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Michael Alexander speaks to Jill Brown, the creator of Conviction Records – a new record label which aims to give a voice to jailhouse Scots and inspire them on the road to redemption.
It was a “moment of madness” that resulted in
Ryan Kershaw serving six months in jail for ordering a banned pepper spray online.
But the time served by the father-of-two in
Addiewell Prison, West Lothian, in 2019 led to him picking up a guitar again for the first time in years – and could, he hopes, lead to a music career.
SCOTLAND’S first record label for former prisoners has been given the backing of an official motion to the Scottish Parliament. As previously told by the Glasgow Times, Conviction Records was founded by Jill Brown last year, offering former inmates a rehabilitation pathway through recording music. The social enterprise has now set up a crowdfunder to sign its first recording artist Ryan Kershaw. And the move has been backed by East Dunbartonshire MSP Rona Mackay. Her Scottish Parliament motion, backed by several MSPs throughout Scotland, “pays tribute” to both Jill and the record label for seeking to improve outcomes for those with experience of the criminal justice system.
HE ended up serving six months in jail after ordering a pepper spray online. However, what Ryan Kershaw describes as a moment of madness led to him picking up a guitar again after several years. He began strumming away during his jail term and started to pen his own songs. And while it might not have been the way he had planned it, he is now on the verge of being signed to a record label whose aim is to help ex-offenders, Conviction Records.
Read more: With his heart set on a career as a musician from his early teens, the 37-year-old played in bands in his younger days and studied music performance and promotion at college.