At Folsom Prison Songs Ranked
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records on May 6, 1968. After his 1955 song “Folsom Prison Blues”, Cash had been interested in recording a performance at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records put Bob Johnston in charge of producing Cash’s material. Cash had recently controlled his drug abuse problems, and was looking to turn his career around after several years of limited commercial success. Backed by June Carter, Carl Perkins, and the Tennessee Three, Cash performed two shows at Folsom State Prison in California on January 13, 1968. The album consists of 15 songs from the first show and two from the second. Here are all of At Folsom Prison songs ranked.
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10. Greystone Chapel
“Appropriately, Johnny ends the show with Greystone Chapel, a song written by Glen Sherley, a Folsom Prison inmate doing life for armed robbery, and in the audience that night.”
9. I Got Stripes
“One thing that you had to admire about Cash was that he never forgot his roots. He knew inside that he had his trouble making days and that he was misunderstood like most of the prisoners at Folsom.”
8. Jackson
“And just when it seems that the show’s energy is about to let up, June Carter walks on stage, joining Cash in a just-plain-awesome version of “Jackson.” The two tear into the song with relentless abandon, harmonizing and trading off lines and verses with electrifying energy.”
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7. Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog
“The album is typical of Cash: deep baratone vocals, followed by his guitar strumming, and his usual bantar with June and the backup band. What makes this album different, though, is the spirit. “
6. Send a Picture of Mother
“Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison is unquestionably one of the finest live albums ever recorded. The time and place, the atmosphere surrounding it, and the aura of the performance could never be repeated in today’s modern world.”
5. Orange Blossom Special
“Along with the best live recording I’ve ever heard of “Orange Blossom Special” this was one of Johnny Cash’s rediscoveries of himself and it is surely worth listening to for that – what better way to comeback from your personal hell than by playing in hell.”
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4. Cocaine Blues
“Johnny Cash was a complex man in life. Often torn between the attractiveness of sin and redemption, light and darkness or trauma and release. This conflict shines though his music.”
3. Dark as the Dungeon
“This is an absolutely classic album I highly recommend for everyone to listen to the LP at least once. The thing that makes this album so special is the fact that it is a live performance meaning that you can hear the cheering from the audience and some of the interaction that Johnny has with the audience members. “
2. Folsom Prison Blues
“In this kind of atmosphere, the songs really have no choice but to rule: “Folsom Prison Blues” comes ripping out of the starting gates with a blast of fleet-footed guitars and the electric arc of Cash’s voice.”
1. 25 Minutes to Go
” And of course doing 25 minutes to go [song about the hangin of a man done in the first person] is a curiosity that says more about Cash’s dark humour and Different personality than anything else on the album. He does a song or two written by actual inmates at the prison.”