Customer Reviews
JCFolsom 
2008-06-18
It's fantastic. I orginially had this recording years ago on a 33rpm record, and like a fool got rid of it. I got it as a replacement on a CD format and its the way I always remembered it.
Cash at his peak 2008-06-12
Cash is basically the only country artist that I like. The very fact that he sings about life and its hardships is very appealing to me. Running on the notion that his material is about the struggles of existence, it is only fitting that he would record an album within the walls of a tough state penitentiary.
Songs about life in prison (Folsom Prison Blues, I Got Stripes), the difficulties of life (Busted), and being free (Orange Blossom Special), are strong examples of how Cash expresses himself musically and how he can relate to the audience. In one sense, since the material on this album relates to the prisoners, it can be considered a concept album. A must have for everyone's musical library.
THE best 2008-05-29
I have to say, I have come to realize this is one of my favorite albums of TIME tied with Houston Marchman's - Naked The Best of Houston Marchman. Both are soooo good and I can listen to their voices over and over again and never get tired. Houston Marchman is special in that his music is filled with soul, passion, and solid lyrics. He truley has THE best singing vioce I have ever heard in my entire life. You should check out the cd if you enjoy j CASH. Both have the best songs EVER!
Lyp Sync-er 
2008-05-18
I haven't heard anything like this since Ashlee Simpson was on Saturday Night Live. Indeed, I suspect this guy lyp synced at concerts. In fact, someone else sang for him in the studio and he pretended to sing on stage. His music is not true to the great rock and roll tradition handed down to us from Chuck Berry and his contemporaries. Anyone who already has this should throw it on the floor and stomp on it.
Real Music! 2008-03-08
My favorite is not at all country, but this is some of my favorite music. The spirit of a live Johhny Cash show in Folsom Prison is deffinetely felt through the music. If you want real country music, buy.
Johnny Cash "At Folsom Prison" 
2008-03-03
Johnny Cash had been breaking new ground for a decade when
At Folsom Prison suddenly made the world at large take notice. The interaction of a volatile prison population starved for entertainment and a desperately on-form Johnny Cash was electrifying. His somber machismo finally found a home. The songs, which included every prison song Cash knew ("I Got Stripes," "The Wall," "25 Minutes to Go," "Cocaine Blues," plus his own "Folsom Prison Blues") were tailored to galvanize the crowd. This set is all about atmosphere. Live at the Grand Ole Opry this ain't. The 1999 version drops the San Quentin portion of the original CD reissue, instead adding three cuts to complete the full and uncensored Folsom show.
--Colin Escott
Classic Cash 2008-02-01
Great show by the man in black. At times he plays it up a little bit much with the inmates, but overall one great performance after another.
I wasn't a fan going in, but I was coming out 2007-12-20
I've never been big on country music, so I was skeptical about this. All doubts had disappeared by track 4 or 5.
What a great album! The music holds up on its own, and while its technically simplistic and formulaic (the guitars are all palm-muted cross picking with a IV-I-IV-I bass line) there's a passion and energy to it that somehow rings true. Johnny also has a fantastic speaking voice, and his "singing" is more of a "melodic spoken word" that was especially effective.
On its own, I'd probably give this album 4 stars, but what pushes it into 5-star classic territory is the setting: live at Folsum Prison. It's certainly a surreal listening experience, hearing all those hardened cons cheering at the "wrong" moments and the warden making announcements between songs. Johnny has a great rapport with the audience, and the set list--all about jail, murder, etc.--clearly spoke to their hearts. It's hard not to get caught up in their enthusiasm.
If you own only one country album, this is the one to have.
JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON ! ( a legend and a classic) 2007-11-07
My oldest memories of Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison (1968) are as a kid, watching my dad and his buddies standing around our '65 Ford Galaxie 500 (390 cu.in./4 bbl.) talking shop, drinking Budweiser in cans, and listening to At Folsom Prison on the car's 8-track tape player. Those guys didn't really care much about The Beatles, The Stones, Woodstock, or Haight-Ashbury. They made an honest living, provided for their families, looked out for their neighbors, and LOVED Johnny Cash. I still think about those days and those hard working men when I listen to this album today. Most of those guys, including the legend who was providing the soundtrack, are dead now. The memories and the music still remain. At Folsom Prison is a great way to listen to Johnny Cash. He's in his element, right at home with this crowd, and he gives them the best he's got. His soon-to-be bride, June Carter (they were married a few months after this concert) makes an appearance to sing a duet with Johnny on their hit single, Jackson. Cash's long-time guitarist, Luther Perkins is in the band, and his brother Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes) plays guitar on the album, too. And the famous Statler Brothers provide the backing vocals. The album's opener, Folsom Prison Blues, is obviously a popular song with California's Folsom Prison inmates, and the line, "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" gets an enthusiastic response. The album features several prison songs, such as Cocaine Blues, I Got Stripes, The Wall, and 25 Minutes To Go. Good choices for this appreciative audience, and you can feel the connection Johnny makes with them through his music. Dark As A Dungeon, I Still Miss Someone, and Lefty Frizell's haunting Long Black Veil slow things down, creating a somber and mournful mood. There are moments of fun and celebration with Orange Blossom Special, Dirty Old Egg Suckin' Dog, and Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart. Johnny Cash is in top form on At Folsom Prison, and he tears through these songs with zeal and spirit. He's in a great mood, too, as he cracks a few jokes here and there. Appropriately, Johnny ends the show with Greystone Chapel, a song written by Glen Sherley, a Folsom Prison inmate doing life for armed robbery, and in the audience that night.
There's a Greystone chapel here at Folsom
A house of worship in this den of sin
You wouldn't think God had a place at Folsom
But He's saved the soul of many lost men
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison is a great album, a real classic from an American legend. On January 13, 1968, that legend gave the inmates at Folsom State Prison a show they would never forget.
Extra Cash 2007-11-06
This magical recording of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is a warts and all live recording in front of several hundred plus prisoners in January 1968. The atmosphere is electric, with frequent shouts and spontaneous applause and whistles from the crowd. Even some of the official prison announcements are left in the recordings.
Highlights are many as Cash has chosen his set carefully with the audience in mind. So '25 minutes to go' (a reference to the electric chair), 'Cocaine Blues' and his own 'Fulsom Prison Blues' are all brilliant performances.
I first heard Johnny Cash through his later American recordings. These are great albums but on the last three or four his voice getting weaker after each album. The difference in his voice here is pretty startling and he puts it to great use.
The CD is very well packaged with interesting sleeve notes by Cash, written in 1999 and also by Steve Earle. There are also plenty of stills from the show itself.
