About this Artist

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Editorial Reviews

This twofer package, comprised of one album cut at a 1968 concert at Folsom Prison and a follow-up recorded at San Quentin in 1969, cemented the Man in Black's image as a great live performer and as a champion of the underdog. Leaning heavily on a crime-riddled repertoire, Cash played directly to the inmates' fears and passions. Besides prison-oriented tales like "Folsom Prison Blues," "Cocaine Blues," "25 Minutes to Go," "The Wall," and "I Got Stripes," Cash revs up the crowd with his rowdy hit, "A Boy Named Sue" (in its first public performance, with Cash reading from a lyric sheet and his Carl Perkins-led band crafting on-the-spot instrumental support) and soothes them with the yearning "I Still Miss Someone." Perceiving Cash as one of their own (which he is, at least in sympathy; his own run-ins with the law have been wildly overstated), the prisoners respond with gusto to his humorous chiding of prison officials and to his "no harm, no foul" attitude toward, say, oddball behavior. He in turn treats them as equals, and the resulting performer-audience chemistry produces an edgy ambiance that makes these among the best live albums ever recorded. Bob Cannon, Barnes & Noble

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