The Folsom Prison Gang

Hello! We're the Folsom Prison Gang...

Welcome to the Folsom Prison Gang blog. News and updates from the band will appear hear as well as summaries of our public performances. Please post any comments or contributions you have to the posts.

Mayfest - Rutherfordton, North Carolina

Mayfest is on the first Saturday in May every year; and every year it seems to rain during the festival. This year was no exception. So while it was raining for much of the festival there were a few breaks in the weather. Lucky for us, there was a break in the rain for our first performance. We were not so lucky for the second performance on the main stage:

We always have a lot of fun performing regardless of the weather and appreciate all of the people who braved the weather to watch the show.

Both performances went very well from our (the band) perspective. It was so nice to see so many people enjoying the music. Even the young kids (toddlers) and teenages were tapping their feet and enjoying the music.

Remember that we will be performing again next weekend in Rutherford county at the old Union Mills school. Check the calendar section of the website for the specifics. You can also take a look at the media section for pictures from the Mayfest event.

Thanks again to all of the people who came out to the event! If you were there, leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of the show.

Regards,

The Band...

May 12th - Union Mills Performance

Thank you to all of the folks who came out to see the show on May 12th at the old Union Mills school. Everyone in the band had a great time and enjoyed the performance. Audience feedback afterward the show was very good and we sure do appreciate all of the kind words from everyone.

We did slip in a new song at this performance (new to us). We have been working to expand our set list since the Mayfest show and started working on new songs during the previous week. On the night of the show we felt good enough to play 'I Got Stripes' for everyone. You can hear this one as well as many more additions to our setlist at our next scheduled show which is currently scheduled for June 30th and Barley's Taproom in Spindale. We hope to see you there!

Thanks again for the great time at Union Mills!

Regards,

The Band...

Coon Dog Day 2007

The town of Saluda, established in 1881, is a quaint mountain town located in the hills of Western North Carolina. The history culture and scenery of Saluda make it a popular place to visit year round. Most of the band members visit Saluda throughout the year as it is located on a scenic highway (176) which is one of many popular biker routes in the region. If you've ever been through there before, you know it's a great place to stop for lunch or dinner. With restaurants like the Green River BBQ and the Purple Onion in town it's a great place to take a break on a day of riding. If you've never stopped before, you need to. Performing in Saluda yesterday was enjoyable for the entire band and we already look forward to a repeat performance next year.

Lots of people came out for the festival this year. The kind comments we received from many of the folks were very much appreciated. We tried to fit in as many Johnny Cash hits as we could within the two hours we had to perform. Hopefully we played some of your favorites! A big thanks to everyone who came out to listen and dance during the show. It is always nice to perform and see the audience having such a good time.

We hope to see everyone again at Coon Dog Day Festival, 2008!

Oakboro Cruise-In

Oakboro has a good thing going on with their regualr cruise-in's, hosted the 4th Friday of each month. The cars that show up for this event are unbelievable! Anybody with an appreciation for cars, motorcycles, monster trucks, and of course classics would absolutely love this event. There were more cars than we had time to look at parked up and down both sides of Main Street. But here, where crusin' is still legal one Friday a month, you don't have to walk up and down the street to see everything. Just bring your camp chair and get comfortable in one spot and watch the cars come cruising by. One of my favorites had to be the flame car, not just the paint job with the flames along side, this one has real fire shooting out the tailpipes. Now that's entertainment! At the end of the event is the burn-out which is unreal. We noticed the burn-out as a large cloud of smoke drifted across Main Street while we were breaking down our equipment. We finished loading up and walked over to the burn-out area just in time to see a truck blow out his tires. The crowd of spectators cheared as the loud boom echoed through town. Call it crazy, but there is something very cool about this event. The kids loved seeing and hearing the cars rev up and smoke their tires.

A lot of people walked over to see our performance and hung out listenting to some of our all time favorite Johnny Cash tunes. We played right in the middle of town in the Sun Trust parking lot overlooking all of the beautiful cars that were cruisin' down main steet. We met a young man who is also a huge Cash fan, hopefully The Folsom Prison Gang now has a new fan too.

A big thank you to the town of Oakboro for having us. We sure enjoyed being a part of the fun and would love to come back and do it again sometime. Y'all have a great cruise-in, something Oakboro can be proud of!

