Today in History - January 13: Down-and-out musician becomes an icon inside maximum security prison
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."
With those words, a down-and-out outlaw country musician relaunched his career and cemented his status as an icon.
And he did it from inside a maximum security prison.
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Johnny Cash recorded his most famous album in front of a crowd of hardened criminals at the maximum-security Folsom Prison on January 13, 1968. AP
January 13, 1968, was the day Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison, in front of an audience of inmates at the eponymous penitentiary.
Cash became a breakout star years before, in part due to his 1955 song Folsom Prison Blues which was a single on his debut album.
Commercial success followed as he toured the US, with songs such as Walk The Line and Ring Of Fire bringing Cash's distinctive voice to millions.
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But things began to fall apart by the mid-1960s, with Cash increasingly turning to drugs.
He sought help and got clean in 1967, and sought a way to revitalise his ailing career.
Cash had performed at prisons before, but had a strong interest in doing so at Folsom, and thanks to his early song, he had received multiple letters from inmates suggesting he do just that.
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Cash supposedly developed an interest in Folsom Prison while watching a film set there during his enlistment in the US Air Force. US Army Air Force
As chance would have it, 1967 also saw the maverick Bob Johnston installed at the head of country music at Cash's label, Columbia Records, and he enthusiastically backed the idea.
Supported by fellow musicians Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, his longtime band The Tennessee Three, and fellow singer and future wife June Carter, Cash recorded two performances in front of a hollering audience of inmates on January 13, 1968.
He later said At Folsom Prison was the album that turned things around for him and, as he'd desired, relaunched his career.
It reached gold-selling status after its initial release and went triple platinum by 2003, staying popular across generations.
In 2018, 15 years after Cash's death, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
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