I’m finally getting around to watching Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns, and came across this absolute gem at the end of episode 5:
That Spring [of 1968], Columbia released the Folsom Prison album to rave reviews. Commentators from every style of music now saw in him something they all could agree upon. “Talk about Magical Mystery Tours,” the Village Voice said, “Cash’s voice is as thick and gritty as ever, but filled with the kind of emotionalism you seldom find in Rock.” The New York Times called his performance, “soul music of a rare kind.” Jazz critic Nat Hentoff proclaimed, “there’s no hemming Johnny Cash into any one category.” And Rolling Stone magazine, the bible of the emerging youth counterculture, portrayed him as an important anti-establishment rebel, in the tradition of Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan.
— Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns, Episode 5: “The Sons and Daughters of America (1964-1968)” at 1:49:05.
Nice.