Damien Echols is one of three men who came to be known as the West Memphis Three after their case attracted national attention. In 1994, when he was just 18 years old, Echols and two others — Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin — were convicted of murdering three young boys in West Memphis, Ark. At the trial, prosecutors alleged that the defendants were involved in satanic rituals. The WM3 were finally released in 2011 after almost 20 years behind bars. Ultimately, they were let out on an Alford plea — a deal in which they were allowed to proclaim their innocence, but had to state that the prosecution had enough evidence to convict them. Sometime after his release, Echols heard Nashvillian country songster Sturgill Simpson’s “Turtles All the Way Down” — a song playing off a fable that uses a turtle to represent the unknowable origin of the universe — and ended up meeting Simpson for ice cream in Harlem. The two will meet up again in Nashville Nov. 8 at Unity Church, where they’ll discuss Echols’ new book High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row, which was released Oct. 30 via Sounds True Publishing. Echols already has one bestselling book, his memoir Life After Death, which details the nearly two decades he spent on death row. He and Simpson should have plenty to talk about. AMANDA HAGGARD
Damien Echols in Conversation With Sturgill Simpson
