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Fifty years ago this month, Johnny Cash performed two concerts at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California (about 20 miles east of Sacramento) on 13 January 1968. The recording of the performance was released later that year by Columbia Records in an album entitled At Folsom Prison. Columbia had little in the way of expectations, and Cash's career--though still relatively brief--was in decline. Until, that is, At Folsom Prison was released.
The album received a floodtide of positive reviews and revitalized Cash's career and was later re-released in 1999 and again in 2008.
Here is the story of the preparation for the concerts, as related in Wikipedia:
On January 10, 1968, Cash and June Carter checked into the El Rancho Motel in Sacramento, California. They were later accompanied by the Tennessee Three, Carl Perkins, The Statler Brothers, Johnny's father Ray Cash, Reverend Floyd Gressett, pastor of Avenue Community Church in Ventura, California (where Cash often attended services), who counseled inmates at Folsom and helped facilitate the concert, and producer Johnston. The performers rehearsed for two days, an uncommon occurrence for them, sometimes with two or more songs rehearsed concurrently by various combinations of musicians.[9] During the rehearsal sessions on January 12, California governor Ronald Reagan, who was at the hotel for an after-dinner speech, visited the band and offered his encouragement.[10] One focus of the sessions was to learn "Greystone Chapel", a song written by inmate Glen Sherley. Sherley recorded a version of the song, which he passed on to Rev. Gressett via the prison's recreation director.[11][12] On January 13, the group traveled to Folsom, meeting Los Angeles Times writer Robert Hilburn and Columbia photographer Jim Marshall, who were hired to document the album for the liner notes.[13]
Cash decided to hold two performances on January 13, one at 9:40 AM and one at 12:40 PM, in case the first performance was unsatisfactory.[14] After an introduction by MC Hugh Cherry, who encouraged the prisoners to "respond" to Cash's performance, Carl Perkins took the stage and performed his hit song "Blue Suede Shoes".[15] Following this song, the Statler Brothers sang their hit "Flowers on the Wall" and the country standard "This Old House".[16] Cherry returned to the stage and instructed the inmates not to cheer for Cash until he introduced himself; they obliged.[2]
Cash opened both shows with a rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues", followed by many songs about prison, including "The Wall", "Green, Green Grass of Home", and the gallows humor song "25 Minutes to Go". Cash also included other songs of despair, such as the Merle Travis song "Dark as a Dungeon". Following "Orange Blossom Special", Cash included a few "slow, ballad-type songs", including "Send a Picture of Mother" and "The Long Black Veil", followed by three novelty songs from his album Everybody Loves A Nut: "Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog", "Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart", and "Joe Bean".[17] June Carter joined Cash to perform a pair of duets. After a seven-minute version of a song from his Blood, Sweat and Tears album, "The Legend of John Henry's Hammer", Cash took a break and Carter recited a poem.[17] Cash ended both concerts with Sherley's "Greystone Chapel". The second concert was not as fruitful as the first; the musicians were fatigued from the earlier show.[18] Only two songs from the second concert, "Give My Love to Rose" and "I Got Stripes," made it onto the LP release.
The album received a floodtide of positive reviews and revitalized Cash's career and was later re-released in 1999 and again in 2008.
Here is the story of the preparation for the concerts, as related in Wikipedia:
On January 10, 1968, Cash and June Carter checked into the El Rancho Motel in Sacramento, California. They were later accompanied by the Tennessee Three, Carl Perkins, The Statler Brothers, Johnny's father Ray Cash, Reverend Floyd Gressett, pastor of Avenue Community Church in Ventura, California (where Cash often attended services), who counseled inmates at Folsom and helped facilitate the concert, and producer Johnston. The performers rehearsed for two days, an uncommon occurrence for them, sometimes with two or more songs rehearsed concurrently by various combinations of musicians.[9] During the rehearsal sessions on January 12, California governor Ronald Reagan, who was at the hotel for an after-dinner speech, visited the band and offered his encouragement.[10] One focus of the sessions was to learn "Greystone Chapel", a song written by inmate Glen Sherley. Sherley recorded a version of the song, which he passed on to Rev. Gressett via the prison's recreation director.[11][12] On January 13, the group traveled to Folsom, meeting Los Angeles Times writer Robert Hilburn and Columbia photographer Jim Marshall, who were hired to document the album for the liner notes.[13]
Cash decided to hold two performances on January 13, one at 9:40 AM and one at 12:40 PM, in case the first performance was unsatisfactory.[14] After an introduction by MC Hugh Cherry, who encouraged the prisoners to "respond" to Cash's performance, Carl Perkins took the stage and performed his hit song "Blue Suede Shoes".[15] Following this song, the Statler Brothers sang their hit "Flowers on the Wall" and the country standard "This Old House".[16] Cherry returned to the stage and instructed the inmates not to cheer for Cash until he introduced himself; they obliged.[2]
Cash opened both shows with a rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues", followed by many songs about prison, including "The Wall", "Green, Green Grass of Home", and the gallows humor song "25 Minutes to Go". Cash also included other songs of despair, such as the Merle Travis song "Dark as a Dungeon". Following "Orange Blossom Special", Cash included a few "slow, ballad-type songs", including "Send a Picture of Mother" and "The Long Black Veil", followed by three novelty songs from his album Everybody Loves A Nut: "Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog", "Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart", and "Joe Bean".[17] June Carter joined Cash to perform a pair of duets. After a seven-minute version of a song from his Blood, Sweat and Tears album, "The Legend of John Henry's Hammer", Cash took a break and Carter recited a poem.[17] Cash ended both concerts with Sherley's "Greystone Chapel". The second concert was not as fruitful as the first; the musicians were fatigued from the earlier show.[18] Only two songs from the second concert, "Give My Love to Rose" and "I Got Stripes," made it onto the LP release.
