{"id":807190,"date":"2020-05-07T07:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=994255"},"modified":"2020-05-07T07:00:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T13:00:23","slug":"ani-difranco-zoe-boekbinder-team-up-to-tell-inmates-stories-in-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/ani-difranco-zoe-boekbinder-team-up-to-tell-inmates-stories-in-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Ani Difranco, Zo\u00eb Boekbinder Team Up to Tell Inmates\u2019 Stories in Song"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zo\u00eb Boekbinder has been visiting inmates at New Folsom Prison in Folsom, California, for 10 years now, working on an album that would become Long Time Gone \u2014<\/em> a collaboration between Boekbinder, incarcerated men, and Ani DiFranco<\/a>\u2019s Righteous Babes Records and the Prison Music Project<\/a>. The album is out June 5th.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two million people in prison in the U.S. and each one of them has a story to tell. Nine of them are on this record,\u201d DiFranco tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cThe stories and the music on Long Time Gone<\/em> are diverse in scope and sound, as are the people involved, but we are united in our humanity and in our hope for a more just justice system. In this time of human versus virus, when so many behind bars are sitting ducks, I hope we can address the reality of mass incarceration and fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After volunteering with prisoners for four years \u2014 playing concerts and teaching workshops \u2014 Boekbinder started working with inmates on songs of their own, with help from DiFranco. \u201cThe 10-year process of this record seemed to play out in slow motion, but it seems only fitting because many of the songwriters here are serving life-without-parole sentences,\u201d the duo writes in a release. \u201cFor them, there is nothing but endless gaping time. Daring to hope and daring to feel in such a context becomes a revolutionary act. Our intention, with this project, is to simply reflect the shared humanity of people on both sides of prison bars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spoon Jackson, who has been in prison for 40 years for murder, penned a poem called \u201cNowhere but Barstow and Prison,\u201d which DiFranco adapted into a song, with the lyrics: \u201cBeen down sidewinder valley\/Been down dead man\u2019s alley\/I slipped down b hill\/In the heart of town\/Been locked up so long\/My head spins around.\u201d Jackson is serving life without parole, but managed to make friends with DiFranco during the writing process; he\u2019s also published a memoir called By Heart<\/em><\/a> and written countless poems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been incarcerated 42 years for murder with special circumstances,\u201d Jackson wrote as part of a recent petition for his freedom<\/a>. \u201cI was 10 days into my 20th year when committing the crime. I take full ownership\/responsibility of the loss of life. I was lost with no sense of direction, no sense of responsibility and no purpose. I wish I could have traveled another road instead of the one of self-destruction and causing another person harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boekbinder was unable to take recording equipment into the prison, so most of the vocals were done by the musicians and other guests. The rap at the end of \u201cMonster\u201d \u2014 penned by Greg Gadlin and Boekbinder \u2014 was performed by the inmate over the phone. \u201cI\u2019m a monster,\u201d Gadlin raps as Boekbinder\u2019s angelic voice tapers off. \u201cYou can call me the glorious\/Seems I\u2019m stuck here in this game\/All I know is this street life and it\u2019s a goddamn shame.\u201d<\/p>\n