The Midnight Special
The Secret Prison History of American Music
Seiten
2026
WW Norton & Co (Verlag)
978-1-324-05139-8 (ISBN)
WW Norton & Co (Verlag)
978-1-324-05139-8 (ISBN)
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This innovative history explores the rich tradition of music behind bars, and how prisoners have shaped the American sound from blues to hip-hop
In American popular music, we often glorify rebellious artists and “outlaws.” But The Midnight Special reveals an untold story about the way criminal justice has impacted the lives and work of US musicians. Examining five pivotal albums, Colin Asher’s narrative traces the history of twentieth-century incarceration from southern prison-farms to the heroin-driven drug war that villainized a generation of jazz artists to the dawn of mass incarceration. He argues that white artists, unlike their Black colleagues, often avoided severe punishment or even profited from jailtime. And he shows how prisons occasionally incubated talent, but more often shortened careers and distorted the public’s perception of musicians and their value to society. With keen musical analysis and thrilling biographical portraits of Huddie Ledbetter, Elmo Hope, Johnny Cash, Ike White, and Tupac Shakur, The Midnight Special writes the history of prisons into American music—a story as important as it is overlooked.
In American popular music, we often glorify rebellious artists and “outlaws.” But The Midnight Special reveals an untold story about the way criminal justice has impacted the lives and work of US musicians. Examining five pivotal albums, Colin Asher’s narrative traces the history of twentieth-century incarceration from southern prison-farms to the heroin-driven drug war that villainized a generation of jazz artists to the dawn of mass incarceration. He argues that white artists, unlike their Black colleagues, often avoided severe punishment or even profited from jailtime. And he shows how prisons occasionally incubated talent, but more often shortened careers and distorted the public’s perception of musicians and their value to society. With keen musical analysis and thrilling biographical portraits of Huddie Ledbetter, Elmo Hope, Johnny Cash, Ike White, and Tupac Shakur, The Midnight Special writes the history of prisons into American music—a story as important as it is overlooked.
Colin Asher is the award-winning author of Never a Lovely So Real. His work has been featured in the Believer, the Baffler, the New Republic, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 30.6.2026 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 6 photographs |
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Themenwelt | Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Musiktheorie / Musiklehre |
| Sozialwissenschaften | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-324-05139-6 / 1324051396 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-324-05139-8 / 9781324051398 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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