Tag: Folsom Prison

Glen Sherley: Prison, Johnny Cash, & “Greystone Chapel”

Glen Sherley’s first brush with fame came while in Folsom Prison when Johnny Cash sang one of his songs. Despite his talents, though, Sherley could not escape his demons.

Glen Sherley

Singer-songwriter Glen Sherley was born in Oklahoma on March 9, 1936. Between his birth and his self-inflicted death in Gonzales, California on May 11, 1978 at the age of 42, Sherley’s life had several highs and lows. He is most known for his brief brush with fame when Johnny Cash performed one of Sherley’s songs during his famous 1968 concert at Folsom Prison.

When Cash performed the song, Sherley sat in the audience. He was serving time for armed robbery.

Greystone Chapel

Sherley wrote songs while in prison. He and his wife had had a son, Bruce, and a daughter Ronda. And his extended family often visited him, giving him tapes to record his songs. One of those tapes made it to Johnny Cash.

Prior to Johnny Cash’s 1968 performance at Folsom Prison, Floyd Gressett, a Folsom preacher and friend of Cash’s, gave Cash a copy of Sherley’s song “Greystone Chapel.” Cash liked the song about the chapel at Folsom, and he decided to perform it at the show. On January 11. with Sherley in the front row, Cash surprised the inmate by introducing him and singing his song. Cash later recognized it was a “terrible thing” to single out Sherley in such a setting, but the other inmates cheered.

The recording of the show was released as the album At Folsom Prison (1968) was a crossover hit for Cash, resurrecting his career. And as singer-songwriter Marty Stuart explained, the Sherley’s song “was kind of the heart of that record.”

Cash was not Sherleys’ only encounter with fame while in prison. After being transferred to Vacaville Prison in California, Sherley befriended country singer and former television personality Spade Cooley, who was serving life in prison for the murder of his wife. Sherley and Cooley even wrote a song together in 1969 called “Big Steel Prison Gate.”

And in 1971, another one of Sherley’s songs was recorded by a country star. Eddy Arnold recorded Sherley’s “Portrait Of My Woman.”

And then Sherley was given the chance to record his own album live while still in prison in 1971. The record company originally released the album as entitled Glen Sherley, and later it was re-released as Glen Sherley Live at Vacaville California (Bear Records).

Also in 1971, an episode of This Is Your Life was devoted to Johnny Cash. The show featured a video of Sherley in prison thanking Cash. You can see Cash’s jaw drop when the announcer introduces Sherley. And then Cash tears up at the warm tribute (starting around the 6-minute mark in the video below).

Release from Prison

Sherley was paroled from prison later in 1971. Johnny Cash welcomed him to freedom at the gates of the prison. Cash began a mentorship trying to help Sherley on the outside with his career and life.

The former country star who had befriended Sherley in prison, Spade Cooley, however, was not around to provide additional support. Although Cooley had been granted parole effective a year earlier, he died of a heart attack in late 1969 while giving a concert on furlough before he could be released.

Sherley remarried in 1972. Cash took Sherley on tour. Sherley’s children Bruce, 14, and Ronda, 11, for the first time saw their dad perform, not in a club, but at the Los Angeles Forum with an audience of 17,000 people.

Later that year, Ronda moved from California to Nashville to live with her dad. But she saw him struggling with the change from prison to the musician’s life. She later explained that although he knew how to be in prison, “he didn’t know how to be the person people wanted him to be out here.”

A Flower Out of Place

In 1974, Sherley, apparently with support from Johnny Cash, hosted a TV special recorded at Tennessee State Prison called A Flower Out of Place. Sherley performed some songs, alone and with Johnny Cash, while introducing other acts like comedian Foster Brooks, Linda Ronstadt, and Roy Clark.

In watching the special, one may wonder whether Sherley was nervous or maybe back on drugs. Though his song performances are still very good, the title of the special captured an aspect of Sherley’s life outside the joint.

