue of the classic Johnny Cash live album At Folsom Prison.
The 1968 album was a critical one for Cash when his career was in a bit of a commercial lull. The album’s lone single, “Folsom Prison Blues,” topped the country charts and was a top-40 song overall, the first time one of his singles had achieved either feat since “Understand Your Man” did both in 1964, four years earlier. The album was later certified 3-times Platinum by the RIAA in 2003 and remains one of Cash’s most beloved releases.
Andrew Winistorfer, VMP Classics and Country Director says of the new category, “With the exception of a few marquee artists, the country genre is extremely underrepresented in the vinyl world, with new country albums rarely getting vinyl pressings, and older albums rarely getting the reissues they deserve. VMP’s ethos of exploring music together — coupled with this gap in the vinyl marketplace — inspired us to launch VMP Country. VMP Country will give anyone on the spectrum of country fandom — from die hard to reluctant skeptics — a Record Of The Month that will expand their listening palette, and give their record collection some much-needed twang. Our members can expect that VMP Country will come with the same devotion, attention to detail, and respect that we give to our other three Tracks, and that we’ll deliver the most definitive versions of the albums we feature each month.”
Learn more about Vinyl Me, Please and their new offerings here.
