Is there anything country music artist Jelly Roll can’t do? The rising country star hit the stage at the legendary Nashville honky tonk Robert’s Western World last night to surprise the audience with an incredible cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe accompanied the star on stage during the cover.
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We do wish the performance was filmed professionally so we could hear it a bit better. However, it’s clear from the fan recording that Jelly Roll absolutely killed the cover with his own unique flair and vocal prowess. And the crowd was loving it. How could they not?
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“Folsom Prison Blues” is a Fan Favorite for Covers
Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” was originally written in 1953. Cash famously recorded the track at Memphis’ Sun Studio just two years later.
However, it wasn’t until 1968 that the song became a major hit when Cash recorded the track live from the eponymous prison itself. The album At Folsom Prison went on to become the biggest album of his career. And “Folsom Prison Blues” is arguably his most famous song of all time.
Ironically, Jelly Roll has also performed in a prison. The star performed with Brantley Gilbert and Struggle Jennings for inmates a while ago at a Nashville prison where he himself was once incarcerated.
Parallels aside, Jelly Roll isn’t the first to perform a cover of “Folsom Prison Blues”. Stars like Waylon Jennings, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Jr., Chet Atkins, Conway Twitty, and Everlast have provided their own unique spins to the track. Actor Joaquin Phoenix also famously covered the song while portraying Cash in the 2005 film Walk The Line.
Photo by Catherine Powell
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