Tagged: Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash at San Quentin, 1969
Johnny Cash performing at San Quentin State Prison, February 24, 1969. Photo by Jim Marshall.
Vitals
Johnny Cash, country rock superstar
San Quentin State Prison, California, February 1969
Film: Johnny Cash in San Quentin
Release Date: September 6, 1969
Director: Michael Darlow
Background
Today would have been the 94th birthday of Johnny Cash, born February 26, 1932 in Arkansas. After his initial success recording hits like “Folsom Prison Blues” and “I Walk the Line” for Sun Records, Cash began his tradition of performing concerts at prisons with a New Year’s Day 1958 gig at San Quentin State Prison, with a 19-year-old Merle Haggard among the inmates in attendance.
A decade later, Cash was retaking control of his life and career after both had been stalled by his narcotic addictions. It was a fortuitous time for his self-rehabilitation as Columbia Records had recently hired visionary producer Bob Johnston, who was more eager to entertain Cash’s unorthodox collaborations—including the singer’s long-expressed desire to record an album inside a prison. Folsom State Prison responded first after Johnston called them and San Quentin, resulting in Cash recording his now legendary concert there on January 13, 1968.
Despite little promotion from Columbia, At Folsom Prison revitalized Cash’s career as it rose to the top of the U.S. Top Country Albums chart and won a pair of Grammy Awards. A year later, Cash returned inside the walls of a California state prison to record yet another live album to an audience of inmates—this time returning to San Quentin, just north of San Francisco and 100 miles southwest of Folsom.
This was Cash’s first album recorded without longtime lead guitarist Luther Perkins, who died following an August 1968 house fire, so guitarist Bob Wootton joined bassist Marshall Grant and drummer W.S. “Fluke” Holland in Cash’s Tennessee Three backing band. Additional acts included Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, and the Carter Family—including June Carter, who had married Johnny the previous March, just weeks after his on-stage proposal in Ontario. The entire group arrived at San Quentin for a performance on February 24, 1969—two days before Cash’s 37th birthday. Continue reading
Walk the Line: Johnny Cash in Black for an On-Stage Engagement
Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line (2005). Photo credit: Suzanne Tenner.
Vitals
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, country rock star
London, Ontario, February 1968
Film: Walk the Line
Release Date: November 18, 2005
Director: James Mangold
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Tailor: Pam Lisenby
Background
Fifty-five years ago on February 22, 1968, Johnny Cash surprised both the audience and perhaps also his frequent performing partner, June Carter, by proposing to her in the middle of a performance in London, Ontario. The pair had been friends—and eventually lovers—for nearly a decade, as depicted in the 2005 biopic Walk the Line, which culminated with Cash’s on-stage proposal following their performance of “Ring of Fire”, the song June had composed with Merle Kilgore four years earlier to meditate on her own emotions about their relationship. Continue reading
Johnny Cash on Columbo
Johnny Cash as Tommy Brown on Columbo (Episode 3.07: “Swan Song”)
Vitals
Johnny Cash as Tommy Brown, homicidal gospel singer
From Bakersfield to Los Angeles, Spring 1974
Series: Columbo
Episode: “Swan Song” (Episode 3.07)
Air Date: March 3, 1974
Director: Nicholas Colasanto
Credited by: Richard Levinson & William Link
Background
Johnny Cash was born 90 years ago today on February 26, 1932. Following more than a decade and a half of country hits, the Man in Black riffed on his own image as the villainous guest star in the penultimate episode of Columbo‘s third season, airing just a week after his 42nd birthday. Continue reading
Walk the Line: Johnny Cash in Rockabilly White and Black
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line (2005)
Vitals
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, rising country rock star
Texarkana, Texas, Summer 1955
Film: Walk the Line
Release Date: November 18, 2005
Director: James Mangold
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Tailor: Pam Lisenby
Background
Eighty-nine years ago on February 26, 1932, J.R. Cash was born in Arkansas. His childhood was dominated by music, as there was little else to encourage the family enduring the hard years of the Depression made worse by a dangerous flood and the violent death of Jack, one of the seven Cash children. It was when he joined the military that the 18-year-old Cash expanded his first name as the Air Force wouldn’t allow just initials, though it wasn’t until cutting his first recording at Sun Records that he established the name that would become legendary: Johnny Cash. Continue reading
Johnny Cash in All Black (Walk the Line)
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line (2005).
Vitals
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, badass but troubled country rock musician
Los Angeles, January 1968
Film: Walk the Line
Release Date: November 18, 2005
Director: James Mangold
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Tailor: Pam Lisenby
Background
Columbia Exec: Your fans are church folk, Johnny. Christians. They don’t wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin’ to cheer ’em up.
Johnny Cash: Well, they’re not Christians, then.
The terrific 2005 biopic Walk the Line features a great scene of Cash rebooting his career as a prison performer (and reformer) when he confidently strides into Columbia Records and announces his plan to record an album live from Folsom Prison. He dudes himself up appropriately in all black and is the most self-assured as we’ve seen him throughout the film.
To honor Johnny Cash’s birthday (he would have been exactly 83 years old today), here’s a look at Joaquin Phoenix’s take on “the Man in Black”. Continue reading
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash at Folsom, 1968. Photographed by Jim Marshall.
Vitals
Johnny Cash, badass country rock musician (later played by Joaquin Phoenix in 2005’s Walk the Line)
Folsom, CA, January 1968
Background
46 years ago today, Johnny Cash made music history by recording a live album from inside the walls of Folsom State Prison. Although he wrote the song “Folsom Prison Blues” while serving in the Air Force in the early ’50s, it wasn’t until fifteen years later that he actually performed at the titular prison. Many don’t know that he had performed in prisons before, beginning with gigs at Huntsville State Prison in 1957 and at San Quentin on New Year’s Day 1958, but At Folsom Prison was the first album Cash released that was actually recorded from a live prison concert. By the time of his Folsom gig, he had actually served some jail time. Continue reading
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