These historic sides were recorded in 1959 by famed musicologist Harry Oster at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the largest maximum security prison in the United States. The prison has held many famous musicians and has been the subject of a number of songs. Folk singer Leadbelly served over four years of his attempted murder sentence there, and was eventually pardoned for good behavior. Tex-Mex artist Freddy Fender spent some time as did the famous bluesman Robert Pete Williams whose song, quot;Grown So Uglyquot; references the grueling conditions of the prison farm, which has vastly improved since it's heyday in the 1920's and 30's when it was basically run as a slave labor camp. The blues tradition was still very much alive at Angola in 1959, as these 13 tracks demonstrate. All selections newly remastered. [Note: This product is an authorized, licensed CD-R and is manufactured on demand]
