White Mansions is a 1978 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by various artists documenting the lives of white people in the Confederacy

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 during the Civil War. The songs on the album were written by Paul Kennerley

Paul Kennerley

Paul Kennerley is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer working in the American contemporary country music industry. His works include the concept albums, White Mansions and The Legend of Jesse James...

 and are performed by Waylon Jennings

Waylon Jennings

Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...

, Jessi Colter

Jessi Colter

Jessi Colter is an American country music artist who is best known for her collaboration with her husband, country singer and songwriter Waylon Jennings and for her 1975 country-pop crossover hit "I'm Not Lisa"....

, John Dillon and Steve Cash

Steve Cash

Steve Cash is a singer-songwriter and author, most notable as a founding and continuing member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.-History:...

. Each singer took on a separate and distinct persona, portraying different characters in an attempt to show the Confederacy and the concept of "Southern pride" through said characters' eyes; in essence, therefore, White Mansions is a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

. Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

 played the guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 on several tracks. The album charted at No. 38 on the Country Billboard and No. 181 on the Billboard Albums.

The album was re-released in 1999 in a two-for-one package with The Legend of Jesse James

The Legend of Jesse James

The Legend of Jesse James is a 1980 country music concept album by various artists singing songs by English songwriter Paul Kennerley, based on the story of American Old West outlaw Jesse James....

, a 1980 concept album conceived by Kennerley.

Characters

The four main characters portrayed in the album are:

• Matthew J. Fuller (played by John Dillon) – The twenty-three-year-old son of a Southern cotton
  Cotton
  Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
  
   planter, he received a full education in college and military academy. When the Civil War begins, he joins the Confederate Army infantry
  Infantry
  Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
  
   regiment
  Regiment
  A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
  
   as a captain.
• Polly Ann Stafford (played by Jessi Colter) – Matthew's significant other; at the start of the war, she begins working in a hospital
  Hospital
  A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
  
  , tending to wounded and dying soldiers.
• Caleb Stone (played by Steve Cash) – Representing the stereotype of "white trash
  White trash
  White trash is an American English pejorative term referring to poor white people in the United States, suggesting lower social class and degraded living standards...
  
  ", Caleb is a man who possesses neither a permanent job nor his own property or land, opting instead for accepting random jobs requiring little skill. He detests the powerful plantation owners of the South and fights against the Union
  Union (American Civil War)
  During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
  
   to "preserve his superiority over the blacks".
• The Drifter (played by Waylon Jennings) – The Drifter is the album's narrator
  Narrator
  A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
  
  . His real name is not known, but the listener is told that was wounded fighting for Texas
  Texas
  Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
  
   in the U.S.-Mexican War; during the Civil War, he doesn't participate in the fighting, traveling from town to town and commenting on the events that unfold instead.

In addition, a single brief track is performed by (Rodena Preston's Voices of Deliverance) credited as "The Slaves"; this, as is explained in the liner notes

Liner notes

Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...

, is symbolic, in that, "despite the fact that they represented over a third of the population of the South, their voice was seldom heard".

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Kennerley

Paul Kennerley

Paul Kennerley is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer working in the American contemporary country music industry. His works include the concept albums, White Mansions and The Legend of Jesse James...

.(Except 'White Trash'... Leadon & Kennerly)

1. "Story to Tell (The Preface)" – 2:52
   • Performed by Polly
2. "Dixie, Hold On" – 3:14
   • Performed by The Drifter
3. "Join Around the Flag" – 2:16
   • Performed by Matthew
4. "White Trash" – 3:55
   • Performed by Caleb
5. "Last Dance & The Kentucky Racehorse" – 5:26
   • Performed by Matthew and Polly
6. "Southern Boys" – 2:58
   • Performed by Caleb
7. "Union Mare and the Confederate Grey" – 3:53
   • Performed by The Drifter
8. "No One Would Believe a Summer Could Be So Cold" – 2:59
   • Performed by Matthew
9. "The Southland's Bleeding" – 4:12
   • Performed by The Drifter
10. "Bring up the Twelve Pounders" – 0:26
    • Performed by Matthew
11. "They Laid Waste to Our Land" – 2:33
    • Performed by Caleb, Matthew and The Drifter
12. "Praise the Lord" – 1:09
    • Performed by The Slaves
13. "The King Has Called Me Home" – 3:13
    • Performed by Caleb
14. "Bad Man" – 3:04
    • Performed by Matthew
15. "Dixie, Now You're Done" – 3:13
    • Performed by The Drifter