Out of prison, Sherley could not escape whatever demons haunted him from his past. Sherley, whose migrant farmer family moved from Oklahoma to California when he was young, was apparently in trouble often since a young age, often while drunk. In the 1950s, he committed crimes with little planning, such as robbing a man of a cash roll of one-dollar bills or holding up an ice cream company for $28 with a toy gun. By the time Cash met Sherley at Folsom, his armed robbery career had sent him to serve time in several penal institutions.

And once out of prison, Sherley again had behavior issues, carrying a gun and finding solace in drugs and alcohol. Eventually, reportedly he threatened to kill Johnny Cash’s bass player and road manager Marshall Grant (“I love you but what I’d really like to do to you, I’d like to get a butcher knife and start cutting you all to hell”).

So, reluctantly, Johnny Cash, who had turned his own life around to become sober, dismissed Sherley from his performing group. The setback for Sherley preceded other problems such as more drugs, alcohol, and Pall Malls, eventually becoming estranged from his wife and kids.

Sherley’s Downward Spiral

And despite great talent and a taste of fame, Glen Sherley ended up losing his star. He worked other non-music jobs, including feeding cattle at a cattle farm. Like many who struggle after life in prison, his use of drugs and alcohol contributed to the downward spiral.

According to Wikipedia, in May 1978, while high on drugs, Sherley shot another man in California. But it is hard to find any details about that shooting anywhere else, so I am not sure if that is true.

But we do know that on May 11, 1978, Sherley, who did not want to go back to prison, stood on his brother’s porch and committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun to his head.

Johnny Cash paid for Sherley’s funeral. Sherley was buried outside Bakersfield, California, a place made famous by another singer-songwriter who had attended a Johnny Cash concert while in San Quentin prison, Merle Haggard.

Sherley’s Legacy

Knowing Sherley’s story, it is hard to separate the man’s life (as well as his incarceration at the time) from the music while listening to Glen Sherley Live at Vacaville California (or the re-released version with bonus tracks Glen Sherley: Released Again). The narration and lyrics to the live performances often remind the listener of the singer’s situation.

But it is also hard to ignore that Glen Sherley was a great talent who showed much potential. With a booming voice, he sounds great, and his songs at their best show flashes of Cash, Haggard, Paycheck, and Jones. For example, his version of “Portrait of My Woman” illustrates a tenderness that outshines Eddy Arnold’s cover.

In his live performances, perhaps he understandably at times tries a little too much to copy Johnny Cash’s swagger. And maybe that swagger, trying to copy Cash’s bravado without understanding how Cash eventually embraced his vulnerability too, helped keep Sherley playing the tough guy in his life even when he needed help.

And of course, in the 1970s, there was not the type of understanding or mental health support that someone getting out of prison would need. Despite all Johnny Cash tried to do for Sherley, he could not have understood that Sherley needed much more than a guitar and an audience to adjust to life and freedom.

Sherley largely remains a footnote to the Johnny Cash story, unfortunately. Even his hosting and performing in the A Flower Out of Place TV special was later edited to completely exclude Sherley in a DVD release as well as scrubbed from a Johnny Cash album called A Concert: Behind Prison Walls (2003) (even while it includes the drunk comedy routine of Foster Brooks).

There exists more music that Sherley wrote and recorded as demos while in prison. His family has talked of releasing some of it, although so far the only additional music are three extra bonus tracks added to the Bear Records release of Glen Sherley Live at Vacaville California. And below, his daughter plays one of the tapes. She introduces the unreleased song “My Last Day,” a song about a man on death row. If there are more songs like these recent releases, I hope some day we get to hear more of Sherley’s music stored on cassette tapes in a box.

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Clarence Ashley: “The Cuckoo” & “Little Sadie”

Folksinger Clarence “Tom” Ashley left a lasting legacy with his versions of songs like “The Cuckoo” and “Little Sadie,” influencing artists such as Bob Dylan.

