Singer/songwriter Tom Wilson is a member of Blackie and The Rodeo Kings. Their sixth CD, Kings and Queens, was released this week. They will be performing this summer at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest, and the Calgary International Blues Festival.
Tim Hudak, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader and aspiring premier has, as part of his party platform, proposed forced and unpaid manual labour, or chain gangs, for prisoners in Ontario jails. Do you approve?
No. I don't believe in it. Mind you, it has brought a lot of great songs into our life. From Sam Cooke to Bobby Fuller. … " Breaking rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won." But it hasn't done anything to improve the quality of life for prisoners, or the world. It hasn't advanced us as human beings.
Have you ever seen a chain gang in action?
I have never seen the old style chain gangs, but I have seen work gangs in the States.
Did they bother you?
They didn't bother me. It was just that I couldn't believe that they were still there. The idea has not been developed, but it has been put out there. That is the problem for me. I believe there are better solutions than a grandstand move like this.
Prison is supposed to have rehabilitative and deterrent functions. Chain gangs have neither. They are unabashedly punishment. What's wrong with punishment?
We are dealing with broken people. People that backward attitudes haven't served. People with needs. If you end up in prison, you've pretty much run the gauntlet of ruining your life. You've hit bottom. The system is unfair to people with problems and addictions.
What if one of those people with problems and addictions hit you over the head with a pipe and stole your wallet? Caught, sentenced, and now out there picking up trash by the roadside. Would you say "Good!" or would you still feel compassion?
After he's gone to jail, after I'm recovered, I'd be a fool to live the rest of my life thinking about that person and hoping he gets his. I've got to move on with my life. If I'm going to be so small-minded and so blinded that I'm going to circle my life around that one incident, then I'm going to be stupid enough to say there should be chain gangs and that he should suffer and suffer and suffer.
Should society think the same way? Just move on?
Society should be constructive and humane. Society should look at making this a better world.
Why are chain gang songs so enduring? Where are there no songs about more common labour, such as shining shoes or cleaning out the eavestroughs?
The spirit of man - or woman - rose to the occasion. Finding song in a horrible situation, that's testament to the human spirit.
People working on chain gangs back then were slaves. Escaped slaves. People that society wasn't going to give a chance to. Don't you want to think that we want to be just that much better? Don't you think there are a few lessons to be learned?
Would you call yourself a blue-collar guy?
Well, I live in Hamilton. I stopped being a musician for a while. I was a labourer, a construction truck driver.
Some are saying chain gangs represent a threat to blue collar jobs. Graffiti removal, litter cleanup, working in city parks, prisoners would be would be doing for free what some workers are being paid to do, jeopardizing jobs.
That's another negative point.
The fate of prisoners and chain gangs is really quite a small issue, but it has great visceral appeal to many.
That's right. It ignites something in a certain part of the population, probably a large part of the population because we are living under a Conservative government right now. I mean we don't live side by side with a Conservative government. We live under a Conservative government. Most of the people entering prison have addiction problems. That's one thing politicians and addicts have in common. How do you know when an addict is lying? His mouth is moving. The same scenario for politicians.
I'm a hard-working guy, almost a workaholic, but just because I work hard it doesn't mean I am going to take advantage of anyone. We have an opportunity to make this world a little bit better and this is not one of those opportunities.
You, Colin Linden and Stephen Fearing collectively are in a chain gang, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings. Which one is Cool Hand Luke?
Stephen Fearing! He fits the part.
And you are the George Kennedy character - big and loud?
People assume I'm big and loud … I guess I am big and loud.
I've never been in jail but I am familiar with plenty of people who have. And it's not just day to day. The misery goes on and on and on. You need to find a way to make people better, even when they have screwed everything up. You need a way to make people better.