Louisiana prison music
ppadilha
2,236 Posts
apparently this doc will start making the rounds:
from the trailer it looks pretty good. I was just reading this interview with the filmmaker, they have some songs on there but unfortunately it wouldn't play on my computer:
http://theamericanguide.org/post/43991548827/all-of-my-troubles-angola-louisiana-at-20-1-m
(parts 1 & 2 of the intv are linked at the bottom)
TRAILER - Follow Me Down: Portraits of Louisiana Prison Musicians (2012) from Ben Harbert on Vimeo.
from the trailer it looks pretty good. I was just reading this interview with the filmmaker, they have some songs on there but unfortunately it wouldn't play on my computer:
http://theamericanguide.org/post/43991548827/all-of-my-troubles-angola-louisiana-at-20-1-m
(parts 1 & 2 of the intv are linked at the bottom)
Comments
Most State Prisons have music programs for the inmates. Some years back I released an album by a band and the main guy is in Texas State Prison.. I had spent years trying to find their master tapes and when I did they contained many songs but no song titles written on the tape. I contacted the inmate(Dave) via letter and gave him my phone # as he could call me collect but I could not call him. After our first conversation he suggested that I send him a cassette tape and he would listen to the songs and send me the titles. After not hearing anything for months I finally received the tapes back in the mail. Dave called and explained that they would not allow him to have the tape as it was considered contraband. He apologized and suggested I send it to the Prison Chaplain and that he had agreed to receive the tape and play it for Dave. I sent them off and 4 months went by. Finally one day Dave called me and said the prison had confiscated the tape from the Chaplain after they determined it was "not christian". he went on to explain that the reason he had not contacted me earlier was because he had been in solitary after being caught with drugs. This dude had no problem getting drugs but I could not get him a lousy cassette tape! We eventually did the project through his lawyer which took almost 6 years between finding the tapes and getting the song titles.
Last year I purchased the below 3' x 4' painting that hung in the Oklahoma State Prison Music Room outside of McAlester for nearly 40 years. It's now in my music room.
This looks really interesting:
http://itemonline.com/local/x1633467059/Britain-to-experience-Prisoner-Soul
Very cool.........I'm pretty sure the below LP pre-dates any of the Huntsville releases as it came out in '65 and I haven't seen a Huntsville Rodeo LP from the 60's. The clip is a James Brown cover by a band called The Frames
Great JB cover and a testament to the wasted talent behind bars.