(1955) Sun 232-B ’’Folsom Prison Blues’’ Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two

STUDIO SESSION FOR JOHNNY CASH AT THE MEMPHIS RECORDING SERVICE FOR SUN RECORDS 1955 SUN RECORDING STUDIO 706 UNION AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE SUN SESSION: SATURDAY JULY 30, 1955 SESSION HOURS: UNKNOWN PRODUCER AND RECORDING ENGINEER - SAM C. PHILLIPS “FOLSOM PRISON BLUES“ Composer: - Johnny Cash Publisher: - . - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated Matrix number: - U 173 - Master (2:48) Recorded: - July 30, 1955 Released: - December 15, 1955 First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 232-B mono FOLSOM PRISON BLUES / SO DOGGONE LONESOME Reissued - 1995 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15802-1-7 mono THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 2 ’’Folsom Prison Blues’’ was not only a moderate country hit for Johnny cash in early 1956, but also a song which would later help to resurrect his career when he recorded it live in Folsom Prison. Cash was quickly establishing himself as an exceptional country tunesmith. When he claimed ’’I wrote ’’Folsom Prison Blues’’ in August (1955). I had seen a movie called ’Inside The Walls of Folsom Prison’ which inspired the song’’, there was little reason to doubt him. It now appears that more than a Hollywood movie inspired Cash. In 1953, Gordon Jenkins recorded one of his ’concept albums’ called ’’Seven Dreams’’. It held a track sung by Beverly Mahr called ’’Crescent City Blues’’. The lyrics included“’’When I was just a baby/My mama told me, Sue (a boy named Sue?/When you’re grown up I want that you/Should go and see and do/But I’m stuck in Crescent City/Just watching life mosey by/When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry’’. It ended, ’’If I owned that lonesome whistle/If that railroad train were mine/I bet I’d find a man? a little farther down the line/Far from Crescent City is where I’d like to stay/ and I’d let that lonesome whistle/blow my blues away’’. Sound familiar? Gordon Jenkins thought so when he finally heard ’’Folsom Prison Blues’’. Although he waited until Cash’s tenure at Sun was over to sue, Cash suffered a major blow to the ego as well as pocketbook. Regardless of authorship, the original version of ’’Folsom’’ is a fine record, featuring one of Luther Perkins’ most memorable solos. Luther Perkins was known for his limitations more than expertise on the guitar. Johnny Cash’s stage show frequently chided Luther in a good-natured way for those limitations, although the routine probably wore a bit thin on Luther over the years. That two-note background and those simple scales that Luther called solos were all part of his charm and the undeniable power of Johnny cash’s earliest records. On ’’Folsom Prison Blues’’, Luther has outdone himself, playing one of the most memorable yet simple guitar solos in country music. In fact he plays it twice. Even more remarkable is the fact that Luther uses the top three strings on his guitar, suggesting he had mastery of the entire instrument. This was Johnny Cash’s second record for Sun and that mastery never surfaced again, over 19 more releases and nearly 60 more titles. It’s a rarity indeed, but Luther never played better than he does here. There is no telling how many young guitar players in the formative 1950s cut their teeth on this solo. Such was the beauty of Luther Perkins’ playing: good enough to inspire, but not so good as to intimidate. It was almost a mantra: If Luther did it, so can you. (HD) Name (Or. No. Of Instruments) Johnny Cash - Vocal and Guitar Luther Perkins - Guitar Marshall Grant - Bass © - 706 UNION AVENUE SESSIONS - ©