Introducing: Soul Incarcerated

The Edge of Daybreak was a prison soul ensemble who recorded their first and only album in 1979 when they were incarcerated as young men. In this podcast series, the group’s surviving members try to mount their comeback. Soul Incarcerated tracks their struggles and triumphs along the way. It’s a It’s a story about the liberating power of music, the American justice system, and ultimately…second chances.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
September nineteen seventy nine, Virginia's top prison band, Edge of Daybreak,
is about to attempt the impossible, recording their debut album
behind Bars in just five hours. Yeah, it was just

(00:27):
one of those lucky moments light and struck in prison.
And no matter how hard you try, I don't know
if you can duplicate battle. They were black artists serving

(00:51):
extremely long felony sentences. Each had grown up under segregation,
only to get caught up in America's prison boom during
their twenties. I'm Jamie Petris, music and culture writer. For
the past five years, I've been talking to the band's
three surviving members, Jamal Jehan Nuby, Neil Caid and Harry Cupcake.

(01:13):
Coleman put it this way, we were the band of
the state penal system. They would come in and stand
around the world and sweat would pull off them, just
like it pulled off of us. Just to hear us play. Today,
Edge of Daybreak's legacy is stronger than ever. Their music's
been re released, featured in an Oscar winning film, and

(01:37):
sampled by one of hip hop's most iconic groups. They're
out of prison now and in their seventies. They're passed
behind them, but they also have some unfinished business. They
had a Dayweight as of Love was supposed have been
followed up by another app. They never got that opportunity,
but they never stopped dreaming either. I told it about

(01:59):
six the song get Ready to Go finished. I was
saying every one of them right now, can a group
of musicians who met in prison bring back that chemistry
more than forty years later? Lest you in that floor,
you don't mean criticize. I'll get it as I do

(02:21):
a lot. I ain't going to be in most studios
sounding like Avin and the Chickmoks. It's a story about
the liberating power of music, the American justice system, and
ultimately second chances. YO, that's the need. Check it out.
Listen to Soul Incarcerated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

(02:42):
or wherever you get your podcasts. Check it out.