Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison

Performing inside Folsom Prison was an appropriate choice for the outlaw country musician known as "The Man in Black."

On Jan. 13, 1968, Johnny Cash, considered by many one of the 20th century's most influential musicians, performed two shows inside California's Folsom Prison. It was an appropriate choice for a performer known as a bit of an outlaw, with a penchant for dark clothing that earned him the nickname "The Man in Black." The performances and resulting album, At Folsom Prison, helped revitalize Cash's previously lagging career. "That's where things really got started for me again," he told Rolling Stone magazine in a 1973 article.

But Cash, who died in September 2003 at 71, wasn't just seeking personal gain when he decided to play behind bars. He also was thinking of those for whom he was performing. Cash, a Christian, believed in redemption and argued prisoners could be rehabilitated. He also saw himself in the eyes of these men behind bars.

"He had an affinity for the common man, the downtrodden, the people who lived on the margins," said Michael Streissguth, author of Johnny Cash: the Biography. "To quote Merle Haggard, 'Wealthy men don't go to prison in this country.' Cash knew that. He realized he could have easily been in prison himself."

To mark the anniversary of those historic performances, Streissguth spoke to Legacy.com about these concerts, Cash's work to improve prison conditions and how one of the best-known moments on the Folsom album was actually a bit of in-studio chicanery. Streissguth, an associate professor in the communication and film studies department at New York's Le Moyne College, is also the author of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison and a producer of the documentary of the same name.

(Side note: Merle Haggard was a 20-year-old prisoner in the audience when Cash played California's San Quentin Penitentiary in the 1950s. He later said Cash inspired his musical career.)

Johnny Cash began playing inside prisons in the 1950s and performed more than 30 concerts for incarcerated men over the next decade. Why did Cash want to perform for these captive audiences?

"I think there are a number of reasons. A big one is he was the kind of person who felt he had a Christian duty to help other people. He saw that playing for prisoners brought something to their lives, a glimmer of light, a glimmer of hope. He was moved by that and continued to do that for most of his career. He also learned, after playing in a prison the first time in the mid-1950s, that the prison audience was electric. They responded to him. They were enthusiastic. And he was welcomed. When it came time to record an album, he knew that marrying his big hit, 'Folsom Prison Blues,' with a prison audience was a recipe for success. He knew it would be very entertaining, although those around him didn't think it would have a successful outcome."

How did the moneymen around him – specifically, Columbia Records – feel about these concerts? What was the state of Cash's career at this point?

For a year or two leading up to Folsom, Cash hadn't had a big country-pop crossover hit. No 'Ring of Fire.' No 'Walk the Line.' He'd really become damaged goods on the concert circuit because he was a no-show so many times or he was late or he was high onstage. His career was really in decline at that point.

In the movie Walk the Line, there's a scene in which the Cash character walks in with a scowl and says he's going to play Folsom. It didn't happen like that. Columbia Records was run by accoun...[Remaining content truncated due to length constraints]