When Tex Perkins opened his Far from Folsom show at Parramatta Gaol on Friday night with a suitably gravelling “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” and a ripping version of Folsom Prison Blues, audiences knew they were in for a rock’n’roll treat.
If anyone is comfortable in Cash’s boots, it’s Perkins who has been playing the singer-songwriter in musical theatre show The Man in Black since 2009. This new show reunites him with co-star Rachael Tidd, taking on June Carter Cash, and the Tennessee Four band. Perkins has said that, rather than impersonating the legendary US singer, he focuses on Cash’s performance attitude and here he captures it all: accent, swagger and that distinctive guitar playing.
The Sydney festival premiere was inspired by Cash’s legendary 1968 performances at Folsom State prison, and with its sandstone walls, coiled barbed wire and sweeping spotlights, the decommissioned Parramatta Gaol – former home of crims Neddie Smith, Darcy Dugan and George Freeman – is a suitably atmospheric stand-in, particularly as night falls.
Cash played two performances at the Californian prison, and the resulting triple platinum-selling live album At Folsom is frequently included on lists of the greatest albums of all time.
Perkins ran through much of the Folsom set list here, including the darkly funny prison-themed The Wall and 25 Minutes to Go, and novelty songs like Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog and Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart. He really hit his straps with the iconic Cocaine Blues and Walk the Line. Tidd joined him on the mic on songs like Give My Love to Rose and Jackson, although she lacked some of Carter Cash’s sass.
There were Cash classics like Wanted Man, the song he co-wrote with Bob Dylan, A Boy named Sue, from the follow-up prison album At San Quentin, and of course Cash’s biggest success: Ring of Fire. The hits had the crowd singing and swinging along, while the more melodic numbers seemed to dissipate more quickly.
In between songs, Perkins kept up the gallows humour with jail tales, including one of the former inmate who tried to break back into Parramatta to retrieve a pickle jar filled with songs he’d buried in the prison yard, and instead ended up behind bars, convicted of stealing a ladder.
After rousing demands for an encore, Perkins finished up with a medley of Cash hits and another even more energetic round of Folsom Prison Blues. Happily humming these unforgettable songs, the festival crowd left jail with a spring in the step, arguably more thrilled with their time behind bars than previous occupants.
- Sydney festival 2015 runs from 8 to 26 January at venues citywide. Find all Guardian Australia’s coverage here
