Vinyl Record

Johnny Cash - At San Quentin

Johnny Cash - At San Quentin album cover

Johnny Cash - At San Quentin on LP vinyl. A 1969 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

LP ยท 1969

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 1969 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

At San Quentin is the louder, sharper follow-through to At Folsom Prison, recorded at San Quentin State Prison in February 1969 and released the same year. Where Folsom feels like a dangerous reclamation, San Quentin feels like a public eruption. Cash arrives with a band and touring family around him, but the focus stays on his command of a volatile room. Wanted Man opens with Bob Dylan's outlaw imagination, Wreck of the Old 97 and I Walk the Line reconnect the audience to older Cash, and the title song lets him turn prison anger into a chant. Then A Boy Named Sue breaks the tension with comic violence and becomes the unlikely hit that pushes the album beyond country circles.

The album matters because it made the prison-recording story bigger and more visible. It reached number one on the Billboard 200, won country-album recognition, and proved that Cash's bond with incarcerated audiences was not a one-time shock. It is also one of the clearest examples of his ability to mix menace, comedy, faith, and showmanship.

For collectors, At San Quentin is the necessary companion to Folsom rather than a secondary afterthought. It has a different temperature: brighter, rowdier, more television-era, and more tied to the moment when Cash became a cross-cultural figure. Together, the two prison albums explain why his live identity became central to his legend.

Rowdy live country with crowd heat, quick comic turns, prison-song tension, Dylan-era outlaw color, spiritual closing notes, and a more explosive stage feel than Folsom.

Recommended for: Fans of At Folsom Prison who want the next prison-album chapter; Collectors of classic live country and late-1960s crossover records; Listeners drawn to Cash's balance of humor, anger, and authority.

What year is At San Quentin? At San Quentin was released in 1969 after Cash's February 1969 San Quentin performance. Which major hit came from At San Quentin? A Boy Named Sue became the breakout song from the album. Should At San Quentin be owned with At Folsom Prison? Yes. The two records form the central prison-performance arc in Cash's catalogue.