About a year ago, producer Ian Brennan returned to the notorious Parchman Farm prison to record participants at a Sunday service for a follow-up the 2023 release, Some Mississippi Sunday Morning, which garnered widespread praise for its completely raw gospel sound. A number of those who were involved in the first disc are back this time, for something laid down in a single four-hour session, with no guards present.

It’s as stirring as its predecessor, and there are performances that well up from some deep place in the soul, like D. Justice’s “Take Me To The King,” which is hushed gospel poetry with a beat, or the surprise of “MC Hammer,” by J. Robinson and L. Stevenson, hip-hop stripped of any glitz and braggadacio.

There’s majesty when the voices of the Parchman Prison Band come together for “Jesus Will Never Say No,” which is the sound of acceptance and finding something beyond themselves – many of the men heard here are serving life sentences.

It’s a short album, a little under 30 minutes. But quality and depth doesn’t always come with length. This is real gospel music.

Further reading:
Parchman Prison Prayer: Some Mississippi Sunday Morning
Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings: 1947-1959
Jake Blount - The New Faith
Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O - True Story

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