Once upon a time, performers used to visit prisons and put on a concert for the inmates. One of the best and well known of these events can be found on Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969). Cash sings a few of his hits–“I Walk the Line” and “A Boy Named Sue”–along with some other crowd pleasers. The biggest cheer comes when Cash sings “Folsom Prison Blues” with the line “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”. This is a classic album and still holds up 50+ years later. GRADE: A
B. B. King at San Quentin (1990) has a different vibe. King projects a calming influence to the audience and mixes blues with some uplifting songs. I suppose the inmates at San Quentin might interpret “The Thrill is Gone” a little differently than you and I would.
I have a number of B. B. King CDs and B. B. King at San Quentin features King at the top of his game. GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
| Wanted Man | 4:02 | ||
| Wreck Of The Old 97 | 3:19 | ||
| I Walk The Line | 2:14 | ||
| Darling Companion | 7:08 | ||
| Starkville City Jail | 2:06 | ||
| San Quentin | 4:08 | ||
| San Quentin | 3:05 | ||
| A Boy Named Sue | 3:50 | ||
| (There’ll Be) Peace In The Valley | 2:37 | ||
| Folsom Prison Blues | 1:32 |
TRACK LIST:
| A1 | B.B. King Intro Written-By – B.B. King | 1:56 | |
| A2 | Let The Good Times Roll Written-By – F. Moore*, S. Theard | 5:08 | |
| A3 | Every Day I Have The Blues Written-By – Peter Chatman | 4:42 | |
| A4 | Whole Lotta Loving Written-By – Dave Bartholomew, Fats Domino | 3:26 | |
| A5 | Sweet Little Angel Written-By – B.B. King, J. Taub | 3:12 | |
| A6 | Never Make A Move Too Soon Written-By – Stix Hooper*, Will Jennings | 7:51 | |
| A7 | Into The Night Written-By – Ira Newborn | 4:28 | |
| B1 | Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness Written-By – Everett Robbins, Porter Grainger | 5:00 | |
| B2 | The Thrill Is Gone Written-By – R. Darnell*, R. Hawkins | 6:28 | |
| B3 | Peace To The World Written-By – Trade Martin | 3:52 | |
| B4 | Nobody Loves Me But My Mother Written-By – B.B. King | 11:10 | |
| B5 | Sweet Sixteen Written-By – B.B. King, Joe Josea | 3:29 | |
| B6 | Rock Me Baby Written-By – B.B. King, Joe Josea | 3:25 |
To be able to see concerts like those, I’d commit a crime.
Jerry, I wouldn’t go that far, but I enjoyed these two prison albums!
I’ve had a CD of the Cash recording for 20 years or so and it’s fantastic. Certainly one of the best concert albums I’ve ever heard. I actually remember television commercials advertising it when it was first released back in 1968, around the same time he had his television show. It was a very big deal from the get go.
Byron, Johnny Cash was a big star in the late 1960s. His TV show had 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969, to March 31, 1971, on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No. 17 in the Nielsen ratings in 1970 which was good for a variety show.
Cash and King were comparable geniuses, and men of compassion, as well.
A goofy sketch could be entitled “Cash is King”…but in terms of their impact, in the years in which rock and MOR pop often outsold country and r&b, they were among the most deservedly popular artists. One of my favorite albums by Cash is a collection of train songs, including the Folsom Prison Concert performance of “Folsom Prison Blues” that was commissioned from Columbia Special Products as a giveaway at Victoria Station restaurants. It’s a fine album even given those unlikely specs.
Todd, I think I have that rain CD around here somewhere. I’ll have to dig it up.
Love the Cash album. I see B.B. does one of my favorites, “Nobody Loves Me But My Mother (And She Could Be Lying Too).” We first saw him live at the Fillmore East ca. 1969, and last about 2010-12 at Radio City Music Hall, with Rev. Al Green.
I don’t have the San Quentin concert, but I used to have a vinyl copy of King’s 1970 LIVE IN COOK COUNTY JAIL.
Jeff, the current crop of performers seem to have little interest in performing in prisons. I’ll have to see if I can find my copy of B. B. King’s LIVE IN COOK COUNTY JAIL.
One correction to my addition: it was “But she Could Be Jivin’ Too,” not “Lying” as I said.
I heard the Cash album so long ago they still had only two genders! A lot of people think Johnny Cash spent hard time behind bars, but the truth is he only had short one-night stays in local lockups, IIRC, for petty offenses!
Bob, Bill Crider told me his father took him to a Johnny Cash concert in the late 1950s and Cash was drunk the entire performance.
Never heard of B.B. King. Have heard Johny Cash though. His ‘One’ is marvellous.
Neeru, B. B. King is a blues guitarist. I highly recommend his song, “The Thrill is Gone.”
If you have it on a non-home-“burnt” CD, it’s probably his “legit” train album.
Here’s DESTINATION VICTORIA STATION the LP: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTkNaeGE5cwtSPfJa6e0-bCtvX4nFzJJI
Here’s RIDE THIS TRAIN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wlMM-pDaVA&list=PL99XOvNMlFfg24tCXBZg-8ZhA37QQ4AP3