On this day in 1968 country musician Johnny Cash recorded a live concert at Folsom Prison in California. Back in the early 1950s, while serving in the Air Force and stationed in Germany, Cash had seen a documentary on life inside the prison. This inspired him to write the song “Folsom Prison Blues,” with its haunting lines, “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.” He included it on his debut album, With His Hot and Blue Guitar, in 1957 and began dreaming of some day playing the song live for the inmates there.
a blog by Jack Limpert, Editor of The Washingtonian for more than 40 years.
The Case for Johnny Cash as a Performer Deeply Engaged With the Issues of His Time
January 1, 2022
From a Washington Post book review by Jack Hamilton headlined “The case for Johnny Cash as a political artist”:
