Johnny Cash - Live At Folsum Prison

[SteveSly]

I have been on a live album kick lately and have picked up a bunch of good ones. After looking at Rate Your Music’s all-time greatest live albums chart, this was the highest rated one that I did not already own, so I decided to take a chance on it. I am not a country music fan at all and never really got into Johnny Cash much, but I am really digging this album. The performance is fantastic, and although many of the songs were written by other people Cash has a way of really getting them across in an interesting way. For the most part they are not particularly commercial songs either mostly telling stories of inmates, drug addicts, or hard living people. It is funny how sometimes when you get older you learn to appreciate artists that you would not give the time of day when you were younger. I remember my parents tried to get me to see Johnny Cash with them when I was a teenager and I would not have anything to do with it. Any other fans of this release?

[WHORG]

Many years ago we'd travel to Pittsburgh every summer to spend a month with my Mom's side of the family in Braddock. When I was about 5 years old - my Dad decided to take a drive down near Clarksburg (WV) - from Pittsburgh - to trout fish with an old friend in the area. He dragged me along as we were camping - - -

My Dad's friend suggested that they all go to this tiny roadhouse in Clarksburg for some beers, pool and live music. Those were the days when a Dad could bring his boy into such places. It was a clear summer evening and I remember playing darts and pool - and Johnny Cash + his band were over in the corner doing their thing. JC was a pretty big name in 1964 - but the roadhouse owner knew him from their Air Force days - and Johnny always played at his old friend's place in Clarksburg whenever he was nearby.

My Mom still has pictures of me (somewhere) on the front porch of this place - standing there with my Dad and Johnny Cash, his band - and all of the patrons (probably 25 people if that). They made a big fire outside and roasted chicken that night - brought out the chairs and the tunes continued into the wee hours. I slept on two lawn chairs placed together - with my Dad's old coat.

Childhood memories don't get much better than that - and it was one of the few live shows that I ever attended with my Dad - - -

All of that being said - Johnny Cash has always held a very special place for this guy.

JK

[Adrian]

That's a great album. Classic. I grew up hearing Cash from my parents, but I didn't really appreciate his music until he had his comeback with Rick Rubin and the "American Recordings" series. That got me to delve into his catalog, and I'd say the two albums that stuck with me the most were the prison albums -- San Quentin and Folsom Prison. I think what makes them so great is how Cash seems to be able to put himself in the shoes of the prisoners through his music. He wasn't there just playing a show; he empathized with the men in there, himself having lived so frequently on the edge of the law.

"Cocaine Blues" blows me away, from the energy of the performance to the raw subject matter to the prisoners' reaction to it. You swear at some points that Cash is going to cause the prisoners to riot. I can always visualize the guards nervously gripping their batons as the inmates get a little too rowdy!

[Garden Dreamer]

I dig this album but then I'm a fan of just about anything this timeless icon has recorded.

[SteveSly]

Childhood memories don't get much better than that - and it was one of the few live shows that I ever attended with my Dad - - -

All of that being said - Johnny Cash has always held a very special place for this guy.

JK

Wow, that is a great story. Thanks for sharing.

[SteveSly]

"Cocaine Blues" blows me away, from the energy of the performance to the raw subject matter to the prisoners' reaction to it. You swear at some points that Cash is going to cause the prisoners to riot. I can always visualize the guards nervously gripping their batons as the inmates get a little too rowdy!

Agreed, it is probably my favorite song on the album as well.

[GuitarGeek]

I don't know if it's on the original album, but there's a great bit on the deluxe remastered edition or whatever it's called where Johnny sort of screws up the lyrics during one. After the song he says that they're recording an album and "You can't say words like hell or shit on a record". Guess what Johnny! You can now!

[Tangento]

Fantastic album, love it deep in my heart. JC was simply The Man.

WHORG, I really enjoyed your tale, what an experience that must have been.

[Adrian]

I don't know if it's on the original album, but there's a great bit on the deluxe remastered edition or whatever it's called where Johnny sort of screws up the lyrics during one. After the song he says that they're recording an album and "You can't say words like hell or shit on a record". Guess what Johnny! You can now!

