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Live From Tennessee State Prison, a Rollicking Version of a Country Gem
Listen if you like: Johnny Cash, Charley Crockett, Sturgill Simpson
Say the words “prison music” and many people think of Johnny Cash, whose live concert albums “At Folsom Prison” and “At San Quentin” were massive hits in the late 1960s. They inspired a trend, as artists like B.B. King and Eddie Palmieri released their own prison albums throughout the 1970s.
One concert album from that era, “Sonny James In Prison. In Person,” didn’t have the cultural staying power of those by Cash, King and Palmieri. But it deserves a listen because the Nashville star was an innovator, inviting 11 incarcerated musicians to be his backing band on the 1977 concert record.
“Each man attending the show felt he was part of the album,” reads the sleeve of “Sonny James In Prison. In Person,” which was recorded at Tennessee State Prison. In addition to donating instruments to the prison band, the Nashville star enlisted other men inside as stagehands. They converted a boxing ring in the prison gym into a stage and hung bedsheets as stage curtains. The album cover features a photo taken by an incarcerated photographer.
The influence of Johnny Cash is evident in this effort to highlight the creativity of people behind bars. In addition to testifying before Congress on prison reform, Cash frequently performed a song about redemption by California prisoner Glen Sherley.
Sonny James, known by the moniker the “Southern Gentleman,” had produced a string of hits throughout the 1960s, but he had fallen from relevance by the time this album came out. He included covers that were sure to highlight the novelty of the concert itself and sell records. The opening track, “In the Jailhouse Now,” was a vaudeville song first recorded in 1915, turned bluesy and twangy in the 1920s by the country star Jimmie Rodgers. Johnny Cash had his own version.
James’s version has an easy, uncomplicated joy that contrasts with the lyrics about a friend who goes to jail, making it all feel a bit like an in-joke with his audience members, who cheer over the trumpet solos that bookend the song.
The song took James back onto the “Billboard” country charts. He died in 2016, at 87, and I have not found any of the men who backed him on the album. But I did find Nashville recording engineer Johnny Rosen, who recalled going to the prison with James. “Sonny always had this way of making people feel like he was no better than any one of them,” he told me of the Tennessee State Prison concert.
At the end, everyone in attendance sang “Amazing Grace” together, so that listeners would hear these men collectively singing lines like “I once was lost but now am found,” rather than simply cheering on a famous singer.
LINER NOTES:
Song: “In the Jailhouse Now” | Artist: Sonny James | Songwriter: Jimmie Rodgers | Produced by: George Richey | Arranged by: Sonny James | Prison Music Director: Oridill Harville | Musicians: David Acres, Ronald Bennett, Leroy Echols, Larry Green, Jerry Jernigan, Del McAdory, Dan Moffitt, Bo Norris, Don Shears, Garvin Shepard and Leroy Winston | M.C.: Biff Collie | Engineers: Ron Reynolds and Johnny Rosen | Remix Engineer: Ron Reynolds | Location Recording by: Fanta Professional Services |Stage Manager: Wayne Smith | Tape Operators: Ronnie Dean, Hollis Flat, Ken Laxton, Mervin Louque, Freeman Ramsey, Jerry Watson | Album Cover and Photos: Tony Millican | Album Design: Bill Barnes and Cheryl Schmidt