Most people don’t want to set foot inside a prison, at least unless they can freely leave. But prisons serve as incredible backdrops for videos. These three country music videos were all shot inside a prison, and all tell a wild story.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Never Say Never” by Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson
Cole Swindell sings “Never Say Never” with Lainey Wilson. Written by Swindell, Jessi Alexander, and Chase McDaniel, the song tells the story of two people who can’t seem to stay away from each other, even though their relationship is unhealthy.
The story in “Never Say Never” is captivating enough. But Swindell and Wilson took the story to the next level with the video. Shot inside Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, the video tells the story of a female prison guard who falls for a male prisoner. The guard helps the prisoner escape, although they are soon caught and promptly arrested.
“Lightning” by Eric Church
Eric Church’s “Lightning” tells the story of a man looking for redemption as he is facing execution. The song, written by Church on his debut Sinners Like Me album, says, “I see the preacher’s eyes / As my daughter cries / When they strap me in this chair / Lord, I hope she forgives me / For livin’ my life this way / Tonight I ride the lightning / To my final judgment day.”
The “Lightning” music video takes place inside the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Church chose not to release “Lightning” as a single. Instead, he chose to do a video for the song to shed light on the discussion of the death penalty.
“I’ve been here twice now, and it’s just a heavy place, which I like,” Church tells The Boot. “I know as musicians, you pick up on energy when you write songs and you perform, and the same thing happens when you shoot videos in a place that’s got a little bit of heaviness. It certainly happened with ‘Lightning’. … I like that heaviness. I don’t know if some people would listen to that and pick up on that. There’s a little bit of that in the song, and you’re going to get it in this video.”
“Locked Up” by Sam Hunt
“Locked Up” is the title track of Sam Hunt’s 2024 EP. Hunt and his wife, Hannah Lee Fowler, star in the video, which was shot at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.
Hunt wrote “Locked Up” with Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Jerry Flowers, and Zach Crowell. For the video, he wanted to pay homage to Johnny Cash and the icon’s 1968 At Folsom Prison album. The song was inspired by Hunt’s own legal woes after he was arrested for DUI in 2019. The song says, “I got locked up / I was in a young, dumb, rowdy phase / Still hangin’ onto my bachelor days / You were still prayin’ for me to start changin’ my ways / 30 years old and still actin’ a fool / Damn near the same kid you met back in school.”
In the video, Hunt is seen singing to prisoners, like Cash once did.
“It’s closed down now, and it has a real spooky feel to it,” Hunt says of the video (via Country Now). “But it fit the aesthetic for that Folsom Prison, Johnny Cash look. And that concert he did was such a piece of country music history. … We decided to go ahead and do it. Get the suits and the outfits, and we got a whole bunch of guys from the town come and dress up like inmates. It made for a really fun experience.”
Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images for CMT
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