At Folsom Prison [1968]

by Johnny Cash

Overview

Folsom Prison looms large in Johnny Cash's legacy, providing the setting for perhaps his definitive song and the location for his definitive album, At Folsom Prison. The ideal blend of mythmaking and gritty reality, At Folsom Prison is the moment when Cash turned into the towering Man in Black, a haunted troubadour singing songs of crime, conflicted conscience, and jail. Surely, this dark outlaw stance wasn't a contrivance but it was an exaggeration, with Cash creating this image by tailoring his set list to his audience of prisoners, filling up the set with tales of murder and imprisonment -- a bid for common ground with the convicts, but also a sly way to suggest that maybe Cash really did shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Given the cloud of death that hangs over the songs on At Folsom Prison, there's a temptation to think of it as a gothic, gloomy affair or perhaps a repository of rage, but what's striking about Cash's performance is that he never romanticizes either the crime or the criminals: if anything, he underplays the seriousness with his matter-of-fact ballad delivery or how he throws out wry jokes. Cash is relating to the prisoners and he's entertaining them too, singing "Cocaine Blues" like a bastard on the run, turning a death sentence into literal gallows humor on "25 Minutes to Go," playing "I Got Stripes" as if it were a badge of pride. Never before had his music seemed so vigorous as it does here, nor had he tied together his humor, gravity, and spirituality in one record. In every sense, it was a breakthrough, but more than that, At Folsom Prison is the quintessential Johnny Cash album, the place where his legend burns bright and eternal. [This Expanded Edition of At Folsom Prison added three bonus tracks to the songs included in the original 16-track LP.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	10/19/1999
Label:	Legacy / Columbia/Legacy
UPC:	0074646595527
Rank:	4893

Tracks

1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Busted
3. Dark as the Dungeon
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Cocaine Blues
6. 25 Minutes to Go
7. Orange Blossom Special
8. The Long Black Veil
9. Send a Picture of Mother
10. The Wall
11. Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog
12. Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart
13. Joe Bean
14. Jackson
15. Give My Love to Rose
16. I Got Stripes
17. The Legend of John Henry's Hammer
18. Green, Green Grass of Home
19. Greystone Chapel

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Johnny Cash   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Harmonica,Lead Vocals
June Carter Cash   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
Carl Perkins   Guitar (Electric)
The Carter Family   Guest Artist,Vocals
Marshall Grant   Guitar (Bass),Bass
The Statler Brothers   Guest Artist,Vocals
June Carter   Vocals
Luther Perkins   Guitar (Electric)
W.S. Holland   Drums
Al Casey   Guitar

Technical Credits

Bob Johnston   Audio Production,Producer,Original Recording Producer
Juliana Myrick   Packaging Manager,Package Manager
Shel Silverstein   Composer
Steven Berkowitz   A&R,Producer
Bob Irwin   Producer,Reissue Producer
B. Freeman   Composer
Jack Clement   Composer
John Henry Jackson   Product Manager
Gaby Rodgers   Composer
Darcy Proper   Mastering
Ervin T. Rouse   Composer
John Jackson   Product Manager
Leon Pober   Composer
Merle Travis   Composer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Nick Shaffran   Consultant,Series Consultant
Roy Cash   Composer
Bud Freeman   Composer
Harlan Howard   Composer
Marijohn Wilkin   Composer
Danny Dill   Composer
Darren Salmieri   A&R,Artist Coordination
T.J. "Red" Arnall   Composer
Billy Edd Wheeler   Composer
Curly Putman   Composer
G. Shirley   Composer
Vic Anesini   Mixing
Johnny Cash   Composer,Liner Notes
June Carter Cash   Composer,Performer
Roy Cash, Jr.   Composer
Tim Smith   A&R,Artist Coordination
Howard Fritzson   Art Direction
Glen Sherley   Composer
Charlie Williams   Composer
Randall Martin   Design
Jim Marshall   Photography