THE B-SIDE:“Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons”on tour

The Wooster Group: THE B-SIDE: “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons” A Record Album Interpretation

“THE B-SIDE is based on the 1965 LP “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons,” which features work songs, blues, spirituals, preaching, and toasts from inmates in Texas’ then-segregated agricultural prison farms. The album was brought to The Wooster Group by performer Eric Berryman after he saw the Group’s previous record album interpretation EARLY SHAKER SPIRITUALS. In THE B-SIDE, Berryman plays the album and transmits the material live, by channeling, via an in-ear receiver, the voices of the men on the record. Accompanying him are Jasper McGruder and Philip Moore. Berryman also provides context from the book Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues by Bruce Jackson, the folklorist who recorded the album at the prison in 1964 and is now a SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo.”

Additional reading:

The New York Times, October 31, 2017: Review: ‘The B-Side’ Is an Extraordinary Masterclass in Listening

OHMA, March 5, 2019: Review: “The B-Side: ‘Negro Folklore From Texas State Prisons’ A Record Album Interpretation”