The Best Country Songs About Prisons | Holler (2024)

In a genre where you’re as likely to hear a good, honest proclamation of loyalty to the law as you are an outlaw running from it, country music’s affinity for prisons is perhaps one of its most underrated quirks.

Standing as both the spiritual setting and sometimes, remarkably, even the physical setting for the recording of some of country’s most famous albums, the legacy of artists like Johnny Cash is inextricably linked with the big house.

Johnny one night in jail, and that was when he was arrested for picking flowers, but he did manage to inspire Merle Haggard to begin a career in country music, when Haggard caught one of the Man in Black’s shows in San Quentin Prison where Haggard was an inmate.

Many a country song would like to convince listeners that rock bottom happens at 3am on a honky tonk bar stool; jailhouse songs are their watchful cousin that know it’s only one more shot of whisky between the two.

From Merle to Miranda, here’s our pick of The Best Country Songs About Prisons.

See the full tracklist below:

1. 1.

   I Went To College / I Went To Jail

   ERNEST and Jelly Roll

2. 2.

   I Got Stripes

   Johnny Cash

3. 3.

   Mama Tried

   Merle Haggard

4. 4.

   Folsom Prison Blues

   Jerry Reed

5. 5.

   Stripes

   Brandy Clark

6. 6.

   On The Inside

   Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris

7. 7.

   Christmas in Prison

   John Prine

8. 8.

   Behind Bars (with Brantley Gilbert)

   Jelly Roll

9. 9.

   A Week in a County Jail

   Tom T. Hall

10. 10.

    The Chair

    Marty Robbins

11. 11.

    Jailhouse Tears

    Lucinda Williams

12. 12.

    Hello Stranger

    Emmylou Harris

13. 13.

    Death Row

    Chris Stapleton

14. 14.

    Starkville City Jail

    Johnny Cash

15. 15.

    I Made The Prison Band

    Merle Haggard & The Strangers

    See Also

    Three men jailed in first Crown Court sentences after riots following Southport attackUK riots: The first perpetrators given prison sentences over disorderBangladesh PM resigns after month of protestsCounty Jails vs. State Prisons: What Is The Difference? - prisonersolidarity.org

16. 16.

    I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water

    Stonewall Jackson

17. 17.

    There Ain't No Good Chain Gang

    Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings

18. 18.

    Tupelo County Jail

    Webb Pierce

19. 19.

    I Found Jesus On The Jailhouse Floor

    George Strait

20. 20.

    Commissary

    Pistol Annies

21. 21.

    Guilty As Can Be

    Cody Johnson

22. 22.

    Bobby

    Reba McEntire

23. 23.

    Will You Visit Me On Sundays?

    Merle Haggard and The Strangers

24. 24.

    99 Years For One Dark Day

    Robert Earl Keen

25. 25.

    Boston Jail

    Porter Wagoner

26. 26.

    Cash On The Barrel Head

    The Louvin Brothers

27. 27.

    Still Doin' Time

    George Jones

28. 28.

    Chains

    Patty Loveless

29. 29.

    Women's Prison

    Nicki Bluhm

30. 30.

    'Ol Red

    Blake Shelton

31. 31.

    Ain't No Honky Tonk in Jail

    George Goss

32. 32.

    Sing Me Back Home

    The Flying Burrito Brothers

33. 33.

    In The Jailhouse Now

    Jimmie Rodgers

34. 34.

    11 Months and 29 Days

    Johnny Paycheck

    See Also

    Riots and disorder in the UK: First jail terms handed down for social media posts during unrest

35. 35.

    Wichita Jail

    The Charlie Daniels Band

36. 36.

    Death Row

    Thomas Rhett, Tyler Hubbard and Russell Dickerson

37. 37.

    Prisoners

    John Denver

38. 38.

    wait in the truck (feat. Lainey Wilson)

    HARDY

39. 39.

    I'm Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail

    The Everly Brothers

40. 40.

    Prison Trilogy (Billy Rose)

    Joan Baez

41. 41.

    High Cost Of Living

    Jamey Johnson

42. 42.

    They're Hanging Me Tonight

    Marty Robbins

43. 43.

    Blackjack County Chain

    Willie Nelson

44. 44.

    (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle

    Hank Williams

45. 45.

    Stone Walls

    Jim Croce

46. 46.

    The Wall

    Freddie Hart

47. 47.

    Roane County Prison

    Bill Monroe

48. 48.

    Shackles and Chains

    Mac Wiseman and The Osborne Brothers

49. 49.

    Birmingham Jail

    Slim Whitman

50. 50.

    Ellis Unit One

    Steve Earle

51. 51.

    The Prisoner's Song

    Hank Snow

52. 52.

    Same Old Day

    Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

53. 53.

    Branded

    Marty Stuart

54. 54.

    Stone Hotel

    Jaime Wyatt

55. 55.

    Weekender

    Margo Price

56. 56.

    Billy Austin

    Steve Earle and The Dukes

57. 57.

    Midnight Special

    Creedence Clearwater Revival

58. 58.

    Penitentiary Blues

    David Allan Coe

59. 59.

    Banks of the Ohio

    Dolly Parton

60. 60.

    The Sweetest Gift

    The Judds

61. 61.

    Riot In Cell Block Number Nine

    Wanda Jackson

62. 62.

    Hutchinson Jail

    Nancy Sinatra

63. 63.

    Life in Prison

    Merle Haggard

64. 64.

    The Convict and the Rose

    Porter Wagoner

65. 65.

    Willie Jones

    Bobby Bare

66. 66.

    Concrete and Barbed Wire

    Lucinda Williams

67. 67.

    Prison To Heaven

    The Avett Brothers

68. 68.

    Whiskey Bent and Jail Bound

    Casper McWade

69. 69.

    Neon Jail

    Ags Connolly

70. 70.

    Chain Gang

    Johnny Cash

Subscribe and Listen to Holler's Best Country Songs About Prison Playlist Above.

For more of Holler's playlists, see below: