01. Parchman Prison Blues (02:27)
02. Open the Floodgates of Heaven (01:43)
03. Grace Will Lead Me On (03:48)
04. MC Hammer (01:59)
05. Po’ Child (01:11)
06. Take Me To the King (02:28)
07. Living Testimony (01:39)
08. I Shall Not Want (03:54)
09. I Won’t Complain (01:13)
10. God is Keeping Me (01:55)
11. Talking About My Jesus (00:58)
12. Stand for You (00:58)
13. Jesus Will Never Say No (05:03)

“From a cappella and delicately inflected tenor ornamentation to a hypnotic basso profundo chant; from an urgent rap about a singer’s remorse to a hopeful choral outburst: this is inspirational music, triumphant rather than beaten down and defeated.”
— BBC Music

“Captures radiant voices rejoicing in the freedom of creative expression.”
 — MOJO

 “A rare document that plunges straight into the heart of another America.”
— Libération (France)

Another Mississippi Sunday Morning is the poignant sequel to Some Mississippi Sunday Morning (2023), the prison-recorded gospel album that was met with unexpected global acclaim by the likes of the New York Times, The Guardian, the New Yorker, and BBC (just to name a few).

In early 2024 Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, The Good Ones [Rwanda]) returned to the Parchman Farm maximum security facility in the Mississippi to record a second collection of raw and haunting performances from the prison’s Sunday gospel service. The results are once again captivating and unforgettable.

Twelve men participated in the new recording session, ranging in age from 23 to 74. Three are serving life sentences and six of them were newer arrivals or not on the debut album. There were no guards or chaplains present this time.

Like the first album, all songs were first takes, recorded 100% live and without overdubs. The session took four hours, twice the length of time Brennan was alotted for Some Mississippi Sunday Morning. This time the singers knew what to expect and some came to the session with pre-prepared material.

“Certain people who were involved the first time became very prominent this time,” Brennan says. “They were also more motivated to write their own songs, so a lot of them had done that in advance. A couple of those from before were really eager to do song after song. Everybody sang at least one song.”

Though all of the music is intimate and stripped back, each song and performance, whether it is based on traditional gospel or Hip Hop or the deep blues, has an individual and powerful story to tell.

The track “Open the Floodgates of Heaven (Let It Rain)” was recorded as a storm suddenly splattered and thundered. Singer J. Hemphill’s interpretation of the source material is so singular that it is unrecognizable as a cover. Now sixty-seven years old, Hemphill has been serving a life sentence since his early-twenties. The tenderness in his voice stands in hard contrast to the realities of his daily life.

The curiously titled “MC Hammer,” is the second single to be released from the album. Through his rap, J. Robinson (thirty-four years old), weaves a tale that uses Mr. Hammer as the punchline of his incantation of spiritual and personal imagery: “The Holy Spirit dancing like MC Hammer.”

Accompanied only by improvised beatbox from L. Stevenson (thirty-one years old), the pair manage to strip Hip Hop back to the barest of roots— groove and grime. Incarcerated since age eighteen, Mr. Stevenson is currently facing life imprisonment.

The album’s first single “Parchman Prison Blues,” was the last song recorded that day. Six of the men huddled together and improvised a sublime, wordless expression of their pain and longing. It is a gripping opener to an album marked by resonant emotion and fragile hope.

“These recordings help make corporeal the nuance of trauma,” Brennan states. “Every person on every side of a violence action is diminished by it, including – albeit to a lesser degree – the perpetrator.”

As with the first album, any and all artist proceeds benefit Parchman’s chaplain services program.

*Ian Brennan’s quotes are from: ‘Another Sunday Morning’ at Parchman Prison, Mixonline, November 7^th, 2024

01. Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord (01:27)
02. I Give Myself Away, So You Can Use Me (03:18)
03. Break Every Chain (02:32)
04. Jesus, Every Day Your Name is the Same (01:29)
05. Step Into the Water (01:44)
06. Solve My Need (01:37)
07. Falling in Love with Jesus Was the Best Thing I’ve Ever Done (01:59)
08. You Did Not Leave Me, You Bless Me Still (01:38)
09. If I Couldn’t Say One Word, I’ll Just Wave My Hand (04:18)
10. I Gotta Run (00:50)
11. Hosanna (03:37)
12. Locked Down, Mama Prays For Me (01:32)
13. It’s In My Heart (01:59)
14. I’m Still Here (02:13)
15. Lay My Burden Down (07:05)

Haunting in situ recordings from Parchman Farm maximum security prison in Mississippi (USA). Producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen,  Ustad Saami, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Zomba Prison Project) recorded the

prison’s Sunday gospel service and the results are unforgettable.

