That’s because The Charlatans UK gave You Cross My Path to fans for free as an MP3 download earlier this year.

“The idea was just to get the music into people’s iPods,” said Charlatan Tim Burgess. “We came to the conclusion that we didn’t really care how people got it, just as long as they got it.”

Evidently a lot of people “got it.” You Cross My Path was downloaded at least 60,000 times within a week of going online. At last count more than 90,000 copies had been downloaded.

Now the band is ready to hit the concert trail to perform the new music. We’re talking club tour with dates ranging from the September 17 opener at San Diego’s Casbah to the October 14 gig at Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco. You read that right: The Charlatans UK will open and close their North American tour in California.

Stops also include the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles Sept. 18; Detroit’s Magic Stick Sept. 21; Philly’s Theatre of Living Arts Sept. 27; NYC’s Bowery Ballroom Sept. 29; Baltimore’s Ottobar Oct. 2 and Dallas’ Granada Theater Oct. 12.

Although You Cross My Path was originally released as a free MP3 download, the album will be released on vinyl! However, unlike the MP3 release, the vinyl comes with a price.

“It feels like a great idea – to release it again!” Burgess said. “We’re learning as we go along. We’ll just see where it takes us. But the whole thing has been invigorating. It really feels like the band have been reborn, like we’ve got a whole new lease on life.”

Click here for the Charlatans UK MySpace page.