Barley's Taproom

It was nice to have an indoor gig after playing several outdoor shows. The outdoor shows are fun and we do enjoy them, but it is the summer, and we are in the South. Need I say more? Barley's Taproom is comfortable and climate controlled. Four of the five band members call Rutherford County home and frequent Barley's for the great food and variety of beers available on tap. Barley's Taproom has other locations in Asheville, NC and Greenville, SC so they were a much anticipated and welcomed addition to the resturants in our area. We were extremely pleased to have the opportunity to play there.

The patrons at Barley's were a wonderful crowd and we appreciated everyone who came out for the show. As with all shows we put on, we hope we hit the right balance. It's always a challenge when selecting Johnny Cash tunes for a set list; from a library of over 1,400 songs spanning a period of 50 years, we do our best to mix up the fast with the slow, the rockabilly with the dark ballad just like Cash did over his lifetime. To say that Cash's fan base is diverse is an understatement. As an artist, he can't be catagorized into a single type, style, or genre of music. He's simply "Cash" and you either get it, or you don't. We're happy to see a lot of people get it. With fans ranging in age from toddler to senior citizens we're honored to perform his music, music that relates to the people young and old.

Once again we'd like to thank the staff at Barley's for their support and help with the show. A special thanks to Mark for inviting us and to Tiffany for being the best waitress of the evening! You rock! We can't wait to come back and play again.

Matthews Alive!

What a festival! Historic Downtown Matthews, NC really knows how to host an event. The Matthews Alive Festival held each Labor Day Weekend is making a difference in their local community by hosting a fantastic and informative fundraising festival that offers something for everyone. From arts and crafts at the "Kids Connection" to exhibits, food vendors, and merchants there is something for everyone. Of course there are the expected carnival rides and activities but with FOUR entertainment stages; you really can't do it all. The festival patrons that show up by the masses for this event certainly have a lot to choose from and we sincerely thank those who chose to come and watch The Folsom Prison Gang. From our "small band" perspective coming from the hills of Western North Carolina, this event ranked right up there as one of our favorites and we're honored to have performed last night. Everything was well organized and coordinated; the event staff were very helpful and do a fantastic job putting on this event. The sound system and supporting sound engineers were AWESOME! Thank you! We really had a great time during the show and can't thank the town of Matthews enough for having us.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out for the show. The crowd was wonderful and we could tell there were many Cash fans in the audience. We hope that we played some of your favorite tunes. (I know, "Ring of Fire", "Ring of Fire", we finally got that one in for you). Please let us know if we missed any of your favorites so we can consider adding them to our set list. It's nice to see some familiar faces at another show so thanks to the Johnny Cash fans who love what we do and come out to support us in paying tribute to The Man in Black. A special thanks to Mayor Myers for introducing The Folsom Prison Gang on the Lowe's Main Stage. It was an honor to be there and perform just before the headliner, Hot Sauce. We hope to be back again next year!

Charlotte Oktoberfest

The Charlotte Oktoberfest has got to be one of the best events in the southeast. I think it's the coolest party in North Carolina, for sure! The music, the food and the BEER...everything was outstanding. We were one of the bands invited to perform at this event so we're probably biased about the great music but based upon the audience response, I think everyone enjoyed all of the bands. The Oktoberfest organizers did a great job on this event. A party isn't a party without music and live music makes a world of difference. The other two bands at the festival, The Moonshine Racers and Baby Black, both put on great shows too. The stage and sound were perfect for an outdoor event. A good time was had by all!

An Oktoberfest just wouldn't be an Oktoberfest without the beer. The beers at this event were simply incredible. The variety, quality and quantity available to sample were almost overwhelming. It was a lot of fun trying to sample them all :)!

Regarding the performance of The Folsom Prison Gang, as always, we tried to get in as many songs as we could in the amount of time we have to play, hopefully we got in some of your favorites. Thanks again to the festival organizers for the invite, we really enjoyed the show! We're already looking forward to the 10th annual event in 2008.

Danke! Sehen Sie Sie folgendes Jahr.

Mountain Glory Festival

The Mountain Glory Festival in Marion was blessed with perfect weather this year. It was a perfect Carolina Autumn day and the "welcoming fall" theme of the festival was felt throughout the entire event. It certainly helped to bring people out...There were a lot of folks enjoying the festival this year.

We sure did enjoy being a part of this featival and would like to thank the town of Marion of inviting us to perform. Thanks to everyone who came out for the show and for the great comments afterwards.

We hope to see everyone at another show!

The Folsom Prison Gang on Television

The Gang had the honor and unique opportunity of appearing on television, December 19th 2007. WGGS; channel 16 of Greenville, South Carolina, invited us on for a special holiday acoustic show hosted by Capt. O.A. Fish of North Carolina.

