At Folsom Prison (also known as Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison) is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records on May 6, 1968. It was recorded at Folsom State Prison, California, on January 13, 1968.
After his 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in recording a performance at a prison. His idea was delayed until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records saw Bob Johnston placed in charge of producing Cash's material. Cash had controlled his drug-abuse problems and was seeking to resuscitate his career after several years of limited success. Backed by June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three, Cash performed two shows at Folsom State Prison.
Despite little initial promotion by Columbia, At Folsom Prison reached number one on the Top Country Charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. The lead single, a performance of "Folsom Prison Blues", was Cash's first top-40 hit since 1964's "Understand Your Man". At Folsom Prison received positive reviews and revitalized Cash's career. At the 11th Annual Grammy Awards in 1969, it won for Best Album Notes, and "Folsom Prison Blues" won for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.
A few years after attaining commercial success from songs such as "I Walk the Line", "Understand Your Man", and "Ring of Fire", Cash's popularity waned, in part due to his increasing dependence on drugs.[7] In 1967, Cash sought help for his escalating drug problems, and by the end of the year, began to get clean and try to turn his career around.[8] Concurrently, the country portion of Columbia Records underwent major personnel changes, where Frank Jones and Don Law, who had produced several of Cash's albums, were ousted in favor of Bob Johnston, who was known for his erratic behavior and willingness to disagree with studio executives.[9] Cash saw this as an opportunity to pitch his idea of recording a live album at a prison, which Johnston enthusiastically supported.[10] Johnston called San Quentin State Prison and Folsom, with Folsom being the first to respond.[11]
Recording
Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California
On January 10, 1968, Cash and his future wife, singer June Carter, registered at 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.[12]
One focus of the sessions was to learn "Greystone Chapel", a song written by inmate Glen Sherley. Sherley had previously recorded a version of the song that he sent to Rev. Gressett via the prison's recreation director.[13][14] During the rehearsals on January 12, California governor Ronald Reagan, who was at the hotel for an after-dinner speech, visited the band and offered his encouragement.[15] 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.[16]
Cash held two performances on January 13, one at 9:40a.m. and another at 12:40p.m. in case the first performance was unsatisfactory.[17] After an introduction by MC Hugh Cherry, who encouraged the prisoners to "respond" to Cash's performance, Carl Perkins performed his hit "Blue Suede Shoes".[18] The Statler Brothers then sang their hit "Flowers on the Wall" and the country standard "This Old House".[19] Cherry returned to the stage and instructed the inmates not to cheer for Cash until he introduced himself; they obliged.[5] The period in which Cash waited for his introduction would become the opening scene of the 2005 Cash biopic Walk the Line.
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".[20] 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.[20] Cash ended both concerts with Sherley's "Greystone Chapel". The first concert was considered to be superior than the second, as the musicians were fatigued from the earlier show.[21] Only two songs from the second concert, "Give My Love to Rose" and "I Got Stripes", were included on the album.
A full-page ad for the album in Seattle underground paper Helix.
The album release of At Folsom Prison was prepared in four months. Despite the recent success of "Rosanna's Going Wild", a Cash single released just before the Folsom concerts that reached number two on the Top Country Charts, Columbia initially invested little in the album or its single "Folsom Prison Blues". This was partly because Columbia focused its promotional efforts on pop stars rather than on country artists.[22][23] However, the single charted on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 25, 1968 and entered the Hot Country Singles chart one week later.[24][25]
After Robert F. Kennedy's assassination on June 5, 1968, some radio stations stopped playing the single because of to the line "I shot a man in Reno / Just to watch him die". Columbia demanded that Johnston remix the single with the line removed, and despite Cash's protests, the single was edited and rereleased. The new version reached number one on the Hot Country Singles chart and the top 40 on the Hot 100.[26] The success of the single allowed the album to climb the charts, eventually reaching number one on the Top Country Albums chart and number 13 on the Pop Albums chart.[27] By August 1968, Folsom had shipped more than 300,000 copies; in October, it was certified gold for shipping more than 500,000 copies.[28][29]
At Folsom Prison received rave reviews. Al Aronowitz of Life stated that Cash sang the songs like "someone who has grown up believing he is one of the people that these songs are about".[30] For The Village Voice, Ann Fisher wrote that "every cut is special in its own way" and Richard Goldstein said the album was "filled with the kind of emotionalism you seldom find in rock".[31][32] Fredrick E. Danker of Sing Out! praised it as "an album structured an aural experience for us".[33] At the 11th Annual Grammy Awards in 1969, the album won the award for Best Album Notes and "Folsom Prison Blues" won for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.[34]
The success of the album revitalized Cash's career. According to Cash, "That's where things really got started for me again."[7]Sun Records remixed Cash's previous B-side "Get Rhythm" with applause similar to that heard on the album and it reached the Hot 100.[39] Cash returned to the prison scene in 1969 when he recorded At San Quentin at San Quentin State Prison. At San Quentin became Cash's first album to reach number one on the pop chart and produced the number-two hit "A Boy Named Sue". The ensuing popularity from the Folsom concert also prompted ABC to give Cash his own television show.[40]
The album was rereleased on October 19, 1999 including three extra tracks excluded from the original LP: "Busted", "Joe Bean" and "The Legend of John Henry's Hammer". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the new version, calling it "the ideal blend of mythmaking and gritty reality."[41] On May 27, 2003, At Folsom Prison was certified triple platinum for shipping more than three million copies.[29]
In 2008, Columbia and Legacy Records reissued At Folsom Prison in an expanded edition with both concerts uncut and remastered. It includes a DVD produced by Bestor Cram and Michael Streissguth of Northern Light Productions, with pictures and interviews. Pitchfork Media praised the reissue, saying it had "the force of empathic endeavors, as if [Cash] were doing penance for his notorious bad habits".[52] Christian Hoard wrote for Rolling Stone that the reissue "makes for an excellent historical document, highlighting Cash's rapport with prison folk".[53] In 2018, At Folsom Prison was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[54]
↑ Browne, David (August 30, 2022). "The 100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 24, 2024. It wasn't just one of Cash's most potent albums, but a Goth-country classic that also laughs in the face of death.
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