Listen to Doc Watson Cover “Folsom Prison Blues” in 1975

Hear Watson's unique Appalachian take on a Johnny Cash classic.

Music Features Doc Watson
Listen to Doc Watson Cover “Folsom Prison Blues” in 1975

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Doc Watson emerged as one of America’s premiere folk guitarists in the early 1950s, right around the time a young Air Force officer named Johnny Cash became inspired to write a song called “Folsom Prison Blues,” based on a 1951 movie called Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison. Two decades later, Watson had been lifted to prominence in part by the booming American folk revival, and Cash was a global country-music star. So there’s a certain synergy in this 1975 recording of Watson putting his unique Appalachian spin on Cash’s most famous song (or one of them, anyway).

Check out our exclusive recording of Doc Watson’s “Folsom Prison Blues” cover from April 24, 1975, below.

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