The combination of guitar trio The String Revolution and Tommy Emmanuel join forces to create a match made in guitar heaven in recording and re-imagining the Johnny Cash classic “Folsom Prison Blues.” When approaching the recording of such a classic, The String Revolution wanted to feature the genius of Tommy Emmanuel in order to do the track justice. Add to the mix John Carter Cash, Johnny’s son, as producer, and that is a lot of legend to live up to. In order to achieve maximum authenticity, one of Johnny Cash’s personal guitars- a 1930’s Martin acoustic was played by The String Revolutions’ Markus Illko and Luther Perkins’ 1955 Fender Esquire, that was used in the original “Folsom Prison Blues” recording was played by The String Revolutions’ Rober Luis. The track was also recorded at Johnny’s Cash Cabin Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. All of these elements combined deliver an exhilarating new rendition of this classic track!
As John Carter Cash elaborates, “Attention: This is not my Daddy’s Folsom Prison Blues. My excitement over this unique instrumental arrangement has been unsurpassed in my life up to this point. I am honored to be a part of this wondrous historic recording!”
The String Revolution is comprised of three professional virtuoso guitar players who create distinctive sounds with their guitars: mimicking percussion, special effects, melodic grooves, bass lines, and more. They share a passion for many different musical styles and guitar techniques which has given The String Revolution a unique sound. This is evident in their studio recordings and live shows. A clear dedication and hard work ethic for the project brought The String Revolution together. In 2022, TSR released an acclaimed version of “Crazy Train,” that featured Billy Idol’s longtime guitarist, Steve Stevens. Their Spotify channel has now surpassed 4 million streams.
The band includes former Randy Rhoads student Janet Robin (named in the “Top 50 Acoustic Guitarist bonus list” by Guitar Player Magazine, 2017), who is also an acclaimed touring guitarist with the likes of Lindsey Buckingham, Meredith Brooks, Air Supply and many more, award winning Austrian nylon-string guitarist Markus Illko and Cuban multi-credited guitarist Rober Luis.
TOMMY EMMANUEL has achieved enough musical milestones in several lifetimes. At the age of six, he was touring regional Australia with his family band. By 30, he was a rock n’roll lead guitarist burning up stadiums in Europe. At 44, he became one of five people ever named a CGP (Certified Guitar Player) by his idol, music icon Chet Atkins. Today, he plays hundreds of sold-out shows every year from Nashville to Sydney to London. He’s piled up numerous accolades, including two Grammy Award nominations, two ARIA Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (the Aussie equivalent of the Recording Academy); repeated honors in the Guitar Player magazine reader’s poll including a cover story for their August 2017 issue; a cover feature for Vintage Guitar’s July 2020 issue; and was Music Radar’s reader’s poll #1 winner of the Ten Best Acoustic Guitarists in The World.