With a scaled back version of our band, minus our drummer and bass player for this acoustic show, we performed a couple of songs throughout the two hour live broadcast and spent some time talking with Capt. Fish. The interview and sharing segment was a new experience for us. Sitting down and being interviewed, instead of performing, is not something a band like ours typically gets to do. It was a great opportunity for us to discuss the influence that Johnny Cash has had on our lives and why we chose to start a Cash tribute band. WGGS is a Dove Broadcasting, Inc. Christian television station so discussions obviously drifted toward the religious influences of Johnny Cash. Nobody in the band personally knew Johnny Cash, so we are careful not to speak for him, but it is obvious through his creative work that Cash had deep religious convictions. Through his music, books and movies, Johnny Cash was able to reach out to many people. I think most everyone can relate to the "sinner turned saint" perspective he portrayed in his lifes work. We believe that Cash gave hope to the hopeless and reached many people that society had given up on. His prison concerts, a subtle form of prison evangelism, provided hope with a sense of caring for those who needed it most. The Folsom Prison Gang is not an "impersonation" band, we just want to do Johnny proud by continuing to bring his great lyrics, music, and universal message of redemption to people of all ages.

Cash publicly testified to the power of God's healing grace, if you have any doubt or would like to learn more about his religious convictions, The Folsom Prison Gang recommends that you pick up a copy of his book titled, "The Man in White", or watch the DVD, "The Gospel Road", directed by Robert Elfstrom, narrated by Johnny, and starring himself along with his wife, June Carter Cash. Both projects provide straight talk with no compromises, since both are told by Johnny Cash, would you expect anything less?

Pocomoke City

The Rotary Club of Pocomoke City, Maryland, hosted a fund raising event at the local Elk's Club and invited The Folsom Prison Gang to Perform.

First off, I have to say that the Gang had a great time getting to this show. The nine hour drive to Pocomoke City provided an opportunity for some great band bonding. We have never travelled over/under the engineering marvel that is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel before so that was also really cool! We were a little concerned early in the day about people braving the snow to come out for this event. We were told that east of the Bay, heavy snow is not very common and the fact that it started snowing before 12:00 noon, had us anticipating a small turn out for this event. Where we come from, in the south, the little snow we get each year makes people go out and buy their fair share of milk, bread and eggs and then hunker down for the next eight hours. However, the people who support the Rotary Club of Pocomoke City, Maryland are hard core and showed their support of this event whole heartedly! Subsequently, there were about 150 people who showed up to participate in this event and enjoy an evening of great food, drinks and Johnny Cash music. Since we were the only band performing we supplied all the backline PA's, lighting and sound. While the audience is the ultimate judge of the performance, we think it went over very well, and a good time was had by all.

One of the biggest fans of the show was Jimmy Cash (yeah...that's his real name). Jimmy is a huge Cash fan and when not busy in the "member's only" area of the club could be seen at the back of the room singing along with the band. As you can imagine, the GOT CASH? t-shirts went over well with him and his family. Thanks for the round Jimmy, it was very much appreciated! We really enjoyed the people of Pocomoke City and their hospitality.

A huge thank you to all who braved the snow to come out, see the show and support the Rotary Club!

Sticky Fingers

Sticky Fingers, located in the heart of downtown Greenville at 1 South Main Street, Greenville SC, is a perfect location for great food and drinks in a relaxed atmosphere in the middle of all the action. It's easy to see that in this busy metropolitan city, there's always something going on, the town comes to life in the evenings and on weekends. The main street in downtown Greenville provides a fantastic family atmosphere, filled with coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, theaters, concert halls all along the beautiful spacious sidewalks complete with little white lights in the trees. Take a carriage ride through the city, see a play or concert, but don't miss the full flavor of Greenville available at "Sticky Fingers Rib House".

As we began the night, the atmosphere and the friendly staff made us feel welcome and right at home. Many folks in the dinner crowd were out celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. We enjoyed the audience and patrons who came out to have a great meal and listen to some of Johnny Cash's biggest hits. It's always really fun when the crowd gets into the music, and this evening was no exception, with impromptu dancing and most people singing along to the lyrics of their favorite CASH song.

To the staff of Sticky Fingers Rib House, including the "Sticky Girls" keeping a dance groove at the door, and to all those who came to see us last night, we had a great time. We loved your restaurant and the whole downtown area. It's one of the best little cities we have ever played. Thanks again and we look forward to coming back to the area. We had a blast.

