On our minds and on our playlists

Strange but true: Snoop Dogg is on a Johnny Cash remix CD. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

"Hey, yo, Johnny, talk to 'em for a minute."

Those are probably the last words you want to hear Snoop Dogg utter as Johnny Cash's disembodied voice sings "I Walk the Line" from the grave. But that's how the upcoming "Johnny Cash Remixed" opens.

The album, out Jan. 27, is the latest addition to the growing canon of seminal artists who have been rebooted for a new generation. We've heard jazz bird Blossom Dearie coo "Just One of Those Things" over a thumping house beat supplied by Brazilian Girls, Nina Simone morphed into a lounge diva on 2006's "Remixed & Reimagined," and Elvis Presley actually sounding alive and well on a throbbing reinterpretation of "A Little Less Conversation" back in 2002.

Cash has to be the least likely candidate for such treatment. "Johnny Cash Remixed" features some of his early Sun Records recordings, and he sounds goofy when plucked out of context. The lone exceptions are Pete Rock's bouncy take on "Folsom Prison Blues" and an ambient exploration of "I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow." Mostly, though, I would argue Cash belongs in a bar, not on a dance floor.

In March, we'll hear Nat "King" Cole in a whole new light on "Re: Generations," which features an array of artists (The Roots, TV on the Radio) either remixing or singing along with the late crooner. It raises the question: Can't a legend rest in peace?