OUR MUSIC MADE WITH CONVICTION
Songwriters join inmates for rehabilitation project
Acclaimed songwriters have teamed up with prisoners in Scottish jails as part of a “game-changing” rehabilitation project.
The Distant Voices scheme is to showcase years of work created behind bars at a new 10- day arts festival next month.
Louis Abbott, who once headlined the T Break stage at T in the Park with his band Admiral Fallow, said he has produced some of his best work through collaborations at HMP Castle Huntly and other prisons.
Other established acts involved include folk singer Rachel Sermanni, Mercury- nominated composer C Duncan and Delgados founder member Emma Pollock.
Glasgow- based Louis, 34, the project’s creative lead, said: “This has been the first time I’ve really got into cowriting and collaborating with lots of different people and, when you are sharing that, there is a sense of connection, even if your life experiences have been very different up until that point.
“Mine were very different from a lot of people working within the project and it opens your eyes to a world I didn’t know much about before I started.”
Louis admits he found the idea of working in prisons intimidating at first but was delighted with the work produced in the sessions. He said: “I was a little bit daunted, partly because of prisons being depicted as violent, rough places on film and TV. They are often not seen in any other light.
“We did a gig in the gym hall in Castle Huntly before we did our f irst creative session and the people were interested and willing to throw themselves into it.
“It’s an opt- in thing for people who want to be there and I have co-written songs which I think are really good. I’d never say that about my own songs but I am happy to when there is someone else involved.”
As for the most famous performer to record in a prison, he said: “I really like Johnny Cash. I loved the San Quentin prison record and I used to listen to it loads when I was young but it’s not something I’ve directly thought about before doing this.”
The collaborations have, in some cases, taken years, taking place not just with prisoners but people doing community-based sentences and employees, including prison officers.
The online-only festival opens on November 1 and tickets are free, with donations going to charity.
Glasgow University professor and criminologist Fergus McNeill, who is a trustee of Vox Liminis, the charity running the project, said: “Distant Voices has been about finding creative ways to change the conversation on criminal justice. It’s allowed people to find connection, sol idarity and a way forward through sharing songs they have written and the community made in the process of writing them. I think this can be game-changing.”