[Cover photo credit to Tim Duffy, Music Maker Foundation]
Nonprofit organization Music Maker Foundation has announced a new collaboration with The Parchman Band. The newly-revived Blues band, consisting of inmates at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, will release their self-titled debut album on February 26, 2027 along with a book and a short documentary film directed by Ethan Payne. A testament to the transformative power of music, the collection features intimate stories and imagery from deeply personal recordings and tintype sessions.
The recordings “offering a front-row seat to a quiet revolution of faith, work, and community.” They also offer “living proof that even in a place long defined by suffering, music can foster profound healing, forgiveness, and human dignity.”
The album’s lead single “Streets of Memphis” is out now, a Blues/Rock anthem written by member Charles Glassco IV.
Glassco IV shares:
This was the first song I ever wrote. I began to think about how I ended up in prison and all the things that I was doing in my life that led me here. I was battling addiction, selling drugs, lying, cheating. To be honest, the lifestyle I was living had me completely beaten. I thank God that he gave me a second chance and let me regain my mind, body, and spirit.
Tim Duffy, Music Maker Founder/Executive Director says:
When Music Maker met the Parchman Band, we told the men we wanted them to choose the songs, choose their portraits, and help decide how their book would be made. Houston Jones edited the book, and each member told his own story, shared his lyrics, and explained why he wrote his song. I hope people outside Parchman hear something of their own lives in these men’s songs. To be welcomed in and share their joy and incredible musicianship has been one of the biggest honors of my life.
The Parchman Band marks a significant new milestone in the prison’s rich music history dating back nearly 100 years. Produced by Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers) and recorded at Dial Back Sound, the album’s nine tracks are a collection of all-original songs written and performed by the band’s members, all currently incarcerated at Parchman: Houston Jones (keys/lead guitar), Leonard Stevenson, Jr. (bass/vocals), Lee Smith (lead guitar/vocals), Jakellsey Hollis (drums), Michael Snell (vocals), Charles Glassco IV (vocals), and Steven Chambers (vocals).
Jimbo Mathus comments:
Discovering the revived Parchman Band has given me hope and inspiration to be a part of a unique musical ministry and to see the changes possible inside a place like Parchman, long noted as perhaps the most infamous of prisons. It is proof that music – if and where it exists – can foster healing, forgiveness and, yes, redemption.
While some songs touch on the realities of life behind bars, the album’s overriding theme is one of “faith, hope, and transformation.” This is “a direct reflection of the broader human-centered reforms instituted at Parchman” under superintendent Marc McClure.
In these songs, “redemption is not a one-time event but a disciplined, daily practice rooted in personal responsibility.” Other tracks reflect on the band members’ journey through faith and moral growth since entering Parchman. Together, these songs are “a collective roadmap for renewal.”
McClure says:
Parchman has a storied musical history, and through the hard work, dedication, and diligence of these men, the torch that will ensure the survival of Parchman’s musical legacy remains lit.
Located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Parchman has a deep musical history. Folklorists John and Alan Lomax famously recorded prisoners’ songs in the 1930s to 1950s, and prominent Blues musicians like Bukka White (composer of “Parchman Farm Blues”), Son House, Mark “Muleman” Massey, and David Kimbrough Jr. spent time incarcerated there. The prison was home to a celebrated Blues band from the 1930s to the mid-1990s, when the original group was disbanded.
When Burl Cain assumed office as Commissioner of Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) in 2020, music was a part of his broader vision for reform at Parchman. Since then, Parchman has overcome their notoriously mired past and become an inspirational model for what prison reform can look like. The Parchman Band was officially revived by McClure in 2023. They performed their first public performance in April 2025 at the BB King Museum, and have since appeared at Juke Joint Festival, on the nationally-syndicated Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, and on tour around Mississippi with country singer-songwriter Charlie Worsham. Worsham also recently interviewed members of the band for his Mississippi On The Map Podcast.
In addition to recording their debut album, Music Maker has donated instruments and other gear to the band through the Parchman Community and Culture Foundation. Music Maker has also provided substantial recording equipment to launch an inmate-led recording studio, the first in Parchman’s history, which is now underway at the prison. The program gives inmates the opportunity to record themselves and one another, documenting their stories, songs, and music.
The Parchman Band book includes lyrics to each song, musical notation, band-member biographies, photos and portraits, and the story behind the album’s creation. The short documentary film provides an exclusive, intimate behind-the-scenes glimpse of the recording of the album along with interviews with the band members, live footage, and more.
