What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHNNY CASH "johnny cash at folsom prison" cd,1968.

probably my favourite "live" album ever....recorded live at Folsom Prison in front of an audience of rapists,murderers,paedophiles,armed robbers etc etc...
the atmosphere and electricity in the hall are all present on the album....
the album came about after Johnny had hit an all-time low both in his personal and proffessional life. personal, because he had failed to woo June Carter into marrying him,his drug and alcohol abuse was at an all time high,infact he had tried to commit suicide only months previously by entering a cave in Arkansas with as many drugs as he could carry...he decided enough was enough and sought to end it...
proffessionally because, sales of Cash records had tanked,his record company were on the verge of dumping him...
so after he survived his attempted suicide he went to the recording executives and told them he should be allowed to record a prison concert album as they were always good shows...
the record exec's finally agreed and so this one was recorded.
No stranger to performing behind bars(cash had done it since the late 1950s) he was pumped...
when he got to Folsom for the show the Warden told him he didnt want him doing songs of murder,incarceration,drugs etc etc because "the inmates dont need to be reminded of where they are,they need to escape reality for a while"....Cash's response to the Warden was "how can they forget theyre in this shithole"...the warden was not impressed, and in true Johnny Cash style, he changes the entire set list on the spot to sing songs about subjects that the Warden told him not to...
so what we have here is a collection of live tracks that not only the inmates could relate to but also ones they could,with Johnny, have some lighthearted banter over inbetween the songs....

so all up, an album that every serious music lover should own,showing just how musicians can become "one" with their audience if they actually hold out a hand of friendship instead of the hand of "greed and money!"

from the album

cocaine blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMACDEwr-nE audio

25 minutes to go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLsjCLF_CtM audio

greystone chapel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ub3RiVLO4I audio