Musical Monday: The B Side

Before seeing The B-Side: Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons at St. Ann’s Warehouse last month, I knew very little about the show. The only thing I knew about it was the very succinct way it was described on St. Ann’s Warehouse’s website. It said:

“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.”

The description, while intriguing, didn’t fully prepare me for just how beautiful, intimate, and intense The B Side was. It was music that sounded great, but it also felt important.

I enjoyed the performance of this album for two primary reasons. Yes, the music itself is beautiful and deep. More importantly, we’re hearing the voices and words of black inmates in a segregated prison. Their words and stories told a story of 1964 Texas. In 2019, we are still having (or perhaps not having frequently enough) conversations about race. Prison reform is becoming an increasingly discussed topic in this country. These stories are just as important 55 years later as they were at the time the album recorded.

The beauty in the presentation of The B-Side was its simplicity. The three gentlemen on stage, a small television screen in the background, and a record player sitting on a small table. There is a time and a place for massive theater—I love giant sets and grandeur—this wasn’t one of them. The focus was on the singers, but more than that, it was on the songs. The three men on stage were channeling the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the inmates more than 50 years ago. It wasn’t so much a performance of the music but more so an appearance of men who likely aren’t with us anymore. The simplicity allowed those men to shine through distraction free.

This is not the first time The Wooster Group has put on what they call an album interpretation. While I can’t speak to any they did before as this was the first one I saw, The B Side makes me truly hope they choose to do more. It feels both like good theater, but it also feels important.