Artist: Matt Jaffe and the Distractions
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Song: “Folsom Prison Blues”
Album: California’s Burning
Release Date: March 3, 2017
In Their Words: “Johnny Cash is an empathetic badass who walks the walk, and ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ is a blueprint for our record. The Tennessee Three’s boom-chicka-boom is basically proto-cowpunk — is that a mainstream genre yet? — and the lyrics cover everything from prison to train travel to California to hope amidst despair, all in four short verses. Besides a self-destructive urge to carbon date our music, we wanted to give folks some context for what we do, and here’s Square One: Cash at Folsom.” — Matt Jaffe
Photo credit: Edward Saenz
