September 3, 2004

The Inside Scoop on Johnny Cash's Jailhouse Concerts

By RICHARD BYRNE

Johnny Cash never did hard time. But Cash's "man in black" persona, his drug problems, and his rapport with jailed Americans led many to assume that songs such as "Folsom Prison Blues" were autobiography. In Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece (Da Capo Press), Michael Streissguth uses the story behind that raucous 1968 prison concert to explore the singer's fascination with imprisonment and redemption. An associate professor of English at Le Moyne College, Mr.