As legend has it, while stationed in West Germany as he served in the United States Air Force, Johnny Cash saw the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison and was inspired to the write his classic 1955 hit “Folsom Prison Blues.” What’s not as well known about the story is that Cash liberally took from Gordon Jenkins’ “Crescent City Blues” and settled a lawsuit because of it. But that didn’t stop “Folsom Prison Blues” from becoming a quintessential Johnny Cash song due in part to its combination of a prisoner and a train, frequent themes throughout his work.
As he sang in “Man in Black,” Cash had empathy for all those in society “who are held back” and that included inmates, which is why he performed in jails and advocated prison reforms. The first time it was captured live for people outside the walls was 1968’s At Folsom Prison, a landmark album that helped revitalize Cash’s career, which had gone into a slump because of his drug addiction and shifting priorities at Columbia Records. In 1973, he told Rolling Stone, “that's where things really got started for me again.”
In 1999, At Folsom Prison was re-released with three extra tracks and once again in 2008 labeled a “Legacy Edition” with both shows recorded from that day, the 65-minute first show with seven previously unissued tracks and the 75-minute second show with 24 previously unissued tracks. The shows are also uncensored, so you hear Cash sing about how he “shot that bad bitch down” in “Cocaine Blues,” which gets raucous approval from the inmates, and during the second show at the beginning of “25 Minutes To Go” he playfully warns the audience, “don’t say ‘shit’ or anything like that out loud.” The “Legacy Edition” also includes a feature-length documentary that examines the album’s creation and its legacy. Cash can be heard in interviews throughout and many others including Cash’s bassist Marshall Grant, Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard, and former inmates reflect upon it.
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