Moonshine Mountain

What a facility! Moonshine Mountain Snow Tubing Park & Indian Mining Adventure is the #1 Snow Tubing Park in the Southeast! Where else can you put a train of 20 people together to fly down a snow covered mountain? Folks came out by the masses to enjoy one of the last weekends of the season. Despite the warmer weather, Moonshine Mountain still had about 8 feet of snow on the hill. It was a blast to set up on the porch balcony facing the endless stream of tubes flying down the hill in organized chaos; a few of which were even kids of the band members.

Many made Moonshine Mountain their birthday destination this year so we got to shout out to them and get the crowd involved in helping us to sing "Happy Birthday".

It turned out to be a beautiful day. A big thanks to our host, Ole' Bob and his family, for inviting us out to perform. The Gang is scheduled to return to Moonshine Moutain for a 4th of July celebration and we are certainly looking forward to it. In the middle of summer, the massive mound of snow on the hill will be a distant memory, however there will still be plenty to do, from putt-putt to mining to helicopter rides there's something for everyone at Moonshine Mountain. We had a great time and look forward to playing again soon.

The Carolina Theatre

Wow and thank you! Those are our thoughts after the show last night at the Carolina Theatre.

What else can be said about this fantastic location and enthusiastic audience? They were incredible! A big thank you to those who are involved in restoring this landmark gem and are also incredible hosts, Millie, Melissa, Bob and Davis just to name a few. The band is simply speechless after performing on a stage that was shared by such greats as The Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline, and Hank Snow. We can't get over this venue. It's perfect for "roots" music and music of legends. Carolina Theatre has constructed a wood floor right in front of the stage where many locals shared their clogging talent. If you've ever spent some time in the hills of western North Carolina, you're already well aware of the talented mountain folks, if not, come visit and see this traditional dancing for yourself. It's great fun both for those that enjoy dancing and for those lucky enough to observe.

The Carolina Theatre is one of those historical buildings from yesteryear that absolutely needs to be preserved, restored and maintained. The people of Spruce Pine that have taken on this project, are, in the eyes of this band, doing a first class job at their efforts to return this historical theatre to its original splendor. It was an honor to perform there last night and we are truly thankful for the opportunity. We're already discussing a return of The Folsom Prison Gang to Carolina Theatre in the near future and we're truly excited about that prospect.

The Carolina Theatre has some great acts lined up for you this year and we HIGHLY recommend that you come and check them out while you support their restoration efforts.

Also a big thanks to Brandon Bailey for running sound for us. You are a true professional and a great sound engineer. Brandon is also involved in many other musical projects, one of which he shared with us is a CD he recently performed much of the music on and produced, "Riddle Me a Song, A Tribute to Lesley Riddle" a Burnsville, NC native. The CD has only been out about a month and it's already a classic. You need to add this to your collection. Spruce Pine, a small town in the mountains of western North Carolina, making a big difference and impact on the local community. Visit Spruce Pine and tell them The Folsom Prison Gang sent ya!

The Sylvia Theater

Performing in a theater is a real treat for the band, especially when the weather outside is either too hot or too cold. If you've spent anytime in the Carolinas you know that February and March can be quite unpredictable. Here it was March 8th and there was an ice storm in the morning with very cool temperatures all day. Besides escaping from inclement weather, an indoor venue like Sylvia Theater, creates a controlled sound and light environment which can really enhance the overall experience for the audience.

The Sylvia Theater is a special place nestled away in York, South Carolina, that is definitely worth the trip. It is a single screen theater with a stage behind the screen for live performances. Every one of the 200+ seats in the house is a good seat, including the balcony and lounge type seating available. It's one of those places where you can see your favorite artist or band up close and personal. The house sound system is great and Jim Gladden (the house sound engineer) does an excellent job running the board and keeping the mix perfect. Jim...if you happen to read this blog post...thanks again for the terrific sound!

A big thanks to Paul Finnican, not only for inviting us to perform, but for his love of music and dedication to restoring the Sylvia Theater for future music lovers to enjoy. Support the theater by going to the show and heading out to hear live music when you can. We'd like to see Sylvia Theater around for another 100 years! A big thanks to all those who came out for the show last night, we had a good time and hope you enjoyed the show!

