Wayne Kramer, late guitarist of rock band MC5, brought music to prisons
LOS ANGELES — The tributes that poured in following Wayne Kramer’s recent death came from musicians praising the MC5 guitarist’s contributions to rock music, as well as from prison reform advocates who extolled his legacy of bringing music to incarcerated people.
Kramer, who died Feb. 2 at age 75 of pancreatic cancer, influenced generations of artists with his screaming guitar chords on hardcore anthems like 1969’s “Kick Out the Jams.”
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello said MC5, with an uncompromising sound that fused music to political action, “basically invented punk rock.”
Not long after the band broke up in 1972, Kramer was arrested on drug charges and spent two years in prison. Determined to straighten out his life while maintaining his activism, Kramer co-founded Jail Guitar Doors USA, based on a British charity that provided inmates with musical instruments. Kramer’s nonprofit is named after a Clash song that refers to his struggles: “Let me tell you ‘bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine.”
Kramer recruited famous friends like Morello, Slash and Perry Farrell to perform concerts at prisons in California and his home state of Michigan, where he would leave behind guitars.
Gradually he began spending one-on-one time with inmates, helping them craft their own songs and “watching the creative lights go on in their heads,” said Jason Heath, a close friend and executive director of Jail Guitar Doors USA.
“Working with inmates was cathartic for him because music had saved his life when he was inside,” Heath said last week.
“Creativity is the solution for the challenges we face,” Kramer told Mojo magazine in December.
His group ultimately distributed thousands of instruments and created a songwriting mentorship program that expanded to lockups nationwide. Its work was cited in research by University of San Francisco professor Larry Brewster that found introducing arts to incarcerated people led to fewer disciplinary actions, increased selfesteem, improved emotional health and reduced rates of recidivism.
“He invited people to tell their story via music, that was Wayne’s gift,” said Elida Ledesma, director of the California-based nonprofit Arts for Healing and Justice Network. “He knew that everyone was worthy of respect and dignity.”
In recent years, Jail Guitar Doors USA spun off a partner nonprofit, the Community Arts Programing and Outreach Center. Its headquarters in Hollywood include a recording studio and teaches multimedia production to young people recently released from custody and trying to start their lives over. A federally approved apprentice program for formerly incarcerated people offers a 2 1/2 year curriculum for audio recording and a shorter one for film editing.