St. Ann’s Warehouse presents THE B-SIDE: “Negro Folklore from
Texas State Prisons”
A Record Album Interpretation

With Eric Berryman, Jasper McGruder, Philip Moore
Directed by Kate Valk

MAR 1-24, 2019

“A STEREOPHONIC SÉANCE…stirring…refreshing…perseveringly SOULFUL… ” —The Los Angeles Times

“Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons” was brought to The Wooster Groupby performer Eric Berryman after he saw the Group’s previous record album interpretation Early Shaker Spirituals. THE B-SIDE is an original performance based on an LP of work songs, spirituals, and toasts recorded in 1964 in Texas’ then-segregated prison farms. Eric Berryman, Jasper McGruder, and Philip Moore channel the inmates’ voices, via in-ear receivers, and transmit them live. 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.

“Nothing short of TRANSCENDENT” —The New York Times

Runtime: 60 minutes, no intermission