{"product_id":"midnight-special-the-secret-prison-history-of-american-music","title":"Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn American popular music, we often glorify rebellious artists and \"outlaws.\" But in \u003cem\u003eThe Midnight Special\u003c\/em\u003e, Colin Asher tells a deeper story about the criminal justice system's impact on our musicians, explored through compelling portraits of five artists whose careers span the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOpening with folk and blues artist Huddie \"Lead Belly\" Ledbetter, who was made to perform wearing prison clothes, Asher traces the intertwined histories of music and incarceration, from Southern prison farms of the Jim Crow era, through the heroin-driven mid-century drug wars that villainized a generation of jazz artists, and to our present era of mass incarceration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAsher shows how the suggestion of criminality has often benefited white artists, while prosecutions often hurt Black musicians. Comparing the divergent trajectories of jazz pianist Elmo Hope with country singer Johnny Cash, Asher examines how violent and discriminatory policing stifled Hope's career and led to the creation of his album \u003cem\u003eSounds from Rikers Island\u003c\/em\u003e (1963), while forgiveness and lenience brought us Cash's masterpiece \u003cem\u003eAt San Quentin\u003c\/em\u003e (1969).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith keen musical analysis and sociological insight, \u003cem\u003eThe Midnight Special\u003c\/em\u003e examines key themes in culture and criminal justice, from the movement for prison reform that allowed soul musician Ike White to stage thrilling concerts while locked up and record his album \u003cem\u003eChangin' Times\u003c\/em\u003e (1977), to the crushing cultural weight of mass incarceration a generation later. Closing with Tupac Shakur's \u003cem\u003eMe Against the World\u003c\/em\u003e (1995) and stories of music in prisons today, \u003cem\u003eThe Midnight Special\u003c\/em\u003e recounts how prisons occasionally incubate talent but more often shorten careers and distort the public's perception of musicians and their value to society.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn urgent book about the ways music can affirm an individual's sense of humanity in dehumanizing circumstances, \u003cem\u003eThe Midnight Special\u003c\/em\u003e writes the history of prisons into American music--a story as important as it is overlooked.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Colin Asher","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47612178530540,"sku":"9781324051398","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9781324051398.jpg?v=1778284665","url":"https:\/\/intl.allstora.com\/products\/midnight-special-the-secret-prison-history-of-american-music","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}