Level: 2/3
Tuning: Standard

Sun Records released "Folsom Prison Blues" in 1955 and it went to #5 on the country charts. It was Cash's re-working of "Crescent City Blues," recorded a few years earlier by Beverly Maher. In 1968, Cash's album recorded "Live in Folsom Prison" topped the country and pop charts. The tune is in the 12-bar blues form, though it's stretched out to 24 bars. The thumb plays an alternating bass throughout this key-of-E arrangement, and the chords are all in the first few frets during the vocal. The solo is a fingerpicking version of what Cash's lead guitarist, Luther Perkins played, and it takes you up the neck to a three-finger E chord at the 7th fret. Notice the banjo-type roll with a descending bass line during the B7 (toward the end of the solo), and the bluesy ending figure, a simulation of Luther Perkins' ending lick.