Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir (Paperback or Softback)

"Redemption Songs" takes the reader inside the walls of a medium-security prison and offers a glimpse at how music and the arts are offering second chances to the incarcerated. For six years, the author volunteered with the Oakdale Community Choir, a performing chorus composed of volunteers and inmates, based in a men's correctional facility in Coralville, Iowa. As the gates clang shut behind choir volunteers each week, and we walk the long halls to the rehearsal room, the reader encounters the rewards and challenges of creating music in this environment, a place usually defined by trauma, danger, and control. But it’s also, as we learn, a place where healing, atonement and growth can occur.

Through crisp prose, “Redemption Songs” describes the lives of people struggling to overcome their pasts, volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to offer hope, and prison administrators charged with balancing security needs with opportunities for inmate self-improvement. 

The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world. With more than two million prisoners in U.S. jails and prisons, many Americans know someone impacted by the system. In addition to describing the choir's progress as it shores up its repertoire for several concerts each season, the book examines some of the pressing issues facing the criminal justice system and the people we as a society have chosen to put behind bars.                                        

It also reflects on several questions: How can music and the arts inspire prisoners to change? Should the underlying philosophy of our correctional system be one of retribution or restoration? What can restorative justice, a philosophy which focuses on redressing the harm done when a crime is committed, offer to all those touched by crime and the criminal justice system?

"Redemption Songs" depicts the sheer joy of making music together, and how singing breaks down barriers and creates community.

Andy Douglas presents a panoramic understanding of music and incarceration from his distinctive experience in the Oakdale Community Choir. More than an account of the choir’s work, the book is a deep insight into musical humanity under dehumanizing conditions. Douglas’s work is evocative and thoughtful, deeply compassionate and humble, and brings the reader close to the troubled lives, wounds and hopes of the incarcerated men.

Dr André de Quadros, Professor of Music and Chair, Department of Music Education, Boston University 

The real lives of our incarcerated are a mystery to many of us, though for some two million Americans and their families, this is a world they know all too well. Over the last eight years, author Andy Douglas has been allowed access, not as an employee or journalist, but as a member of a unique choral group composed equally of "insiders" and "outsiders." Through a skillful blend of personal experience and essential information, Douglas bears witness to the intimacy and hope that a few hours of harmony can create, even behind bars. 

Cecile Goding, Iowa Summer Writing Festival  

Andy Douglas’s account of his time singing with volunteers and prisoners in an Iowa prison confirm the words of a song I wrote inspired by Lincoln's inaugural address. “The better angels of our nature await us in the realm of song, to breathe us down through ancient wounds and awaken kindness with the dawn.” Harmonic group singing is transformative. When the different parts support each other in a soaring blend of beauty and meaning, they travel to a place of healing connection and mutual accomplishment they could never reach alone... A marvelous book.

Laurence Cole, song elder and ritual guide   

Re-examines stereotypes of the incarcerated, bringing to the fore the poignancy of life events that have led some to inflict pain on victims, their families, and ultimately on themselves. Douglas explores controversial issues of race, poverty, educational access, historical and cultural prejudice, and personal redemption. He weaves stories from the incarcerated, prison officers and wardens, counselors, and choral volunteers to shed light on their shared experience—group singing inside a prison. 

Jody L. Kerchner, Ph.D., Professor, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Director of the OMAG Prison Choir