New Photos of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison Surface

Photographer: 'John was really on the skids'
By Victoria Floethe,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 5, 2009 11:21 AM CST

Candid new photos of Johnny Cash during his famous 1968 appearance at Folsom Prison have been released by the reporter and photographer who accompanied him during the concert that turned his career around. "John was really on the skids" at the time, former reporter Gene Beley told the Sacramento Bee. Until recently, the only photographs believed to exist of Cash's 1968 prison concert were those commissioned by Columbia Records and included in the album he recorded there live.

The album At Folsom Prison and its signature song, Folsom City Blues, would save Cash's career. When Beley came back to Folsom to participate in a documentary marking the concert's 40th anniversary, he brought along one of his photographs as a gift to a retired correctional officer. Prints of his photo collection are now available at the prison museum and a shop in Billings, Mont.

For a slideshow of the Cash photos click the link below.
(More Johnny Cash stories.)

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