Filed
1:00 p.m. EDT
04.26.2026
Sonny James’ 1977 cowl of “Within the Jailhouse Now” was a part of an progressive collaboration with incarcerated musicians, stagehands and photographers.
This essay is a part of Redemption Songs, a limited-run e-newsletter that spotlights one music every week by incarcerated artists. Enroll now to get a brand new music every Sunday afternoon till September:
Dwell From Tennessee State Jail, a Rollicking Model of a Nation Gem
Pay attention in case you like: Johnny Money, Charley Crockett, Sturgill Simpson
Say the phrases “jail music” and many individuals consider Johnny Money, whose dwell live performance albums “At Folsom Jail” and “At San Quentin” had been huge hits within the late Nineteen Sixties. They impressed a pattern, as artists like B.B. King and Eddie Palmieri launched their very own jail albums all through the Nineteen Seventies.
One live performance album from that period, “Sonny James In Jail. In Particular person,” didn’t have the cultural endurance of these by Money, King and Palmieri. However it deserves a pay attention as a result of the Nashville star was an innovator, inviting 11 incarcerated musicians to be his backing band on the 1977 live performance document.
“Every man attending the present felt he was a part of the album,” reads the sleeve of “Sonny James In Jail. In Particular person,” which was recorded at Tennessee State Jail. Along with donating devices to the jail band, the Nashville star enlisted different males inside as stagehands. They transformed a boxing ring within the jail gymnasium right into a stage and hung bedsheets as stage curtains. The album cowl incorporates a picture taken by an incarcerated photographer.
The affect of Johnny Money is clear on this effort to spotlight the creativity of individuals behind bars. Along with testifying earlier than Congress on jail reform, Money regularly carried out a music about redemption by California prisoner Glen Sherley.
Sonny James, recognized by the moniker the “Southern Gentleman,” had produced a string of hits all through the Nineteen Sixties, however he had fallen from relevance by the point this album got here out. He included covers that had been positive to spotlight the novelty of the live performance itself and promote information. The opening monitor, “Within the Jailhouse Now,” was a vaudeville music first recorded in 1915, turned bluesy and twangy within the Twenties by the nation star Jimmie Rodgers. Johnny Money had his personal model.
James’s model has a simple, uncomplicated pleasure that contrasts with the lyrics a few pal who goes to jail, making all of it really feel a bit like an in-joke together with his viewers members, who cheer over the trumpet solos that bookend the music.
The music took James again onto the “Billboard” nation charts. He died in 2016, at 87, and I’ve not discovered any of the lads who backed him on the album. However I did discover Nashville recording engineer Johnny Rosen, who recalled going to the jail with James. “Sonny at all times had this fashion of creating folks really feel like he was no higher than any one among them,” he instructed me of the Tennessee State Jail live performance.
On the finish, everybody in attendance sang “Superb Grace” collectively, in order that listeners would hear these males collectively singing traces like “I as soon as was misplaced however now am discovered,” reasonably than merely cheering on a well-known singer.
LINER NOTES:
Music: “Within the Jailhouse Now” | Artist: Sonny James | Songwriter: Jimmie Rodgers | Produced by: George Richey | Organized by: Sonny James | Jail Music Director: Oridill Harville | Musicians: David Acres, Ronald Bennett, Leroy Echols, Larry Inexperienced, 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 Skilled Companies |Stage Supervisor: Wayne Smith | Tape Operators: Ronnie Dean, Hollis Flat, Ken Laxton, Mervin Louque, Freeman Ramsey, Jerry Watson | Album Cowl and Pictures: Tony Millican | Album Design: Invoice Barnes and Cheryl Schmidt
