This is the latest CD by Michale Graves written in collaboration with Damien Echols.
The ghosts that Arkansas death row inmate Damien Echols writes about in these lyrics are most likely the ones a man will be haunted by after spending over a decade in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Echols, along with Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin, was convicted in 1994 for the brutal murders of three elementary school children. Since HBO aired a documentary (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills) chronicling the aftermath of these crimes, a groundswell of support has formed around the three inmates—known as the West Memphis Three—a wide array of artists such as Henry Rollins, Margaret Cho, Metallica, and Eddie Vedder speaking out on their behalf.
Another artist who supports the West Memphis Three is Michale Graves, formerly of the Misfits, who has collaborated with Echols on an album to be released by SOS Records on October 31, 2007. The album, called “Illusions,” combines Echols’s lyrics with Graves’s music and vocals to create a haunting, introspective work partially inspired by the West Memphis Three’s experiences with the justice system.
And it is Graves’s experiences—and challenges—that inspired him to support the West Memphis Three and work with Echols. After struggling through a number of setbacks in his own life, Graves watched “Paradise Lost” and read Echols’s book of reflections, Almost Home, and felt compelled to help raise money towards the West Memphis Three’s defense fund.
“I felt life come back into my soul and realized that I could really help Damien with his dreams of becoming a writer, musician, and artist,” said Graves. “I realized I also had the opportunity to create an environment to have a discussion about things like freedom, tolerance, love, and magic.”
Songs on the album written by Echols: Frostbite, Wormwood, Nothing, 1,000 Cracks of Daylight, and Silent Partner.
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