Johnny Cash – Cocaine Blues

I apologize for the long message, if your not a big Johnny Cash fan then don’t bother reading any further, however, if you are a big Johnny Cash fan then you will love this story. I took the time writing this post (and fact checking everything to insure that every single word is true) for true fans if Johnny, I’m a huge a fan and I still remember when I read this in his book. Its a great story and tells you not just how great of a performer Johnny was but most of all how good if a human he was! I hope you enjoy!

In Johnny’s book he goes into great detail with regard to how hard it was to get his record company on board with his idea to not just perform at Folsom prison but to also record a live record of the concert. One of the “suit’s” that worked at the record company said something to the effect that while Clapton & several other performers had switched from playing an acoustic guitar to an electric guitar and if John didn’t switch to an electric guitar he was going to lose whatever fans he had left. That it would be career suicide to perform at a prison, let alone record an album. His fans were good Christian folks that didn’t wanna hear him singing to a bunch of convicts in a prison. His response was ” then I guess they ain’t Christian’s now are they”? It was at the moment that he realized that if he was going to put record a record at Folsom not only would he have to pay for the entire project out of his own pocket he would also be in breech of his contact and could possibly lose (and did when he was fired for breech of contract) millions of dollars over a ten year period. This was in 1968 when (according to the United States treasury’s website) 1 million dollars in 1968 is approximately 7.2 million in 2019, a shit load of cash (no pun intended)! He was so confident (rightfully so) in his ability to perform and that the record would be a success he decided to roll the dice and go for it. To call the album a success would be a gigantic understatement! Johnny Cash and the Tennessee three would go on to be the best selling record he ever did. Johnny Cash live in Folsom Prison would go triple Platinum selling over 3 million copies and forever etching Johnny Cash right we’re he should be, one of the greatest performs in history!