The Prisonaires were an American

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

group, whose

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

Just Walkin' in the Rain "Just Walkin' in the Rain" is a popular song. It was written in 1952 by Johnny Bragg and Robert Riley, two prisoners at Tennessee State Prison in Nashville, after a comment made by Bragg as the pair crossed the courtyard while it was raining. Br ...

" was released on

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

in 1953, while the group was incarcerated in the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

State Penitentiary in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. The group was led by Johnny Bragg (born either 1925, 1926 or 1929) who had been a penitentiary inmate since 1943 when, at the age of 17, he was convicted of six charges of rape. The Prisonaires were formed when Bragg joined up with two prison gospel singers, Ed Thurman and William Stewart (each of whom was doing 99 years for

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

), and two new penitentiary arrivals, John Drue Jr. (three years for

larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engla ...

) and Marcell Sanders (one-to-five for

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...

History

The group was discovered by the radio producer Joe Calloway, who heard them singing while preparing a news broadcast from the prison. He arranged for the group to perform on the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, a performance which was eventually brought to the attention of

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

. He arranged for the group to be transported under armed guard to

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

to record. A few weeks later, "

" was released and eventually sold 250,000 copies. Their success was such that they were allowed out on day passes to tour throughout the state of

. The band became favorites of the state's governor,

Frank G. Clement Frank Goad Clement (June 2, 1920 – November 4, 1969) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st Governor of Tennessee from 1953 to 1959 and from 1963 to 1967. Inaugurated for the first time at age 32, he was the state's younge ...

, and frequently performed at his mansion. The group's legacy was confirmed when "Just Walkin' in the Rain", written by Bragg, was recorded by

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

, whose version sold over eight times that of the Prisonaires. When Bragg's sentence was commuted in 1956, he formed a new group including Hal Hebb, Willy Wilson, Al Brooks and Henry "Dishrag" Jones, who were known as the Sunbeams. When they were rechristened as the Marigolds they had a No. 8 hit in the US R&B chart with "Rollin' Stone" on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. In 1960, he was unfairly sent back to jail on trumped up charges. This saw him returned to jail for six and a half years. Putting together another group called the Prisonaires, they did not record any material. Upon his further release, Bragg worked in a cemetery.

Deaths

Stewart died of a

drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

in a

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

motel in 1959, Sanders died in the late 1960s, Thurman was killed in an accident in 1973 and Drue died of cancer in 1977. Bragg died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 2004.

References

Bibliography

*''The Mistakes of Yesterday, the Hopes of Tomorrow: The Story of the Prisonaires'', John Dougan, 2012,

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

External links

Prisonaires biography and discographyArticle about Johnny Bragg and The Prisonaires II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prisonaires, The American blues musical groups Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee Sun Records artists