The performances range from solo a capella to a floor-shaking electric band. The repertoire includes both traditional and newly penned spirituals. “Some Mississippi Sunday Morning” is an unfiltered and deeply

resonant journey into a musical world rarely seen or heard.

**********

In February 2023, Grammy-winning music producer, Ian Brennan traveled to Mississippi to record with the prisoners of the notorious Parchman Prison. The institution has a rich musical history with Son House, Bukka White, Mose Allison and Elvis Presley’s father, Vernon Presley, having been former residents. The bureaucratic process for his visit took over three years. Granted approval a little more than a week before, Brennan caught a red eye flight to be there on a Sunday morning for the few hours he was allowed to record.

The chaplains of the prison convened a special service of various singers from across the dozen or so different services that take place every Sunday at Parchman. Somewhat bashful at first, the men volunteered one-by-one and sang a capella songs. Inspired by one another, those that had initially refused or were reluctant to sing, eventually stepped-up to the microphone and many took second turns as the morning unfolded. The entire meeting climaxed with an unplanned, full-band free for all as the musicians traded off the chapel’s instruments on-the-fly.

“I had a blind faith that the voices would be compelling. But the men exceeded my expectations astronomically with the depth and nuance— and often downright virtuosity— of their singing,” Brennan recalls.

With over 2-million people incarcerated, the United States currently leads the world both in the total number of people in prison and the rate per capita. Mississippi has the second highest incarceration rate in the country at more than six times the rate of the state with the lowest.

Mississippi’s oldest penitentiary, Parchman was founded in 1901 and has one of the highest prisoner mortality rates in the nation as well as experiencing ongoing riots. Parchman is located just a hop and a skip to the north of Money, Mississippi where a young black man Emmett Till was infamously tortured and lynched in 1955. Also, just around the corner is the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale near where Muddy Waters was raised, where Sam Cooke and Ike Turner were born, where Bessie Smith died, and Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads (which had historically been an intersection of two major First Nation routes).

Comprised of “farms,” the prison occupies twenty-eight square miles and houses death row for both men and women in Mississippi. Such is the history, they even have their own cemetery.

Scandals rocked the prison in recent years with multiple deaths and murders, and Jay-Z even filed a class action suit on behalf of the prisoners due to the “barbaric” and “abhorrent” conditions.

Due to restrictions on video and photos, the only artifact from this meeting are the sounds— making the voices all the more ethereal and ghostly.

One man’s voice was so deep, it sounded like the Mississippi River singing— as if Barry White were a soprano. Another freestyled a rap about the shame he feels for having caused pain to his mother and others due to his actions. Another was a 73-year-old, former “rock and roll” singer who’d survived prison, become a chaplain, and found God. His mantra was, “You’ve got to get out of prison while you’re still in prison.”

A veil of sadness seemed to shroud. The singers’ voices softened and textured by the inescapable regret that their environment confronts them with.

Most songs were covers of Gospel standards, but delivered so imbued with subtext that they were transformed almost unrecognizably from the source material.

One of the beauties of the experience was that it was a successful integration of white and black inmates, whose services are often held separately due to racial tensions.

As the men beamed, hugged and hi-fived one another in celebration, Chaplain Sidney beamed, “The making of this record has brought much needed encouragement and hope to the men here at Parchman.”

These were voices unchained, if only for those few hours. Expressing a vocal breadth of freedom otherwise denied and restrained.

**********

Recorded 100% live without overdubs at Parchman maximum security

prison’s Sunday morning service.

All profits from the album benefit the Mississippi Department

of Corrections Chaplain Services.

1. Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord / L. Stevenson (age: 29)

2. I Give Myself Away, So You Can Use Me / singer/pianist chose to remain anonymous

3. Break Every Chain / M. Kyles (age: 52)

4. Jesus, Every Day Your Name is the Same / Parchman Prison Choir featuring C.S. Deloch (age: 73)

5. Step into the Water / N. Peterson (age: 63)

6. Solve My Need / M. Palmer (age: 60)

7. Falling in Love with Jesus Was the Best Thing I’ve Ever Done / A. Warren (age: 28)

8. You Did Not Leave Me, You Bless Me Still / J. Sherman (age: 63)

9. If I Couldn’t Say One Word, I’ll Just Wave My Hand / Parchman Prison Choir featuring L. Brown (age: 36)

10. I Gotta Run / L. Stevenson (age: 29)

11. Hosanna / L. Brown (age: 36)

12. Locked Down, Mama Prays for Me / Robinson (age: 33) with A. Warren (age: 28)

13. It’s in My Heart / M. Kyles (age: 52)

14. I’m Still Here / D. Thomas (age: 30)

15. Lay My Burden Down / Parchman Prison Choir featuring C.S. Deloch (age: 73) & M. Palmer (age: 60)