“Spiritual” by Spain, Live on KCRW

Back in the late ’90s, I was pretty obsessed with The Blue Moods of Spain, the 1995 debut album by Spain. Fronted by vocalist/bassist Josh Haden, son of jazz legend Charlie Haden, the band was occasionally associated with the era’s lounge revival. However, they had more in common with slowcore bands like Low and Bedhead, albeit with a jazz lounge twist. As I wrote in my review, “Spain takes you to old jazz clubs, where cool cats in suits and sunglasses played the whole night long, and blues singers conveyed the trials and tribulations of love.”

One of the album’s definitive songs is “Spiritual,” a heartbreaking ballad that finds a bereft Haden pleading with our Lord and Savior, “Jesus, oh Jesus, if You hear my last breath/Don’t leave me here to die a lonely death.” (In perhaps the highest compliment possible, the late, great Johnny Cash covered the song on 1996’s Unchained.) In 2012, Haden and his bandmates entered KCRW’s studios to record this particularly soulful version of the song that’s blessed by the harmonies of Haden’s triplet sisters Petra, Rachel, and Tanya.

Spain’s most recent album was 2018’s Mandala Brush, but they’ve also released a slew of material, including numerous live recordings and singles — like 2023’s “Love Is Unconditional” — on their Bandcamp page.