The Edge Of Daybreak

Soulful Virginia Prison Inmates Band

The musicians were actually inmates: residents of the Powhatan Correctional Center, located 30 miles west of Richmond, incarcerated for crimes ranging from armed robbery to a dubious assault charge. (All of the participants were released shortly after the album came out.) The Edge of Daybreak grew out of Cosmic Conception, an earlier group that took advantage of Powhatan's policy of allowing its inmates access to musical instruments. Singing drummer Jamal Jaha Nubi took the lead, and Cornelius Cade, James Carrington and Harry Coleman filled out the sound with guitar, keyboard and vocals, respectively. Along with bassist McEvoy Robinson, the group honed its chops covering material by soul fixtures the Isley Brothers, Slave, and Earth Wind and Fire.