Banged Up: American Jailhouse Songs

This fairly self-explanatory collection of blues, hillbilly, and early rock music spans thirty years and includes such household names as Johnny Cash, Bessie Smith, Jimmie Rogers, and Swamp hero Bukka White, alongside a wide spectrum of lesser-knowns. Of note are Smith's absolutely brutal "Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair" and the barnstorming "Riot in Cell Block 9," alongside Leroy Carr's hilarious "Christmas in Jail, Ain't That a Shame." Not much else to say, so reach for the sky, punk.