Search - Marshall Chapman :: It's About Time

The live album opens with the sound of the prison's electric gates slamming open for Marshall Chapman and her band and then slamming shut behind them. The next thing we know, they're on stage, banging out a wild and woolly version of the most appropriate song for the occasion, "Jailhouse Rock." They follow it up with "Don't Want Nothing (If I Can't Have You)," which proves Chapman can write her own Elvis songs. The female prisoners respond warmly from the start, but the sparks don't really fly until Chapman jumps into "Bad Debt," her rockabilly revenge on all the freeloading boyfriends she ever had. When she describes them "stretched out on my couch, drinking all my beer, I'm paying all the bills," cheers of recognition go up from the crowd. Except for "Jailhouse Rock," Chapman wrote every song on the album, and except for a few duds ("Real Smart Man," "Beyond My Wildest Dreams"), the songs crackle with wit and energy. It's hard to imagine them ever getting more spirited performances than they did on October 29, 1993, at the Tennessee State Prison for Women. --Geoffrey Himes