Who is Valerie Bolden?

As many of you know, our latest record We the Common is greatly inspired by my time with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. My first meeting with Valerie Bolden was the foundation of the record's lead single. Valerie Bolden has been incarcerated for 17 years. She is serving a life sentence without chance of parole as "a direct result of domestic violence."

When I told Valerie she'd inspired a song her first reaction was: maybe people will wr...ite letters!