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Various Artists - Prison Songs, Vol. 1: Murderous Home

Track listing:
  1. The Murderer's Hom Jimpson w-five others 0:50
  2. No More, My Lord Jimpson w-tree choppers 2:09
  3. Old Alabama B.B. w-six others chopping wood 3:03
  4. Black Woman B.B. w-six others 2:55
  5. Jumpin' Judy Tangle Eye, Fuzzy Red Hard Hair & others 4:18
  6. Whoa Buck C.B. 3:53
  7. Prettiest Train ''22'' w-hoeing group 3:46
  8. Old Dollar Mamie ''22'' w-hoeing group 3:29
  9. It Makes a Long Man Time Feel Bad ''22'' w- axe group 2:43
  10. Rosie C.B. w-ten others with axes 3:09
  11. Levee Camp Holler Bama 2:50
  12. What Makes a Work Song Leader¿ interview w-Bama 2:06
  13. Early in the Mornin' ''22'', Little Red, Tangle Eye & Hard Hair 4:42
  14. How I Got in the Penitentiary interview w-Bama 1:23
  15. Tangle Eye Blues Tangle Eye 3:07
  16. Stackerlee Bama 4:08
  17. Prison Blues Alex 2:20

Notes

In the late 1940s, ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax went to Parchman Farm in Mississippi to record African-American prisoners. This penitentiary was renowned for its anachronistically harsh conditions, and it's something of a miracle that Lomax was allowed in to document the music in the first place. Most of the material was recorded while the men were actually at work, and reflect the rhythms of chopping trees, splitting fireweed, chopping weeds, and other such tasks. The liner notes make much of how the subjugation and misery of the community is reflected in the music. While the dreariness of their lives was no doubt genuine, the music itself — mainly gospelish work songs and chants geared toward getting the men through their daily grinds, usually sung a cappella, often by groups — is not depressing to hear. True, it's hard to call it uplifting knowing what the prisoners were enduring, but there's an enormous pride and spiritual strength. It's as convincing as any gospel, and a number of these made their way into pop and rock repertoires in adapted forms, such as "Rosie," "Early in the Mornin'," and "Stackerlee." (This record was originally issued on LP in 1957 as Negro Prison Songs, on Tradition 1020; the Rounder CD has a new title and different, historically slanted liner notes.)