“A dozen women in the Daviess County Detention Center are rehearsing for a March 26 performance that’s part of the Owensboro Symphony’s ‘Music On Call’ community engagement program,” writes Rhonda Miller on Tuesday’s (3/19) at radio station WKU (Kentucky). “The symphony got a grant from Owensboro Health to bring a choir director into the jail and have the inmates bring the music back into the community…. One woman in this choir … is Jennifer Blaisdell. The 54-year-old says she’s finding a new path… ‘I tried to get a couple of other people to come and they’re like, “Oh, I can’t sing.” Neither can I. I can’t carry a tune in a bucket…. I’ve been there three months and this is probably the most uplifting day I’ve had.’ … Chaplain Emil Herzog … launched the inmate choir several years ago with a group of male inmates. Since then, the focus has shifted to a women’s choir.” Cathy Mullins, the choir director hired by the Owensboro Symphony to lead the jail choir project, says, “Music is a gift and music gives hope…. Some jails across the country do not have this opportunity and they are very dark, dark sad places.’ ”
Posted March 20, 2019
In photo: The women’s choir at Daviess County Detention Center during a rehearsal for their upcoming March 26 performance. The choir is part of the Owensboro Symphony’s “Music on Call” community engagement program. Photo by Rhonda J. Miller
