Adorable Kid Joins His Dad To Play “Folsom Prison Blues”
via The Moonlight Pickers / Youtube
This has to be the cutest Johnny Cash cover ever!
Five-year-old little rockstar Raylan captured the hearts of his audience and the viewers alike with his absurdly deft cover of one of the country legend’s iconic songs “Folsom Prison Blues.”
This rockstar in the making joined his father’s band during a graduation event the band was at. The packed crowd did not faze the little rebel, strumming his oversized electric guitar while adorably belting out “But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.”
Probably just another Tuesday night for Raylan who has memorized the 1955 classic hit, and probably other Cash hits for that matter, in his heart. Watch the tiny outlaw country singer in the video below:
His Father’s Son
Raylan’s dad Jared and his band The Moonlight Pickers were performing at a graduation celebration show at their hometown bar, the Brown Pub.
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Jared invited his son to play and sing with the band, and the diminutive rocker delivered.
“I’m stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin’ on/ But that train keeps a rollin’ on down to San Antone,” the “mini Picker” mumbled in his tiny voice along with his father’s band.
“Folsom Prison Blues” was the Man in Black’s first minor hit, reaching the country’s top five when it was released. It helped generate some interest for the budding rebel.
The Man in Black’s Breakthrough
But the legendary country singer did not yet achieve an international breakthrough even after more than a decade of releasing songs and albums. He was still confined to limited commercial successes that are constant yet unfulfilling.
But the outlaw rockstar had always wanted to record and perform at a prison ever since he released “Folsom Prison Blues”. This idea did not come to fruition until nearly 13 years later when Columbia Records finally relented and allowed the absurd proposition.
Cash performed two songs at Folsom State Prison in California on January 13, 1968. The live songs from the shows were compiled into his first live album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.
It went on and became the outlaw star’s first big hit, reaching number one on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. The live version of Cash’s signature “Folsom Prison Blues” was the energy injection he needed as it became a top 40 hit.
His career was revitalized with a recording session that his record label was almost not interested in making. Columbia even scrimped on Cash and invested little in the project.
The Man in Black would later record more live prison concerts and released more country albums that would chart, leaving an enduring impact on the country scene.
So lasting that even a five-year-old boy would sing his songs at a graduation event somewhere in Illinois.
