Cash tribute band serving their time

Get Rhythm are touring Irish prisons, much as Johnny played the penitentiaries in the US, says Jonathan deBurca Butler

LAST night, the inmates at the Loughan House open prison in Blacklion, Co Cavan, were entertained by Johnny Cash tribute band, Get Rhythm.

The local eight-piece played to 150 men for more than an hour and did the ‘Man in Black’ proud. The concert was the first in a series of prison shows for the band over the next five weeks, including at Wheatfield and Mountjoy prisons.

“It started out as a simple idea of just a handful of friends getting together to do a few Johnny Cash tribute shows,” said Get Rhythm lead singer, Paul McCann, on the morning of the first concert. “We said, in a throwaway manner, at first, it would be great to do some in a prison, but it just seemed such a ridiculous idea.

“I thought about it more, though, and the prison audience was always the natural audience for a lot of Johnny Cash’s material and, of course, he toured prisons for years. So, we got onto the Irish Prison Services to see if it was possible, and the governors eventually got back to us. I was completely surprised. I didn’t think it would be a runner at all.”

The 33-year-old McCann says the prison governors have been “very enthusiastic”. Such was the interest of the Mountjoy governors in their proposal, for example, that the band will play three dates there — one for the men’s prison, one for the women’s, and one for the training centre.

“I’m very excited about the whole thing,” says McCann. “We’ve been playing music for 15 years, so we’ve played to some incredible crowds; we’ve played to some … different crowds.

“I’ve never played in a prison before, so I don’t know what to expect, but it’s a fantastic set we’re doing, so we’re just planning on getting in there and rocking the hell out of it and we hope they enjoy it.”

The idea for the prison concerts is based on Johnny Cash’s fondness for playing penitentiaries in the US. In 1968, ‘the Man in Black’, who cultivated a bad-boy image for himself, enhanced that reputation with a concert in Folsom State Prison — an institution that was the subject of one of his most famous and successful songs, Folsom Prison Blues.

The concert was recorded and released as a live album, and it has remained one of Cash’s most popular.

Cash, who had played his first prison concert in Texas in 1956, later played and recorded in other prisons; most famously, perhaps, in San Quentin.

Due to the security nature of the venues, organising the gigs has involved more than the average pub concert.

“As I said, everybody has been very supportive of us, but everything is obviously very tight,” says McCann.

“We went down to Wheatfield, to have a look around with the governor, and we talked through where we could possibly play and what we needed to do. Obviously, we can only bring in equipment that we have down on the list. If it’s something we haven’t mentioned before, it won’t be coming in.

“But they said they were happy enough from a security point of view as long as eight of us came in and eight of us left.”

Not only have Get Rhythm’s upcoming prison ‘terms’ been noticed by the media, they have also got the attention of one member of the late Cash’s family.

“I emailed John Carter Cash, Johnny’s son with June,” says McCann.

“I told him what we were doing with the prisons and, chancing my arm, I basically said to him that if he happened to be in Europe, it would be great to do something together.”

Carter Cash apparently loved the idea and sent the email on to his management company, who are talking to Get Rhythm about a collaboration.

For now, McCann and the band are focused on the prison concerts. McCann, who classes himself as a “massive fan” of the country singer, says that Cash’s enduring popularity is due to the universality of his message and the empathy he has for the man with no friends.

“We play in a wedding band and that, initially, was how we got the idea for the tribute shows going, because we saw how people responded to Johnny Cash’s songs,” says McCann.

“Whenever you play one, the floor fills up with teenagers, people in their 20s, middle-aged people, grannies, everyone; it’s amazing the effect he has. I think, maybe, the outlaw image that he portrayed appeals to people, too.”

For Get Rhythm’s sake, we hope that continues.