Greystone Chapel

"Greystone Chapel" is an American country music song written by Glen Sherley in the late 1960s and was included on the 1968 Johnny Cash album At Folsom Prison, released by the Columbia Records label.

Glen Sherley was an inmate at Folsom Prison when he wrote the song, which juxtaposed prison life with spiritual freedom that he found in the Greystone Chapel.

Sherley was a fan of Johnny Cash, whose songs often sympathized with the plight of prisoners. Cash's hit song Folsom Prison Blues, as well as his occasional clashes with the law, were largely responsible for his popularity with prisoners.

Cash heard the song for the first time at the El Rancho Motel in Sacramento on the night before his Folsom Prison performance. Reverend Gresset -- a best friend of Cash -- asked a favor:

"Johnny, I want you to hear a song written by Glen Sherley, an inmate in Folsom, serving five to life for armed robbery. You've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to tell you about it but I thought if you could mention tomorrow that you've heard the tape, it would please that ol' boy who wrote it."

The group then listened to the song:

"There's a Greystone chapel here at Folsom,

A house of worship in this den of sin.

You wouldn't think God had a place at Folsom,

But he's saved the soul of many lost men."

Cash was enthusiastic. He wrote down the words and by the next day his band was prepared to perform the song at Folsom Prison. Cash ended the concert with the song, which drew huge applause and further fed his image of a man struggling between right and wrong and good and bad.

The length of the song on the At Folsom Prison album was 6:02. Glen Sherley later released an album with his own version of the song.

References

• Cash, Johnny, (2005) Inside Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison NPR NEWS STORY.
• Beley, Gene, Folsom Prison Blues, Virginia Quarterly Review, Winter 2005, 218-27.

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