Christmas in Prison

To combine the sentiments of Marty's last post, I'll indulge a little working class hero tribute of my own, and keep a yuletide theme. John Prine's a singer-songwriter who started performing in the late 60's. He's probably best known for Bonnie Raitt covering his song "Angel From Montgomery." Anyway, he's been compared to Dylan quite a bit, and obviously he took some inspiration from BD. But whereas Dylan took his own influence from folk and activist Okies like Woody Guthrie and Chris Bouchillon, Prine leans more to the Old Time Appalachian storytellers like Dock Boggs. Dylan's more rock, Prine's more country, both are true American poets. The protagonists in Prine's songs are always complicated, sympathetic, and abhorrent. This song reminds me of some of the work I did back in Kentucky. There was an arts and activist project called "From the Holler to the Hood" that worked with prison issues in Applachia. As the coal industry begins to dry up in the mountains, a new industry of private detention facilities is beginning to sprout up. Prisoners from New England are getting shipped down to Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and the region is dealing with issues of cultural difference, race, violence, and the impact of these new types of careers and populations. The project developed documentary films, held dialogues, and each Christmas had a radio call-in show for friends and relatives of prisoners who were too far away to visit to call and broadcast messages. so this John Prine song reminds me of that time. Unfortunately, the only video I can find with the song includes some jokey (?) Bush-Cheney imagery. Just listen to the lyrics and forget the video.