On this day in history, January 13, 1968, Johnny Cash took to the stage at the California State Penitentiary in Folsom, backed by an all-star talented ensemble.
The concert proved to be one of the most legendary in American music, ending with the song that made the inmates sitting in the front row an instant star.
The performance at Folsom Prison became one of the best-selling albums of the 1960s, reinvigorated Cash's career, and left a lasting mark on American pop culture.
On this day in history, January 12, 1951, Missouri radio legend Rush Limbaugh was “born to be a broadcaster.”
In May 2018, Rolling Stone magazine celebrated the 50th anniversary of the live album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, which was released four months after the show, saying, “The concert and its star have captured the imagination of people around the world. It inspired me and I never left it for a variety of reasons.” .
“Wearing his trademark black clothing…he paradoxically celebrated prison and outlaw life while creating a sordid portrait of the prison experience that piqued the era's interest in social outcasts.”
Johnny Cash performs live in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1972. This famous performer brought the sounds of rural America to audiences around the world. (Gisbert Hanekloot/Red Ferns)
That day, Cash performed two shows at Folsom Prison.
He was joined on stage by his wife and fellow country star singer June Carter Cash, rockabilly legend Carl Perkins on guitar, the Statler Brothers on vocals, and his longtime touring band, the Tennessee Three.
“Hello, I'm Johnny Cash,” the singer said in his gravelly baritone, drawing jeers and applause from the inmate audience.
Johnny Cash is the King of Nashville: His songs, legacy and legend rule the city of music
He immediately launched into Cash's signature song, “Folsom Prison Blues,” which he recorded more than a decade ago.
“I ain’t seen the sun/Cause I don’t know when/I’m stuck in Folsom Jail/And time keeps dragging,” Cash hums.
Cash was joined on stage by June Carter Cash, Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, and his touring band, the Tennessee Three.
He played 18 more songs, according to the Setlist.fm show record.
The concert will feature some of his favorites, including “Cocaine Blues,” “Long Black Veil,” and a cover of “Green, Green Grass of Home,” the prison anthem popularized by Porter Wagoner just three years earlier. It contained many of the darkest dirges.
United States – June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash perform on stage. (GAB Archive/Red Ferns)
The film tells the story of a death row inmate who envisions his final journey to be buried under an oak tree on his family's land.
Cash closed the show with “Greystone Chapel,” written by Folsom Prison inmate Glenn Shirley.
The performer discovered the song the night before the concert.
“When I got to the motel, a preacher friend brought me a tape of a song called 'Greystone Chapel,'” Cash told Life magazine in 1994.
Johnny Cash's sister says “The Man in Black'' “gave his heart back'' to God before dying and “there is hope.''
“He said a prisoner had written about the chapel in Folsom. I heard it once and said, 'We've got to do this on tomorrow's show.'” So I got up. He learned it, and the next day the preacher had him sit in the front row. ”
“Folsom Prison Blues” was the show's signature song and became Cash's first number one song. It was a hit in one country in five years.
“I announced, 'Glen Shirley wrote this song.' Everyone threw a fit and kept screaming and screaming.”
“Greystone Chapel” is one of 17 songs from two performances on the live album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, released in May 1968.
December 9, 2019: Copies of the record album “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison” on sale at an antique shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Vinyl records were released by Columbia Records in 1968. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
After Shirley was released from prison in 1971, she enjoyed brief stardom as a performer and songwriter with the help of Greystone Chapel.
However, he turned to crime again and committed suicide in 1978.
Despite popular legend, Merle Haggard was not an inmate at the Folsom Prison performance.
However, Haggard was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison in California when he saw Cash perform in 1958.
“The shocking thing about this album is that Cash sings to men who received 99-year sentences by men who received 99-year sentences.”
This was the first of at least 30 performances at Cache Prison, according to the Library of Congress.
“Johnny Cash in Folsom Prison'' was a huge hit.
The album was the third best-selling album of the year, behind Iron Butterfly's “In a Gadda da Vida'' and the Beatles' “White Album.'' Cash's recordings boast over 3 million certified sales of his.
“The shocking quality of this album is that Cash sings about men who have been sentenced to 99 years in prison,” London's Guardian newspaper wrote in a contemporary review of the album. I wrote it in
A small portion of the album cover wall at the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville. Opposite the album cover is a display of vinyl records representing Cash's 134 Billboard hit singles. (Kelly J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
“Folsom Prison Blues” was the signature song of this performance, and became Cash's first No. 1 hit in the United States in five years.
The 1968 live version replaced the original studio song, which was a minor hit on the artist's 1957 debut album Johnny Cash with Hot and Blue Guitar! , remains in people's memories.
Lamentations about life behind bars resonated with residents of the notorious Folsom Penitentiary.
“I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” — Johnny Cash, “Folsom Prison Blues”
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the prison was “one of the nation's first maximum-security prisons, built in the decades following California's gold rush.”
“Throughout Folsom's violent and bloody history, numerous riots and escape attempts resulted in the deaths of both inmates and staff.”
A sign outside Folsom State Prison. The California State Penitentiary in Sacramento is a maximum-security state prison for men located in the city of Folsom. The facility is also known by its former official name, New Folsom. The facility is adjacent to Folsom State Prison, has approximately 1,600 employees and an annual operating budget of approximately $190 million. Folsom, which opened in 1880, is her second oldest prison in the state after San Quentin. (Axel Kester/Corbis via Getty Images)
“I shot a guy in Reno, just to watch him die,” Cash sings in the ferocious lyrical chorus of “Folsom Prison Blues.”
Cash later described the moment he wrote the violent poem.
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“I was sitting with a pen in my hand, trying to think of the worst possible reasons why someone would kill someone, and that's what came to mind,” he said.
When he said his lines on stage, the Folsom Prison audience cheered and hollered.
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