When I Went to Leland
Walter “Tangle Eye” Jackson, Willie “Hard Hat” Lacey,
Benny Will “22” Richardson, “Little Red”: vocals and axes. Recorded late 1947 at Mississippi State Penitentiary.

When I went to Leland I thought I was lost
I went around the corner, met my walking boss
Well, my old mister he promised me
When he die he gonna set me free
Before he dies, he gonna set me free

More info: http://www.dust-digital.com/parchman-farm/

Tangle Eye, Hard Hat, 22, and Little Red - When I Went to Leland

Song leader and Mississippi State Penitentiary inmate Heuston Earms discusses work-songs, his time in the penitentiary, his childhood and parents' fights, and the murder that landed him in prison. Recorded by Alan Lomax at Parchman's Camp B, Lambert, Miss., September 19-20, 1959. Earms told Lomax he was eligible for parole in 1962; when and if he got out of Parchman is unknown. He died July 4, 1989. His place of death was listed as Tutwiler, Miss., 16 miles southwest of the Lambert camp. 

Interview with Parchman Farm inmate Heuston Earms (1959)

Jonathan Ward runs the Blog Excavated Shellac, where he uploads rare 78 rpm records. Plus he compiled the 4-CD Box «Opika Pende – Africa At 78 RPM», Grammy nominee for best historical album of 2012. In this Norient.com podcast Ward tells me about his fascination with shellac, about how bloggers and ethnomusicologists don’t meet, and about a typical phenomena: «Blogger fatigue». Keep checking out his work! By Thomas Burkhalter, norient.com. More Info: http://norient.com/podcasts/the-world-at-78-rpm/

Tangle Eye, Hard Hat, 22, and Little Red - When I Went to Leland

Dust-to-Digital