Pretenders Release Album With “MP3 Countdown”

The Pretenders will release their first album in six years, Break Up the Concrete, on September 23 through Shangri-La Music.

The Pretenders will release their first album in six years, Break Up the Concrete, on September 23 through Shangri-La Music. But they’re doing something a little different leading up to the release; every week starting July 23, they’ll have what their website calls “the MP3 countdown to the release.” The group will give out one free MP3 from the album via their website and one other digital download tool each week. The first song, “Boots of Chinese Plastic,” was released on July 22 and was available through AOL’s Spinner.com. Front woman Chrissie Hynde recorded the album in just 10 days with bassist Nick Wilkinson and some new additions to the band, including guitarists James Walbourne and Eric Heywood, and drummer Jim Keltner. Additional tracks will be released through QuickTime, CMT.com, ClearChannel.com and iLike.com, among others. To find out which tracks will be released when and where, check out the band’s website, The-Pretenders.com.