Folsom Prison Blues is a song by Johnny Cash, first released as a single on December 15, 1955 and recorded July 30, 1955 at Sun Studio in Memphis - produced by Sam Phillips. Cash wrote the lyrics, drawing on Gordon Jenkins’s 1953 Crescent City Blues, and later settled a dispute over the melody. The song blends train and prison song traditions and features Cash’s distinctive in-studio sound, with no drummer and a dollar bill used to mimic a snare drum. It appeared on the album Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! in 1957 as track 11, and is widely regarded as one of Cash’s signature tunes. The famous line I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die is a centerpiece of the lyric.
A live version recorded at Folsom Prison on January 13, 1968 for the album At Folsom Prison became a country chart-topping hit and won Cash a 1969 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. The live performance helped revive his career and reinforced his connection to prison reform and the American folk and country traditions. The song is generally classed as country, rockabilly, and rock and roll.