Martin Lawing Benefit Concert

Last night The Folsom Prison Gang had the honor and privledge of performing at a benefit concert for Officer Martin Lawing. Martin Lawing was shot and paralyzed by a shot fired by a barricaded subject when Officer Lawing attempted to deploy a "thow phone" into the home of the subject. Martin was hit in the neck. He is currently undergoing physical therapy in Atlanta for his injury. Robert Beall, the singer in The Folsom Prison Gang, is also an Officer for the Burke County Sheriff's Office and was with Officer Lawing the night of the incident. So of course all of us in the band wanted to help out any way that we could. We were so thankful to be given the opportunity to perform at this event and to help contribute to the fund that has been setup to assist Officer Lawing, his wife and 2 year old child. It was, and continutes to be, a very humbling and comforting feeling to see how a community and group of people come together to help one of their own.

As for the show, it went very well for us and we appreciate all of the people that donated their time and talents to host the event as well as those who braved the weather to come out and support the event. The other band performing, Midnight Ramblin', was awesome. We had a great time performing with them and thank them for having us up on stage at the end of their set to finish out the night. They are a great group of guys and we look forward to playing with them again in the future. As it turns out, it's not that far into the future as we are both scheduled to perform at the Livermush festival in Marion, June 6th. We look forward to seeing them again.

Last night after the show, the event organizers kept thanking us for performing at the event and helping out by putting on this show for free, all we can say is no, Thank You! Thank you for asking us to be part of this event and providing us with a way to help out. We would glady do this again anytime. Until that time, we will continue to pray for Martin and his family and look for other ways to help out.

May Festival of the Arts 2008

This years "May Fest" was presented as a Rock-a-Bration, a tribute to Rock-n-Roll Legends. We certainly consider Johnny Cash a legend and enjoyed performing at May Fest again. This was our second time performing at the May Fest in Rutherfordton and we're already looking forward to next year.

This particular show is special for the band as it marks our first anniversary as The Folsom Prison Gang. It has been a very fun ride for us with shows from South Carolina all the way up to Maryland. This year has been quite successful for us as a band. We've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel and we were featured during the holiday season on a local television show which was certainly a highlight for us during this past year.

The town of Rutherfordton put on a great festival again this year that brought out large crowds from the surrounding communities of the Tri-City area (Rutherfordton, Forest City, and Spindale) as well as Lake Lure and other nearby communities. I think the crowds get larger each year. In addition to The Folsom Prison Gang, they brought in some other great bands like The Back Beat, Steve Haynes as Elton John and Quarterinch Jack.

Thanks again to the Town of Rutherfordton for inviting us to perform again. We certainly enjoyed it. We wish we could have stuck around at the festival a little longer but we had another show to do later in the afternoon.

MTCC Family Festival

Our second show of the day was at the first annual Marion Technical Community College Family Festival.

We were originally scheduled to perform outside, but with the threat of rain in the forcast, we were forced to bring the entertainment inside. No worries, MTCC has a fantastic indoor theatre just off the carfeteria. So as people wandered in to grab a bite to eat they could enjoy their favorite Johnny Cash tunes. The natural acoustics of the theatre there are great and there was plenty of room for the community to enjoy this free concert in the comfort of the air conditioning and protection from the rain..

We were thankful a big storm never hit and that this event went off without a hitch. Our kids enjoyed all the "pumped up" play equipment, mazes, climbing wall, etc. and this was definitely a hit for their first ever Family Festival event and the Technical College. We hope to come back next year and see even more people supporting the event at the college.

The Carolina Theatre

We were so excited to be back in Spruce Pine at one of our favorite venues, The Carolina Theatre, home of the Original Barn Dance. This particular event was organized as a fund raiser for the restoration effort going on there. Held in the vacant lot adjacent to the Theatre, there were plenty of booths set up lining the event area selling theatre merchandise, auction items, raffle tickets, "paint the theatre" paint pails filled with surprises for a small donation, BBQ cooked by Spruce Pine's finest; the local fire department, and much more.

The stage was set up in the corner of the venue with a dance floor right in front for cloggers and dancers to use. The highlight of our performance was an impromtu addition to our band, the young Noah and Izzie performing as Johnny and June. It was like a scene right out of "I Walk the Line"! These kids not only blew out their pipes singing the famous duet Jackson, but it was like we were watching Joaquin Phoneix and Reese Witherspoon in the flesh. They are as talented at acting as they are at singing. Wow, we were blown away! I'm not sure if they'll be able to join us for a repeat performance, but we'd love to share the stage with them again in the future. Thank you to you both and feel free to join us again anytime.

A big thank you to Millie, Davis and Bob. It just feels like home whenever we're at The Carolina Theatre mostly because of your hospitality but also because we share in your vision to preserve the theatre for future generations. We hope to return in the fall. We will performance th Theatre's theme song, The Carolina Barn Dance. We look forward to seeing you there soon.