[3] In August 2013, producer Ian Brennan (USA) and his wife documentary filmmaker Marilena Umuhoza Delli (Italy) travelled to southern Malawi to record the music of the male and female inmates at Zomba.

The released recordings focus on those who did not consider themselves to be singers and/or songwriters, with the majority of the tracks coming from the women's side of the prison and from individuals who wrote songs specifically for the project.

The project has helped raise awareness around the plight of those imprisoned at Zomba, from the inefficiency of the bureaucratic appeal process to the incarceration of infants born within the facility.

[13] Upon news of its Grammy Award nomination, Zomba Prison Project I Have No Everything Here received extensive worldwide press coverage and further positive critical acclaim.

[14][15] It has been likened to recordings made by John and Alan Lomax at the Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman Farm[16] and joins the body of work of "jail music" that includes albums by artists such as the Sex Pistols, Big Mama Thornton, Leadbelly, B.B.

[18][19] The story was covered around the world including on the front-page of The New York Times[20] and by the television program 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper reporting.

"[23] The Irish Times' Jim Carroll called I Have No Everything Here "glorious songs from behind bars in Malawi"[24] and named it one of his top 30 albums of the year.