Walking a Hard Line: Cash's Folsom Prison DVD

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YOU KNOW ABOUT THE Elvis '68 comeback special, but you may not remember that another man in black had a comeback show earlier that year. There weren't any TV cameras on hand for it, but the new two-CD/one-DVD set "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition" (Columbia/Legacy) captures Cash at his most relevant, if perhaps not at his peak.

Though he'd never done hard time, 1955's "Folsom Prison Blues" made inmates think he was one of them, and Cash's haunting, damaged face further bolstered his outlaw rep. But after a few years, he had his own downfall, turning to pills and booze (watch the 1965 clip of him on Pete Seeger's TV show) and, as June Carter helped clean him up, Cash opted to restart his career and publicize the plight of inmates by doing a live prison recording.

Two recordings, to be exact. Disc one is the morning concert that would become the album "At Folsom Prison," while disc two is the heretofore unreleased afternoon concert. Both are the uncut shows, complete with announcements and unissued tracks, plus onstage partner in crime Carl Perkins doing "Blue Suede Shoes." It's all much rawer than the scenes in "Walk the Line."

The CDs largely speak for themselves, though it's worth noting the inmates clap and yell the loudes in "25 Minutes to Go," when the condemned narrator spits in the sherriff's eye. The concert's photographer notes on the DVD that if Cash had told them to follow him and bust out, they'd have done it.

The DVD veers between HBO biopic (in the too-slick opening graphics) and "Scared Straight" special, though the footage of Cash's boyhood town is brilliant: a cotton-picking machine and empty case of beer standing as the only evidence of the 20th century. But the scene-stealer may be musician and former son-in-law Marty Stuart as he looks at the famous group photo of Cash, Elvis, Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, and remarks that they "were all just misplaced preachers."

Written by Express contributor Paul Stelter
Photo courtesy Legacy/Sony BMG