This Is Nashville

Johnny Bragg and Higher Love: Healing the Incarcerated Through Music

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Today we explore the power music has to heal some of these wounds with the inspiring story of Johnny Bragg, who in the 1940s found his voice inside the Tennessee State Prison and went on to form the chart-topping group, The Prisonaires. We also hear from the founder and a musician with Higher Love, about what it’s like to go inside the prison walls with musical performances and messages of hope, love and worth.

Guests

  • Michael Gray, Vice President Museum Operations, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
  • Bob Clement, son of Governor Frank Clement, Former U.S. Congressman
  • Ron Miller, founder and Executive Director, Higher Love
  • Madeline Finn, Musician and Buddhist Facilitator

    Further reading and listening

    • Read more about Higher Love at higher-love.org.
    • Just Walkin’ in the Rain: Reform, Redemption and the Story of the Prisonaires (WPLN)
    • Presidents, Kings, and Convicts: My Journey from the Tennessee Governor’s Residence to the Halls of Congress, by Bob Clement
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