In Tough Times in Alabama, It Helped to Live in a Ballroom
'Life was dark,' said Mr. McCulley, 42, noting that his mother was suffering from frontotemporal dementia. 'I was avoiding my mother's illness and her impending death, and I was drinking way too much.'
After spending 20 years in Los Angeles, Mr. McCulley, whose recent acting credits include an appearance on the HBO Max streaming series 'The Pitt,' decided to at least take a look at Birmingham real estate.
He scheduled a tour of a condominium apartment that was rumored to be a former ballroom in a building from 1924, and as soon as he walked in, he was smitten. The unit had a ceiling that soared to 15 feet and grand, divided-lite windows offering plentiful sunshine and leafy views. It immediately seemed like a place he could picture himself living.
'It was such a magical place that it forced me, in that moment, to go home,' Mr. McCulley said. 'I hoped it would give me a sense of place and help me find myself again.'
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He was awake to the injustice. Woke. The singer testified before Congress and met with Nixon in 1972 to discuss prison reform. Still a patriot through and through, despite it all, Cash exposed the stupidity of the old right-wing saw, 'love it or leave it.' Cash loved it and wanted to use his songs to make it better. He knew America wasn't perfect. That obvious conclusion didn't mean he didn't love it. Johnny Cash At Folsom And San Quentin "The Prison Concerts: Folsom And San Quentin (Jim Marshall's Photographs of Johnny Cash)," installation view at the Momentary in Bentonville, AR. Jared Sorrells photography for the Momentary. Cash first played at Folsom in 1966. He wrote 'Folsom Prison Blues' way back in 1953, his first big hit. The song came to him after watching 'Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison' (1951) while serving in the Air Force in West Germany. In 1968, Johnny Cash was spiraling personally and professionally. 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Cash was back, off the strength of a live album recorded in a maximum-security prison to an audience most country music fans would recommend be executed, not entertained. Such is the power of music. The following year, he gave a similarly lauded in-person, in prison performance at San Quentin. He performed for inmates multiple times. Jim Marshall Johnny, June, and the band were joined by music photographer Jim Marshall at the Folsom and San Quentin concerts. Requested personally by Cash, Marshall was the only official photographer present at the concerts and granted unlimited access. Twenty-five photographs documenting the two concerts, including candid and performance images helping solidify Cash as an outlaw king can be seen through October 12, 2025, at The Momentary, an art exhibition and live music space, in Bentonville, AR, Cash's home state. 'The Prison Concerts: Folsom and San Quentin (Jim Marshall's Photographs of Johnny Cash)' showcases the powerful snapshots of a legendary musician by a legendary photographer. The presentation is free to the public. 'The godfather of music photography,' Marshall (1936–2010) maintained a 50-year career that resulted in more than 500 album covers, an abundance of magazine covers, and some of the most celebrated images in blues, jazz, country, and rock and roll, including those from Cash's Folsom and San Quentin prison concerts. Tall. Lean. Pompadour. Cash is dressed in his trademark black although 'the Man in Black' moniker wouldn't come formally until the early 70s, in part resulting from his stark outfits at the prison concerts. His 1971 hit 'Man in Black' explains 'why you never see bright colors on my back.' It was a wardrobe of protest from a protest singer. 'I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down Living in the hopeless, hungry side of town I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime But is there because he's a victim of the time.' Cash was in his late 30s when he gave the performances. He looks at least 10 years older. Growing up poor and hard living always made Cash appear much older than he actually was. Marshall's Folsom photos show the deep lines on the singer's face. The weight of the world seemingly on his shoulders. Cash is serious, resolute, commanding. He's going to work. Cash isn't nervous, certainly not afraid, but there's a hint of self-doubt in his countenance and posture. 'This might not work,' he seems to think to himself. The prison's stone façade looks positively medieval. A photo of Cash lighting a cigarette with a more hopeful looking June Carter in the foreground looks so much like Joaquin Phoenix, the actor who played him in the biopic, it forces a doubletake. Tragically, Folsom State Prison continues housing inmates today despite opening in 1880. Only San Quentin is older in California. More From Forbes Forbes Historic New Orleans Collection Explores Human Tragedy Of Mass Incarceration In Louisiana By Chadd Scott Forbes Sherrill Roland Correctional Identification Numbers Portraits Humanize The Wrongfully Incarcerated By Chadd Scott Forbes Exhibition Of Paño Arte Highlights Creativity Under Mass Incarceration By Chadd Scott