I remember listening to my parents' San Quentin LP once as a kid and wondering why in the world the record label would have bleeped the words "son of a bitch" on "My Name Is Sue." I mean, they didn't just drop the vocal. They put a test-pattern beep in the song and blanked the whole thing out. Seems quaint by today's standards that the label decided they had to protect listeners' ears and delicate sensibilities from something so mild.

[davis]

It is funny how sometimes when you get older you learn to appreciate artists that you would not give the time of day when you were younger. I remember my parents tried to get me to see Johnny Cash with them when I was a teenager and I would not have anything to do with it.

I'm that way now with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, both of whom my parents were big fans of when I was growing up. I don't have any Cash records other than a bootleg live recording or two but I love watching footage of him performing & hearing him play songs. I've seen the film of the LAFP show; he had a verisimilar quality. Several years ago I put together a Cash audio show for my father-in-law, who was quite a JC fan. It was odd though cause he was very hard of hearing at the time.

[ronmac]

Fantastic album in every way!

Many don't know, but JC is the only artist inducted in the R&R HOF, the Country Music HOF and the Songwriters HOF. And deservedly so.

The man's career could not be categorized by anything but Rebel.

[nycsteve]

First album I bought with my own money or at least one of the first was Hi ,Im Johhny Cash back in the early 70's. I was not and have never been a country fan but To me Cash transends genre pigeonholing. I enjoyed his entire career output from start to finish. And Whorg, what a story! Find that picture.

[davis]

[notallwhowander]

Many years ago we'd travel to Pittsburgh every summer to spend a month with my Mom's side of the family in Braddock. When I was about 5 years old - my Dad decided to take a drive down near Clarksburg (WV) - from Pittsburgh - to trout fish with an old friend in the area. He dragged me along as we were camping - - -

My Dad's friend suggested that they all go to this tiny roadhouse in Clarksburg for some beers, pool and live music. Those were the days when a Dad could bring his boy into such places. It was a clear summer evening and I remember playing darts and pool - and Johnny Cash + his band were over in the corner doing their thing. JC was a pretty big name in 1964 - but the roadhouse owner knew him from their Air Force days - and Johnny always played at his old friend's place in Clarksburg whenever he was nearby.

My Mom still has pictures of me (somewhere) on the front porch of this place - standing there with my Dad and Johnny Cash, his band - and all of the patrons (probably 25 people if that). They made a big fire outside and roasted chicken that night - brought out the chairs and the tunes continued into the wee hours. I slept on two lawn chairs placed together - with my Dad's old coat.

Childhood memories don't get much better than that - and it was one of the few live shows that I ever attended with my Dad - - -

All of that being said - Johnny Cash has always held a very special place for this guy.

JK

Amazing. That was one thick slice of good you got to enjoy.

[bob_32_116]

Johnny Cash was a class act. I'm not into country music at all, but he was probably the best of that particular genre.
He was also a pretty good interpreter of decidedly non-country songs, or at least songs that were originally something quite other than country. Witness his versions of One (U2) and Hurt (Nine Inch Nails). There is also a song on Coldplay's album X&Y - 'Til Kingdom Come - that I heard was written with him in mind, but unfortunately he died before he had the opportunity to record it.

[GuitarGeek]

I remember listening to my parents' San Quentin LP once as a kid and wondering why in the world the record label would have bleeped the words "son of a bitch" on "My Name Is Sue." I mean, they didn't just drop the vocal. They put a test-pattern beep in the song and blanked the whole thing out. Seems quaint by today's standards that the label decided they had to protect listeners' ears and delicate sensibilities from something so mild.

Yeah, there's been a few things like that. I know a couple of songs where the line "son of a bitch" had to be changed to "son of a gun". And the song (and by extension, album title) Hair Of The Dog hinged on the fact that A&M wouldn't let Nazareth release a song called Son Of A Bitch (which was the original title of the song, they changed it to Hair Of The Dog as a play on "heir of the dog", because the heir of the dog is literally a son of a bitch).

