ICONS
I
THE ALBUM
t took Columbia four months to release ‘At
Folsom Prison’. The focus at the time was on
pop stars, cash cows of their time, so
Columbia initially invested very little in the
album or the first single ‘Folsom Prison Blues’.
Despite a relative lack of interest from the record
label, the album was released and the single
charted on the Billboard Hot 100 on 25th May,
1968. It hit a snag on its way to a high of number
32 and the top spot on the country music charts
however, when Sirhan Sirhan assassinated
Senator Robert F. Kennedy the following month.
‘Folsom Prison Blues’ fell off of radio playlists due to
the ever-controversial line: “I shot a man in Reno,
just to watch him die.” Although Cash himself
protested, the single was remixed and re-released
minus the line in question. The single prompted
the album’s further rise up the charts peaking at
number 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and
number 13 on the Pop Albums chart. By August of
the same year it was certified gold by the Recording
Industry Association of America.