Why did Johnny Cash play live at Folsom Prison?

Johnny Cash had first written the song Folsom Prison Blues while stationed in the United States Air Force in 1953 (after watching the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison.) As Cash's musical career took off, his outlaw persona was formed amidst bad-boy antics and occasional arrests. read more

Johnny Cash performed at Folsom Prison to prove a point. He believed that prisoners deserved to be saved in any way, shape, or form. And that's what Johnny Cash did. He saved them all in almost every possible way that someone could be saved. But he didn't use violence to save these people. He used music. read more

The song that started the prison obsession for Johnny Cash was his own “Folsom Prison Blues.” Written in 1953 while Cash was serving in Germany with the US Air Force, it was inspired by the 1951 film, Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison. Two years later, Cash recorded the song for the Sun Records label in Memphis. read more

At Folsom Prison is a live album and 27th overall album by Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in May 1968. After his 1955 song"Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in recording a performance at a prison. read more