v/a – murderers’ home (1957)

At the time of these recordings in 1947/48, work gangs were being shepherded out of custom by machinery. In the punitively sparse conditions of a prison, however, those work gangs were very much alive and singing. For Bruce Jackson, Southern agricultural penitentiaries were “replicas of 19th century plantations.” These haunting worksongs, marked with a bruised beauty, would be sung under the threat of physical punishment and the gaze of white officers. Each recording was pulled from scorched soil, under scorching southern skies. Tempoed by wood-cutting, this compilation shows a side of work that was both ruthless and pierced by unfiltered soul. 

26/30

A favourite: ‘No More Ma Lawd’