Clarence Ashley was among the folk and blues singers “rediscovered” during the 1950s and 1960s. Ashley, known as “Tom,” began performing in the early 1900’s, singing and playing banjo or guitar. He played with artists such as Doc Watson and lived to see his influence on a range of singers, even sharing a stage with Bob Dylan at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. He is known for his performances of songs such as “The Cuckoo” and “Little Sadie.”

Ashley was born in Tennessee on September 29, 1895, and he died in North Carolina on June 2, 1967. You may have first heard his voice on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music records, where one of the songs he performs is “The Coo Coo Bird.”

The song, also with other titles such as “The Cuckoo” and “The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird,” is an English folk song. The song begins with the bird, which is often associated with spring and with infidelity, and then goes on in various versions to lament about luck in love or gambling. Ashley’s version focuses on the latter.

I’ve played cards in England;
I’ve played cards in Spain;
I’ll bet you ten dollars,
I’ll beat you next game.

In the video below from the DVD “Legends of Old Time Music,” Ashley performs his version of “The Cuckoo.” Also, at the beginning of the clip he is interviewed about his music career. Check it out.

Another song that Ashley recorded, but with a darker tone, is “Little Sadie.” Ashley recorded the folk ballad in 1928. The singer, named Lee Brown, tells about killing a woman (in some versions his wife), fleeing, getting caught, and ultimately being sentenced by a judge: “Forty-one days and forty-one nights / Forty-one years to wear the ball and the stripes.”

Music critic Greil Marcus, writing in the liner notes for Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971), noted, “There’s something horribly laconic about Ashley’s 1929 recording of “Little Sadie.” Crinklingly ominous banjo notes trace a circle in which every story goes back to its beginning and starts up again, a circle in which every act is inevitable, worthless, and meaningless, a folk nihilism long before existentialism caught on in Paris.” Below is Ashley’s version of “Little Sadie.” Check it out.

Bob Dylan recorded a version of “Little Sadie” that appeared on his Self-Portrait (1970) album. And two more versions appear on Dylan’s Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971), which was released in 2013. On the latter album, Marcus found Dylan’s “In Search of Little Sadie” to be “a revelation.”

Marcus traces this Dylan version as the voice of a blustering killer, not caring (as in the character in Ashley’s version). But then the murderer finds fear in what may happen to himself.

In The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, author Michael Gray notes that it is most likely that Dylan’s versions of “Little Sadie” were because of his knowledge of Ashley’s recording. He also notes that Dylan would have known Ashley’s recording of “The Coo-Coo Bird” from the Anthology of American Folk Music.

Dylan’s versions of “Little Sadie” are not on Youtube, but perhaps the most famous descendant of Ashley’s song is Johnny Cash’s version of “Cocaine Blues.” Singer-songwriter T.J. “Red” Arnall wrote “Cocaine Blues” as a reworked “Little Sadie” and recorded the song in 1947. Here, Cash performs “Cocaine Blues” in 1968 at Folsom Prison.

I do not believe anyone has yet connected the subject of the folk song “Little Sadie” to a real person. Some have found evidence that the song originated in an African-American community in the South. Wherever the song came from, singers like Clarence Ashley have kept the tale alive in their own ways.

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    Johnny Cash’s Concerts at San Quentin

    Johnny Cash first performed at San Quentin Prison in 1958, and one of the prisoners attending was a young Merle Haggard.

    Johnny Cash Merle Haggard

    On January 1 in 1958, Johnny Cash gave his first performance at San Quentin Prison.  It would not be his only prison concert, as prisoners often wrote the singer following the 1955 release of his hit song “Folson Prison Blues.”  At the time of his first San Quentin appearance, Cash had already played at Huntsville State Prison in 1957.

    Around a decade later in January 1968, with his career not doing well, Cash went to Folsom Prison for a concert to be recorded for an album.  He also then returned to San Quentin on February 24, 1969 to record another live album At San Quentin.  That album and At Folsom Prison became two of the best-selling live albums of all time.