[Adrian]

they changed it to Hair Of The Dog as a play on "heir of the dog", because the heir of the dog is literally a son of a bitch).

Oh, that's clever! I never made that connection before.

[Dan Marsh]

Johnny Cash was always great!

[cavgator]

I like country music but never really was much of a Cash fan (the Cash persona grew cliche in the late 1960s/early 1970s). Live at Folsom Prison, however, is tremendous! He seemed to be less of the Johnny Cash-type, as many non-country fans know of him, and more a raw, roots country musician speaking the language of the joint to his audience with a reality and sense of urgency that can be felt on a record (imagine what it would have been like to be in the audience). In that respect, he was much like Merle Haggard, and not far removed from Outlaw country music, playing as a member of The Highwaymen.

Cash was indeed a non-conformist, but was also a deeply religious, traditional man to his dying day, and never really sold out, in spite of his covers of edgy rock bands. He was Popeye. "I yam what I yam, and that's all that I yam..." There wasn't a fake bone in his body.

[cavgator]

Fantastic album in every way!

Many don't know, but JC is the only artist inducted in the R&R HOF, the Country Music HOF and the Songwriters HOF. And deservedly so.

The man's career could not be categorized by anything but Rebel.

Also the Gospel Music HoF...

[Cuz]

I remember listening to my parents' San Quentin LP once as a kid and wondering why in the world the record label would have bleeped the words "son of a bitch" on "My Name Is Sue." I mean, they didn't just drop the vocal. They put a test-pattern beep in the song and blanked the whole thing out. Seems quaint by today's standards that the label decided they had to protect listeners' ears and delicate sensibilities from something so mild.

I may be wrong about this, but I can recall reading that on that recording he never says “son of a bitch”, he actually says “son of a gun”. But the record label thought it would get more attention if everyone thought he said “bitch”, and a bleep sound would get more noticed that a drop-out.

[JJ88]

Got into him via the Sun Records connection- the first music I really got into would have been the 60s/70s stuff I heard growing up, but I also got into 50s rock via oldies stations or whatever on my own accord. One time, about 15 years ago I guess, I heard 'Folsom Prison Blues' and that was it. Always liked the guitar playing of Luther Perkins on those records. And Johnny Cash's deep, resonant voice is one of the great, truly distinctive instruments of popular music IMHO.

The divide between rock and country isn't always that big IMHO. I remember being surprised by some of the blazing guitar solos on Buck Owens' 60s tracks, then there's the whole 'outlaw country' thing later with Willie Nelson etc. Elvis Presley did a lot of country material in the late 60s and 70s which also enabled me to bridge the gap.

[GuitarGeek]

Re: Hair Of The Dog

Oh, that's clever! I never made that connection before.

Yeah, I got that off Many Charleton's website. He was their original guitarist, and that's what he said. The song was originally called Son Of A Bitch (as you'd expect with a song that has phrase in the refrain), but A&M refused to release it with that title. They didn't have a problem with the song itself, apparently, just with the title. So they came up with Hair Of The Dog as a joke.

[ronmac]

I like country music but never really was much of a Cash fan (the Cash persona grew cliche in the late 1960s/early 1970s). Live at Folsom Prison, however, is tremendous! He seemed to be less of the Johnny Cash-type, as many non-country fans know of him, and more a raw, roots country musician speaking the language of the joint to his audience ...

Cash was indeed a non-conformist,

That's why it's not fair to refer to him as a country artist. He's folk, country, gospel, rockabilly and a whole lot more. Maybe we can label it Americana.

Also the Gospel Music HoF...

I never knew that.

[SteveSly]

I don't know if it's on the original album, but there's a great bit on the deluxe remastered edition or whatever it's called where Johnny sort of screws up the lyrics during one. After the song he says that they're recording an album and "You can't say words like hell or shit on a record". Guess what Johnny! You can now!

Yes, that is on the version of the album that I have. Funny it is tame by today’s standards, but back then it was pretty unusual. I have also read that when the single “Folsom Prison Blues” was released they cut out one of Cash’s most famous lines “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”, because they thought it was too radical or something.