#164 Johnny Cash, 'At Folsom Prison' (1968)
Previously #88
“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” One of the most iconic introductions in recorded music history goes straight into the hit single and album namesake, ‘Folsom Prison Blues.’ Cash, although having been arrested 7 times for misdemeanours, had never actually served a prison sentence. He wrote this song in 1955 after seeing the documentary, ‘Inside The Walls Of Folsom Prison,’ with his unit while serving in the US Air Force. It was his perceived idea of life in prison. The song was top 5 on its original release. The song was popular with inmates who would write to Cash asking him to perform at their prisons. The Folsom Prison performance wasn’t his first at a prison. He had performed at multiple in the lead up since 1957. By 1967 his career had been on the decline due to his rampant drug use. Towards the end of the year, he had managed to get his addictions under control and sought to turn his career around. Around this time, there was a staff shake up at Columbia Records and he managed to get his idea of recording a prison performance over the line. Bob Johnston at the label jumped at the opportunity and immediately wrote to two prisons, San Quentin and Folsom Prison. The latter was the first to respond (the former would be the setting for his follow up prison recording the next year).
The album features many prison/criminal-themed songs such as ‘The Wall,’ ‘Green Green Grass Of Home’ and ’25 Minutes To Go.’ Cash had a dark sense of humour, which shines through in ‘Cocaine Blues’ and his commentary post ‘Long Black Veil,’ a song he made his own before The Band would perform an amazing rendition of it the following year. Wife-to-be, June Carter, joins Cash on their hit, ‘Jackson,’ sticking around for ‘Give My Love To Rose.’ Cash performs these songs like a man given his last rites on death row. You believe him to be a man who has served many years of hard time. He’s completely relatable to his audience, even if he wasn’t. The record closes with ‘Greystone Chapel,’ a song that was written by one of the inmates, Glen Sherley. Cash surprised Sherley with the song. Sherley enjoyed a bit of success off the back of this and received great support from Cash, who met him at the prison gates upon his release in 1971. Sherley worked on The Johnny Cash Show, but after threatening to kill the other cast members, Cash fired him. Sherley struggled with his newfound stardom and he started drinking heavily and taking drugs. In 1978, he shot a man shortly before killing himself as he couldn’t handle going back to prison. Cash paid his for his funeral. ‘At Folson Prison’ reinvigorated Cash’s career and hit #1 on the Billboard Country Charts. The live version of ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ also went to #1 on the Country charts.
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