    The 1969 San Quentin Concert and “San Quentin”

    One of the highlights of At San Quentin was Cash’s performance of the song he wrote about the prison, “San Quentin.”  Cash performed two new songs for the prisoners, with one being “San Quentin” and the other being “A Boy Named Sue.”  He performed “San Quentin” twice.

    Cash’s most famous prison song, “Folsom Prison Blues” conveys sadness and hopelessness, despite the boast about shooting a man in Reno.  But “San Quentin”is a harder song, reeking of anger: “San Quentin I hate every inch of you.” Below is Cash’s performance at San Quentin in 1969.

    The 1958 Performance and Prisoner A-45200

    Although the 1958 concert at San Quentin did not yield an album, it did significantly affect music history. A year earlier, an 18-year-old man had been arrested for burglary and, after an attempt to escape from jail, he was sent to San Quentin Prison. Although a judge sentenced the man to fifteen years, the prisoner only ended up serving two. But during those two years, the young man attended the 1958 Johnny Cash concert. And it helped inspire the young prisoner, whose number was A-45200 and whose name was Merle Haggard. The prisoner worked to change his ways, joined a prison band, and devoted his own life to country music.

    Haggard later recalled Johnny Cash’s performance at the prison. “He had the right attitude. He chewed gum, looked arrogant and flipped the bird to the guards—he did everything the prisoners wanted to do. He was a mean mother from the South who was there because he loved us.”

    For more on Merle Haggard, the following clip features Haggard talking about his stint at San Quentin (starting at around the 17-minute mark).



    What is your favorite prison song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Clarence Ashley: “The Cuckoo” & “Little Sadie”
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    Oregon’s Death Penalty: 25 Minutes to Go

    Johnny Cash Folsom Prison 25 Minutes to Go Last week, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber granted a reprieve to a condemned man and announced that he would do the same for any scheduled execution during the remainder of his term in office. Gov. Kitzhaber asked state officials to consider other options besides the death penalty and explained, “I simply cannot participate once again in something that I believe to be morally wrong,” Gov. Kitzhaber further explained that as a licensed physician he had taken an oath to “do no harm.” In making his emotional announcement, Gov. Kitzhaber told how he was haunted by the fact he had allowed Oregon’s only two modern executions.

    Whether one agrees with Gov. Kitzhaber or not, one must respect someone who is willing to admit he erred in the past and who takes a moral stand. Gov. Kitzhaber recognized that the trend around the world in recent years has been toward taking a moral stand against state killings when other options, like life in prison, exist. Recognizing there are a number of problems with the American death penalty, Gov. Kitzhaber is putting a moratorium on Oregon executions to allow the state to reconsider whether or not it wishes to continue executing people.

    The immediate reprieve stopped the execution of 49-year-old Gary Haugen, who had waived his appeals and wished to be executed. Haugen’s attorney noted that the condemned man, desiring his own execution, would not be happy with the reprieve.

    Haugen was within two weeks of his scheduled execution, but Johnny Cash performed a song going further in imagining a condemned man counting down the final 25 minutes before his execution. The song, “25 Minutes to Go,” was written by Shel Silverstein, who also wrote Cash’s hit song, “A Boy Named Sue.” One may hear Silverstein’s sense of humor even in a song like “25 Minutes to Go.” The song’s author may be best known for his children’s books, including The Giving Tree.

    In the following video, someone has put together some cool illustrations to go with Johnny Cash’s performance of “25 Minutes to Go” from his famous performance at Folsom Prison on Jan. 13, 1968. (Do you know who did the animation?) Check it out.

    You also may watch Cash in another live performance in a video on YouTube. Johnny Cash was another gutsy man like Gov. John Kitzhaber. I miss him.

    Bonus Johnny Cash-related Death Penalty News: Johnny’s daughter Roseanne Cash is reuniting with her ex-husband Rodney Crowell for an anti-death penalty concert in Nashville on December 19. John Hiatt will also perform.

    What do you think of Johnny Cash’s “25 Minutes to Go”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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