A new album by incarcerated musicians features songs of prison, trauma and hope
The Washington Post, September 29, 2021: A new album by incarcerated musicians features songs of prison, trauma and hope
“Michael Tenneson, an inmate at Colorado’s Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City, says he spent two years lobbying the prison for a band room. Eventually, an interim warden agreed to his plan, and a room was created, but it was handed over to two other inmates to run — both white supremacists. Tenneson, who is White, had organized a group of musicians who were Black, Native American, Jewish and queer, so he had to make sure the white supremacists weren’t there when it was time to use the room.
Tenneson and his fellow musicians didn’t need the space just to blow off steam or jam guitar during rec hour. The group had been assembled to record an album — one produced by a record label that would ensure their music reached past the walls of the prison.”
