The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs

The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs is an album by Lead Belly and the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, recorded for Victor Records in 1940 and released a few months later.[1]:220–22

The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs
Studio album by
Lead Belly and the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet
Released1940
RecordedJune 15 and 17, 1940, New York City
GenreFolk, blues
Length18:31
LabelVictor Records
ProducerRobert P. Weatherald
Lead Belly and the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet chronology
Negro Sinful Songs
(1939)		 The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs
(1940)		 Negro Folk Songs Sung By Lead Belly
(1943)

In 1939, Lead Belly was back in jail for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan. The ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, who had started to make field recordings of folk music for the Library of Congress, helped raise money for Lead Belly's legal expenses.[2] It was Lomax's original intent to record songs in prison, but instead a recording studio was used. To create a "prison" feel Lomax suggested that the Golden Gate Quartet back Lead Belly. However, the Golden Gate Quartet was a polished, professional group, and Lead Belly had to teach them how to sing as a group of prisoners would sing the selected songs.[3]

The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs was originally released as one three-disc collection of 78 rpm records. All tracks were recorded at Victor Studios in New York City on June 15 and 17, 1940.[1]:298–300

An image of the original 78 record from Lead Belly's Victor album.

Track listing
The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs track listing
No.TitleLength
1."The Midnight Special"3:07
2."Ham and Eggs"2:59
3."Grey Goose"2:57
4."Stewball"3:01
5."Pick a Bale of Cotton"3:01
6."Alabama Bound"3:03

References
  1. Wolfe, Charles; Lornell, Kip (1992). The Life and Legend of Leadbelly. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0060168625.
  2. https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/grey-goose-78-rpm-by-lead-belly
  3. Szwed, John (2010). Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World. Penguin. p. 169. ISBN 9781101190340.
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