Mark, I'm sure there are many fascinating things lurking in dark little corners of Barry's history that we'll never know...and if I knew I wouldn't tell...but the gang in question here is no more
sinister a group than Daphne Glover, Barry, and Ken Schatz– the gang of late night singers at FSGW years ago that first turned me on to prison work songs.

I was pulled by the tractor beam of that sound into a room late one night at the Getaway a few years ago. Daphne, Barry and Ken were rocking the rafters with the song Early In The Mornin'-- and I was hooked for life. By dawn they'd taught me a dozen more prison songs just as powerful, and I knew this was a kind of mouth music I had to study.

Every time Ken or Daphne or Barry was anywhere near San Francisco, I dragged them into my livingroom to sing this stuff with me. They are incredibly talented singers of course, and they have a real love for this genre.

Ken Schatz and Alison Kelley have a wonderful self-titled album called NexTradition which showcases this great music, as most Mudcatters know. If you DON'T know, do yourself a favor and listen to the mp3 of Early In The Mornin' at Ken's website–www.kenschatz.com    It's a killer.

I went through hundreds of hours of field recordings and reams of papers over the next couple of years, and became truly fascinated with this genre. There's a huge link between the work songs of African American inmates in Southern prisons of the Jim Crow era, and the labor songs of Southern slaves. This oral tradition continued to evolve through emancipation and reconstruction, and by the time anyone started documenting prison songs, it had become a genre of its own.

Now it is easily one of the most popular kinds of songs in my mouth music classes.   People are seduced by the rhythmic soul of the songs and the power of the lyrics– then they're drawn in to a part of history they often didn't know much about as we explore Slavery, Reconstruction and the Jim Crow South through vocal music.

Thanks to singers like Daphne (and Stephanie and Donna) and Ken (and Alison), our own dear, mysterious Barry and a few others who sing and teach and learn– this music is being kept alive in the oral tradition as well as in National archives.    Come join the gang, Mark!

xoxo
p.j.