Folk artist Linda McRae on her inmate-inspired album

Music is often a treasured possession for those behind bars. Now their voices are escaping institutions, through a new album from folk/roots artist Linda McRae.

Shadow Trails grew out of the time McRae and her husband James Whitmire spent hosting songwriting workshops for inmates at California's New Folsom Prison, the same place where Johnny Cash recorded his famous live album, At Folsom Prison in 1957.

McRae says the idea to work with prisoners came from a fellow songwriter — an idea that was intimidating at first. But once she was inside, through all the security checks, she describes an amazing experience.

"We were just so blown away by the respect we were treated with, it was not what I was expecting at all. Incredibly engaged audiences you know, and just really wonderful stuff."

The inmates in the Arts-in-Corrections program McRae worked with were mainly lifers. One of those inmates was Ken Blackburn, a man in his 70s. One of his poems in particular caught McRae's attention.

"He said he wrote that for me, with me in mind," she said.

"And so I asked him if he wouldn't mind if I wrote some music for it."

The resulting song: "Flowers of Appalachia."

"He really likes it, we sent him a copy of the CD," said McCrae.

McRae lives in Nashville now, but the former Spirit of the West band member is in Vancouver tonight for a performance at St. James Hall. She came into studio to speak with On the Coast's Stephen Quinn before hitting the stage.

You can listen to McRae's interview by clicking the link: Folk artist Linda McRae on her inmate-inspired album Shadow Trails