New Johnny Cash Folsom Prison Photos Surface

My hometown has made the national country music scene...

Anyone who has seen the movie Walk The Line knows that Johnny Cash's famous concert at Folsom State Prison marked a turning point in the entertainer's career. The resulting album, "At Folsom Prison," and its signature song, "Folsom Prison Blues," have led many people to believe that Cash experienced life behind those gray stone walls, said Jim Brown, a retired correctional officer and operations manager of the Retired Correctional Peace Officers Museum at Folsom Prison. Until recently, Brown said, all he could offer were the photos included with a CD of the concert.

But due to 28-year old photographer named Gene Beley's lucky encounter with the famous singer, the public now has access to several new photographs of Cash at the prison including an 18-by-24-inch print of the singer standing in front of the prison's east gate.

According to Cathy Locke in the Sacramento Bee today:

"Beley said Columbia Records had hired a photographer for the concert, and when Beley and Poush arrived at the prison, record company officials forbade them to take pictures. But Cash overheard the conversation and intervened, saying "These are my friends," and telling them they could photograph whatever they wished.

The concert and record album changed the course of Cash's career. The live version of "Folsom Prison Blues" became a Top 40 hit.

Cash also married June Carter, who had performed with him at Folsom Prison and helped him overcome his drug abuse.

"It was like God grabbing him by the lapel and pulling him back up on top," said Beley, who continued to cover Cash's concerts for several years.

In later years, Beley tried, as a freelance writer, to interest publications in stories about Gressett and Kelley's role in arranging the Folsom Prison concert. He found no takers. But the night Cash died in 2003, Beley said, newspapers and magazines began calling him.

Beley said he and Poush, now a commercial photographer in Lake Oswego, Ore., combined their copyrighted photo collections and decided it was time to offer selections to the public. Currently, he said, the photos taken at Folsom Prison are available only at the prison museum and a shop in Billings, Mont."