Jail House Bound: John Lomax's First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933

Tracklist

1	–Moses "Clear Rock" Platt	Rattler	1:03
2	–Moses "Clear Rock" Platt	That's All Right, Honey	4:28
3	–Ernest Williams	The Midnight Special	1:45
4	–Ernest Williams	Ain't No More Cane On The Brazos	1:49
5	–Ernest Williams, James "Iron Head" Baker And Group	Ain't No More Cane On The Brazos	2:52
6	–James "Iron Head" Baker	My Yellow Gal	1:44
7	–James "Iron Head" Baker, R.D. Allen, Will Crosby	Black Betty	1:28
8	–James "Iron Head" Baker	The Grey Goose	4:09
9	–Lightnin' Washington And Group	Long Gone	4:29
10	–Lightnin' Washington And Group	Long John	3:04
11	–Lightnin' Washington And Group	Good God Almighty	3:05
12	–Unidentified Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm) Prisoners	Stewball	4:10
13	–Unidentified Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm) Prisoners	John Henry	2:39
14	–Unidentified Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm) Prisoners	He Never Said A Mumbling Word	2:05
15	–Unidentified Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm) Prisoners	Rosie	2:55
16	–"Bow Legs"	Alabama Bound	1:25
17	–Unidentified Shelcounty Workhouse Prisoners	Jumpin' Judy	2:47
18	–Unidentified Shelcounty Workhouse Prisoners	John Henry	2:06
19	–Allen Prothero	Jumping Judy	2:55
20	–Adie Corbin, Ed Frierson	Set Down, Servant	2:16
21	–John 'Black Sampson' Gibson	Levee Camp Holler	1:48
22	–John 'Black Sampson' Gibson	Track Lining Song	1:25
23	–Rochelle Harris	Steel Laying Holler	2:24
24	–John A. Lomax	Interview With John Lomax (Dr. Miles L. Hanley), October 1933	2:26

Companies, etc.

• Recorded By – John A. Lomax
• Published By – Mark Allan Jackson

Notes

Summary

In 1933, John Lomax and his young son Alan traveled by car to a number of prisons scattered throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. In the nation’s most restricted spaces, they recorded African-American convicts, who Lomax thought would be some of the last singers of traditional folk material due to the isolation of the institutions that held them. As a result of this fieldwork, we now have access to a multitude of powerful songs, both well and little known, which provide some understanding of this folk group during the era of Jim Crow in America’s South.
Tracklist

Rattler by Mose “Clear Rock” Platt
That’s Alright, Honey by Mose “Clear Rock” Platt
The Midnight Special by Ernest “Mexico” Williams
Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos by Ernest “Mexico” Williams 1933
Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos by Ernest “Mexico” Williams with James “Iron Head” Baker

West Virginia University Press is releasing a collection of 24 songs from that journey in Jail House Bound: John Lomax’s First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933, compiled and produced by Mark Allan Jackson. A booklet containing an introduction to this project and photographs gathered along the way accompany the CD.

Author

John Lomax (1867-1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk songs.

Mark Allan Jackson is Associate Professor of Folklore and English at Middle Tennessee State University who specializes in political expression in American music. He has published essays, reviews, and commentaries in such journals as American Music, The Journal of American History, Popular Music and Society, The Journal of American Folklore, Journal of Folklore Research, and The Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

• Barcode (ISBN 10): 1933202335
• Barcode (ISBN 13): 9781933202334