PRISON SONGS: Historical Recordings from Parchman Farm 1947-48

http://drfaustroll.blogspot.com/2012/02/prison-songs-1-murderous-home.html

Prison Songs #1 - Murderous Home

S'il y a du rythme dans ces 'prison songs', c'est bien parce que la rythmique, justement, est ici à nulle autre pareille, c'est la frappe des marteaux et des pioches sur les cailloux. Les enregistrements (de très grande qualité en regard de l'époque) présentés ici sont tous issus de la tristement célèbre Parchman Farm, un des deux centres de détention des Etats-Unis uniquement réservés aux nègres. Ces titres furent en leur temps rassemblés par l'immense Alan Lomax, ethnologue musical qui se fit toute sa vie passeur de la voix des pauvres...

http://www.mediafire.com/?idli25wdff2nfks

Comments are very welcome...

01-The Murderer's Home-Group, Jimpson
02-No More, My Lord-Jimpson
03-Old Alabama-B.B. & Group
04-Black Woman-B.B. & Group
05-Jumpin' Judy-Group, Hard Hair, Red, Tangle Eye
06-Whoa Buck-CB
07-Prettiest Train-Twenty Two
08-Old Dollar Mamie-Twenty Two
09-It Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad-Twenty Two
10-Rosie-Axe Gang, CB
11-Levee Camp Holler-Bama
12-What Makes a Work Song Leader? [Interview] CB
13-Early in the Mornin'-, Hard Hair, Red
14-How I Got in the Penitentiary [Interview] - Bama, Lomax
15-Tangle Eye Blues-Tangle Eye
16-Stackerlee-Bama
17-Prison Blues-Alex

http://drfaustroll.blogspot.com/2012/02/prison-songs-2-dontcha-hear-poor-mother.html

Prison Songs #2 - Don'tcha Hear Poor Mother Calling'

These songs belong to the musical tradition which Africans brought to the New World, but they are also as American as the Mississippi River. They were born out of the very rock and earth of this country, as black hands broke the soil, moved, reformed it, and rivers of stinging sweat poured upon the land under the blazing heat of Southern skies, and are mounted upon the passion that this struggle with nature brought forth. They tell us the story of the slave gang, the sharecropper system, the lawless work camp, the chain gang, the pen. (Alan Lomax)

http://www.mediafire.com/?brdrnnn25aunxiw

Comments are very welcome...

01.HOLLIE DEW, BULL & GROUP WITH HOES.Don'tcha Hear Poor Mother Calling
02.22 & GROUP WITH HOES.John Henry, Intro
03.22 & GROUP WITH HOES.John Henry
04.BAMA.Strongest Man I Ever Saw
05.DOBIE RED & GROUP WITH HOES.Well, I Wonder
06.DOBIE RED BAMA.Lies
07.BAMA.I'm Goin' Home
08.22 & BULL BAMA.More Lies
09.BULL & GROUP.O'berta
10.CURRY CHILDRESS.Disability Boogie Woogie
11.22 & GROUP WITH HOES.O Rosie
12.REDFOOTS Dobie.Hollers
13.22 & GROUP WITH HOES.Stewball
14.C.B. BANKS CURRY CHILDRESS.Fox Chase
15.TANGLE EYE.Katy Left Memphis
16.DOBIE RED.About Prison Singers
17.88 & GROUP WITH AXES.Rosie
18.TANGLE EYE.High Rollin' Sergeant
19.JOHNSON Goerge.Garbage Man
20.22 & GROUP WITH AXES.When I Went To Leland
21.JOHNSON George.Prodigal Son
22.PERCY WILSON & GROUP.I'm Goin' To Memphis

Warning: LSD Made A Wreck Outta Me

Amplify’d from www.youtube.com

Wendell Austin - LSD.wmv

Wendell Austin - LSD Read more at www.youtube.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/f8k6

JB SMITH: EVER SINCE I HAVE BEEN A MAN FULL GROWN & TWO OTHER PRISON SONGS SUNG UNACCOMPANIED

From: http://honeycombhive.com/beehive/december-09/

JB SMITH: EVER SINCE I HAVE BEEN A MAN FULL GROWN & TWO OTHER PRISON SONGS SUNG UNACCOMPANIED

Recorded at Ramsey Prison Farm in Texas on November 18th, 1965 by Bruce Jackson, this is not only a lyrical expression about the hardships of prison life in rural Texas, but also a document about some essential aspects of the African American experience. Directly grounded in the worksongs and spirituals forged during slavery in North America, J.B. Smith presents a personal interpretation of a music tradition born out of suffering - you’ll be stunned and amazed. From the liner notes:

“Smitty - J.B. Smith - is eleven years into a forty-five year sentence that begun in 1954; he is 48 years old. This is his fourth time in prison in Texas and he does not expect to be paroled for some time. For him, a song like “No More Good Time in the World for Me”, though it draws heavily on the general inmate song vocabulary, is completely personal; the situation applies to him almost without qualification.”

J.B. Smith: “The oldtimers still sing. That is, if whoever is carrying (in charge of) the squad will let them. In some cases the boss won’t let them sing.”

“The young men don’t get a chance to work with the older men and they haven’t experienced working with older men. A lot of them have never been in the system before. And the crews they work with don’t even know the songs, the worksongs that they work by. But once they get to working with the older men, they learn the songs and they try to carry them on when they can. But like I said, in most cases they can’t because they’re not permitted.”

“All Takoma records should be available from any local friendly superior record dealer, and can be ordered direct from us otherwise for $5 the copy, postpaid.”

Takoma B 1009, 1965

Side One:

1. I Got Too Much Time For the Crime I Done (9′47)
2. The Danger Line (0′43)
3. No More Good Time In the World For Me (13′26)
4. Sundown Man (0′24)

Side Two:

1. Ever Since I Been A Man Full Grown (23′19)
2. Bud Russell (0′54)

[.zip_pt.1] [.zip_pt.2]
(Link to the original Tonal Bride blogpost is above to see if these still work)