Guest post by Nathan Arizona
In 1953 a young doo-wop group entered Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio in Memphis to make its first recording. They were hardly the only young black men looking to escape a tough life through music and maybe find a little fame. But these guys arrived in leg irons. Guards with rifles stood nearby when they sang.
They were the aptly named Prisonaires. The guys had arrived on day passes from the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville, where they were all doing time. Two had been convicted of murder. Leader and co-writer Johnny Bragg was serving six 99-year sentences — 594 years — for six rape convictions. Trumped-up charges against young black men were not uncommon. Bragg’s conviction was later called into question and the sentence eventually commuted.
One song from the Sun session, “Just Walkin’ in the Rain,” got a fair amount of radio play, especially in the South, and hit the R&B charts. About the same time a young white singer named Johnny Ray became a huge international star with a string of hits that included “Just Walkin’ in the Rain.”
Bragg, who could not read or write, co-wrote the song with another prisoner, Robert Riley, who was not a member of the group. As the two walked across the prison yard under a drizzle one day, Riley turned to Bragg and said, “Here we are, just walkin’ in the rain, wondering what the girls are doing.”
The Prisonaires had performed at posher venues than the Sun studio on their days out. The governor of Tennessee used to invite them to play for his friends at the mansion, once in front of Harry Truman. They were happy to oblige. Young liberal Gov. Frank Clement was a strong believer in rehabilitation and was the one who OK’d the arrangement. A radio producer who heard them in prison recommended them to Phillips.
Bragg was out of prison by 1956 but went back twice more. He tried to restart his music career between incarcerations but eventually reached a dead end. He then literally took a job at a cemetery.
The Prisonaires sang in a somewhat retro close-harmony style influenced by the Ink Spots.
“Baby Please” was the flip side of “Just Walkin’ in the Rain.”
Johnny Ray rose to ‘50s stardom with pop songs that owed a bit to black music. He was a histrionic performer who would cry on stage (one of his hits was called “Cry”), pull his hair and fall to the floor overcome by emotion. Tony Bennett thought he was the father of rock ’n’ roll. Ray was a troubled personality whose career flamed out after a few years at the top.
Here’s the Johnny Ray version of “Just Walkin’ in the Rain.” He had toned things down by late in his brief career. I couldn’t find anything with the hair-pulling and rending of garments that made the girls scream.
