Music and the accolades handed out for that music are equally subjective and difficult to define, generally speaking. But some achievements are historically verified, confirming that, yes, an album really was that good because it changed the world in some kind of way. There was a before time and an after time, and the monumental album in question marks the turning point between the two.
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On the 58th anniversary of the recording of At Folsom Prison, this writer celebrates the occasion by humbly suggesting this album still hasn’t gotten the full breadth of the flowers it deserves. Johnny Cash’s first live album is a testament to the hard work encapsulated by the sweat dripping from his sideburns in the album cover photograph.
At Folsom Prison was as stark as the walls in which the band was playing for the California prison inmates. “There were no frills. It was basic,” Jim Marshall, the photographer who was there at Folsom Prison that fateful day, recalled to Rolling Stone in 2018. “I think that struck a chord with people. His words were honest.”
Johnny Cash’s Album Stands Out Among the Other Giants of 1968
When we think of the year 1968, our minds most often wander to psychedelic rock, increasingly heavy music, and the remnants of the previous year’s Summer of Love. “Hey Jude”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, and The 5th Dimension’s version of “Stoned Soul Picnic” were the hits of the time. Johnny Cash’s 1968 album, At Folsom Prison, was a far sonic cry from what mainstream music sounded like. His sound was still firmly traditional country with Cash’s signature dark edge.
Consequently, discourse around At Folsom Prison largely centers around its impact on country music. But what Johnny Cash did by stepping onto the stage at Folsom Prison was far bigger than the 16-track album he made while there. He brought a forgotten sect of society into the foreground, literally putting their voices on the album with their hoots and hollers. Cash wasn’t just playing Folsom Prison as a clever reference to his song from 1955. Cash wanted to give the incarcerated a voice.
“I think that John really believed that he was making things better for the prisoners by going and doing concerts for them,” Jim Marshall told Rolling Stone. “And he was making the cause of the prisoners more available to the public, because he was such a high-profile person. I think he really believed that he was doing a good thing. He had that aura of being one of them.”
‘At Folsom Prison’ Deserves Higher Mainstream Ranking
Almost six decades later, and it still feels like At Folsom Prison gets pushed to the wayside in the wake of albums like The Beatles’ “White Album”, Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills, and Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Electric Ladyland. Johnny Cash might seem outdated compared to these psychedelic offerings, but his 1968 album was a true display of innovation. It was outlaw country before there was outlaw country—and a more realistic version at that, as Cash didn’t hide from the fact that not every outlaw can successfully outsmart the law.
In addition to planting the seeds for a new subgenre of country music and changing the way music and philanthropy could combine, Cash’s At Folsom Prison was also a masterclass in pushing through shoddy stage conditions. No monitors meant the band could hardly hear Cash over the crowd. There were no set lists to reference. It was pure, live collaboration in an unfamiliar environment with an unpredictable crowd. For this reason and many others, this writer—along with folks who were there—would place this country album high among the ranks of mainstream musical giants of 1968.
“Sgt. Pepper’s, Are You Experienced?, Pet Sounds, Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, I think that Folsom is just as important as those records,” Jim Marshall argued. “It was only because of the intensity of John’s performance there. It was the realness, the rawness, the honesty at Folsom that made that record important.”
Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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