Watch Jason Newsted Cover ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ With His Chophouse Band
Metallica fans curious what former bassist Jason Newsted has been up to have a great way to stay up on the musician’s public activities. The rocker keeps his YouTube channel regularly supplied with live clips of his current performing vehicle, Jason Newsted and the Chophouse Band.
The most recent of those emerged on Tuesday (April 20), a video of Newsted and his crew rocking through a version of Johnny Cash’s classic “Folsom Prison Blues.” The performance comes from a benefit show the Chophouse Band played at the Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta, Fla., in March 2019.
Watch the combo’s Johnny Cash rendition, along with other recent Chophouse Band live covers shared by Newsted, down toward the bottom of this post.
The ex-Metallica member formed the Chophouse Band in 2016 following the dissolution of his eponymous solo act, the more metal-minded Newsted. Last year, Newsted spoke with Florida Weekly about some of the differences he’s experienced in working with the Chophouse Band versus performing with Metallica.
“We all get along great because there’s [no] money involved,” Newsted said of his Chophouse bandmates. “They’ve got their own bands, their own families, their own gigs. We do benefit gigs, six a year, and that’s it. I record and write and play songs the whole rest of the time. They could all run circles around me musical theory-wise. They could tell you everything they’re playing and all the relating chords.”
He added, “I surround myself with the badasses, and they make me look really good. I’m playing cowboy chords the whole time, and they’re doing their fancy shit to make me look good. I just concentrate on singing and getting across the things I want people to hear.”