This is a curious song. The prisoner is in a California prison for a crime committed in Nevada. The prison is near a railroad track over which trains travel "on down to San Antone"--but the only "San Antone" anywhere near the prison is San Antonio Valley, Calif., a small community near Altamont Pass that has never had rail service. Nonetheless, the song was a hit, and the singer went on to have a long string of hits.
Folsom Prison Blues--Johnny Cash & the Tennessee Two (1956)
...the singer went on to have a long string of hits.
Yeah, you might say that.