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Mt. Holly Jail

from Pine Barrens Volume One by Jackson Pines

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Our new album of Pinelands folksongs, Pine Barrens Volume One, on Compact Disc with fully pressed CD case, special edition disc artwork by Steven Omark, and shrink-wrap.

    Only 100 for now. Grab em while there are still CD players.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pine Barrens Volume One via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 100 

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $2 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Limited Edition 10" Lathe Cut Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    This is a super rare edition 10" Lathe Cut Vinyl Record of Pine Barrens Volume One.
    For record enthusiasts, collectors, and those who love surface noise and lathe cut vinyl.

    It plays at 33 1/3 RPM.
    Each one is one-of-a-kind and hand made by For The Record in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    Because of the amount of time on a 10", the vinyl has five songs on it:

    Side A:
    1. Depression Song
    2. Mt. Holly Jail

    Side B:
    Love Is A Gamble
    The Unquiet Grave
    Herdman Hymn (Duet)

    NOTE: This is not an audiophile, super-HD plate pressing, but instead is hand made on a lathe from the 1940's and sounds like a recording from that era, which is what we intended when we recorded the songs at The Boghouse in the Pine Barrens.

    For The Record suggests: Lathe cut records have shallower grooves and some needles may skip across the record. Please make sure the vinyl and needle are clean before playing. They also suggest increasing the anti-skipping setting and/or increasing weight on the tonearm compared to plate pressed vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pine Barrens Volume One via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more

    Sold Out

about

This is the first single from our new EP "Pine Barrens Volume One" coming later in January. Every state has at least one prison song. This is New Jersey's most well-known. Jim Albertson performed it, as well as Merce Ridgway Jr., whose version we learned the tune from.

It's earliest appearance written down is in 1936, in an article Herbert Halpert wrote called "Some Ballads and Folk Songs from New Jersey." Oliver Minney, a half black and half Lenape man, sung the song to Halpert as he traveled the state searching for unrecorded folk songs.

The Mt. Holly Jail is now the Burlington Country Prison and Museum. Back in the 1800s, when you'd get in trouble in the Pine Barrens you were most likely going to the Mt. Holly Jail for a little while. Besides your classic thieves, murderers, and other unsavory characters, women were imprisoned at Mt. Holly Jail as well. Oddly enough, the women prisoners, of which there were dozens over the years, were mostly in there for adultery. Hard times indeed. At least their children were allowed to live in the joint with them.

We took some liberties with time signature, tempo, and chord progression, but kept faithful to the melody, the lyrical arc and sentiment, as well as the unique Flat 7th harmony on the last word of the chorus, which is preserved here and sung by Cranston Dean. We theorize this may be a unique feature of Pines Barrens regional folk music, but don't quote us.

credits

from Pine Barrens Volume One, released February 3, 2023
James Black: stand-up bass
Max Carmichael: banjo
Cranston Dean: mandolin
James Herdman: fiddle
Joe Makoviecki: guitar

Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered: John Sell
Single art: Steve O'Mark
Photography: Thomas O'Gara III

Special thanks to John and the Historical Society of Riverton, NJ for furnishing the vintage photo of the Mt. Holly Jail from the 1940s that we used for the cover.

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Jackson Pines Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

New Album "Pine Barrens, Volume One" and single "Wheel" out now!

* * * * *

"A cross between Mississippi John Hurt-like country blues and Paul Simonesque folk-rock." - The Aquarian

"These guys are 'workers in song,' to quote Leonard Cohen. They are engaged in the pursuit of music and songwriting for all the right reasons, the honest burning hunt to reach the heights." S. Felice ... more

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