Prison song : music and incarceration in the United States / David Metzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Metzer, David Joel, 1965- author.

Series:

Music and social justice.

Music and Social Justice

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prisoners' songs--United States.

Prisoners' songs.

Prisoners' songs--United States--History and criticism.

Prisoners--United States--Social conditions--Anecdotes.

Prisoners.

Protest music--United States.

Protest music.

Applied musicology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2026.

Summary:

From Johnny Cash to Jay-Z, musicians have long used their voices to challenge the injustices of the prison system. Prison Song: Music and Incarceration in the United States reveals how musicians have confronted the prison system by telling the life stories of imprisoned individuals, creating empathetic bonds between listeners and those individuals, and critiquing the racial and social inequalities that incarceration preys upon. Prison Song takes a broad, interdisciplinary approach to explore how artists across genres--hip hop, country, blues, folk, rock, jazz, and classical--have protested the prison system. David Metzer examines the works of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and non-incarcerated musicians from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including prison records, government reports, legislation, court decisions, and scholarship from carceral studies, each chapter reveals how musicians responded to developments in the prison system at particular historical moments and how their works have shaped public understanding of the prison system in the United States.

Contents:

Introduction

"The prisoner's song" : sentimentality in early country songs about incarceration

A community of song : recordings of women at Parchman Farm (1933-1939)

Death row in country music

Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison

Musicians respond to the Attica uprising

Life stories of the incarcerated in Joan Baez's "Prison trilogy"

Life stories of the incarcerated in early hip hop

Prison letters and calls in hip hop

Mass incarceration : life stories, rage, and healing

From collecting to collaboration : Cheryl L'Hirondelle's Why the caged bird sings.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-216) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

Has Supplement:

Supplement (work): Metzer, David Joel, Prison song: music and incarceration in the United States 1 online resource (3 audio files)

ISBN:

0-472-90580-5