Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition

NASHVILLE, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Sony Legacy) - Six years in the making, first live prison recording by Cash - who identifies with convicts on "Folsom Prison Blues," "Busted," "Dark As A Dungeon," "Cocaine Blues," "25 Minutes To Go," "I'm Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail," "The Long Black Veil," "I Got Stripes," "Green, Green Grass Of Home," and more - Also, duets with June Carter and highlights by Carl Perkins and Statler Brothers

In-depth liner notes essay by Cash biographer Michael Streissguth, plus liner notes written in 1999 by Cash and Steve Earle

Latest entry in deluxe Legacy Edition series - available at both physical and digital retail outlets starting October 14, 2008, through Columbia/Legacy

"Each song Cash reeled off that day spoke his understanding of prison life - 'Dark As A Dungeon,' 'I Still Miss Someone,' 'Cocaine Blues,' 'Send A Picture of Mother' ... Each song described confinement in some sense - in a coal mine, in love, in poverty - making clear to the men that they weren't the only ones imprisoned. And between songs, he conversed with the men on their level, grumbling about wardens and dishing out off-color jokes." - from the liner notes written by Michael Streissguth

It is one of those dates that is embedded in music history - and should be embedded in American history, if it is not already. January 13, 1968, the day that Johnny Cash and his crew - June Carter (two months before their wedding), Columbia staff producer Bob Johnston, Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, and the Tennessee Three (guitarist Luther Perkins, bassist Marshall Grant, drummer W.S. "Fluke" Holland), rolled into northern California's notorious maximum security lockup and gave a performance that changed Cash's career arc and the future of popular music. Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison, the LP issued on Columbia Records the following May, became a cultural benchmark in the midst of the single most tumultuous year in American history since the end of World War II. It was more than a record album - it was the turning point for a generation.

Forty years later, the Cash archives in Tennessee continue to dazzle researchers with their riches. In fact, as rarely known by even the most ardent fans, and rarely mentioned in Cash writings until now - there were two Folsom shows performed and recorded that day: The first show, the bulk of which comprised the classic, familiar 16-song album; and a longer second show, the bulk of whose 26 tracks (except for two songs) were put on the shelf.