July 30: Johnny Cash recorded “Folsom Prison Blues” in 1955

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Folsom Prison looms large in Johnny Cash’s legacy, providing the setting for perhaps his definitive song and the location for his definitive album, At Folsom Prison. The ideal blend of mythmaking and gritty reality, At Folsom Prison is the moment when Cash turned into the towering Man in Black, a haunted troubadour singing songs of crime, conflicted conscience, and jail.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)
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Wikipedia:

Single by Johnny Cash
B-side So Doggone Lonesome
Released December 15, 1955
April 1968 (re-recording)
Format 7″ single
Recorded July 30, 1955Sun StudioMemphis, Tennessee
Genre Rockabilly, country blues, rock and roll
Length 2:50
Label Sun
Songwriter Johnny Cash
Producer Sam Phillips

Continue reading “July 30: Johnny Cash recorded “Folsom Prison Blues” in 1955″

1964: 20 Songs Released in 1964 You Must Hear





The Year 1964 world events

  • Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa (June 11).
  • Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attack US destroyers (Aug. 7).
  • Khrushchev is deposed; Kosygin becomes premier and Brezhnev becomes first secretary of the Communist Party (October).
  • China detonates its first atomic bomb.
  • Three civil rights workers—Schwerner, Goodman, and Cheney—murdered in Mississippi (June).
  • President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy issues Warren Report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

My rules:

  • Only one song per artist/group
  • The song must be released that specific year
  • Songs from live albums not allowed
  • Restricted to only 20 songs

  • The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll – Bob Dylan

    Bob Dylan_The times they are a changin
    A topical song written by the American musician Bob Dylan. Recorded on October 23, 1963, the song was released on Dylan’s 1964 album, The Times They Are a-Changin’ and gives a generally factual account of the killing of a 51-year-old barmaid, Hattie Carroll, by William Devereux “Billy” Zantzinger.

    William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
    With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
    At a Baltimore hotel society gath’rin’
    And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
    As they rode him in custody down to the station
    And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder
    But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
    Take the rag away from your face
    Now ain’t the time for your tears


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Sam Outlaw, Molly Jensen and Darling West – Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down

Sam Outlaw started his concert in Oslo last night with Silver Wings. It was a lovely hymn-like rendition in honor of Merle Haggard.

As an encore he asked the supporting act, Darling West , back on stage for another Merle Haggard song. This time a more of a celebration of Haggards contribution to music.

Sam Outlaw, Molly jensen and Darling West -Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down: Continue reading “Sam Outlaw, Molly Jensen and Darling West – Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down”

R.I.P. Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard passed away today.

Merle Haggard, who over six decades composed and performed one of the greatest repertoires in country music, capturing the American condition with his stories of the poor, the lost, the working class, heartbroken and hard-living, died at his home in California, his spokeswoman Tresa Redburn confirmed. He died today, his 79th birthday.
~rollingstone.com

“By the time you get close to the answers, it’s nearly all over.”
– Merle Haggard

Yesterday’s wine, yesterday’s wine
We’re Aging with time, like yesterday’s wine
– Merle Haggard

Memories and drinks don’t mix too well.
– Merle Haggard

Sing me back home – live in 2009:

Sing me back home with a song I used to hear
Make my old memories come alive
Take me away and turn back the years
Sing Me Back Home before I die

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