
Photo: Deborah Feingold
Cash shares legacy
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 6/26/10
By Jeremy D. Goodwin
PITTSFIELD—A few years ago, Rosanne Cash decided to dip into her inheritance.
It wasn't money or property that the Grammy-winning daughter of country music icon Johnny Cash was putting her hands on, but a list of 100 songs. Her father gave her the list when she was 18 and part of his traveling road show, when he discovered she was well versed in the rock music of the day but not in the roots of country and folk Americana.
Cash used the tucked-away document as the inspiration for an album of cover songs released last October called, simply, The List. She'll feature that material when she plays an acoustic duet with longtime producer (and husband) John Leventhal at the Colonial Theatre on Tuesday.
Her father passed away in 2003, her mother (Vivian Liberto Cash Dustin, Johnny Cash's first wife) died two years later. For this much-accomplished artist who had steadfastly created her own identity in a business indelibly stamped by her family, it prompted a look back at her own roots.
"You don't realize what your parents leave you until they're gone," Cash says in a telephone interview from New York City, where she lives with Leventhal when the two are not enjoying their house in Columbia County. "It's a paradox that seems to be true for everyone: you don't appreciate it or value it as much until they're not hear anymore. And then you start thinking about what they have left you, whether it's a recipe or dishes or a list of songs."
She described her 2006 album Black Cadillac, written and recorded in the wake of the deaths of not only her father and mother but her stepmother June Carter Cash, as "emotionally dense." She wanted to follow it up with a covers record as a sort of palette cleanser, and her husband pointed out that she was regularly telling stories about "the list" in concert. Perhaps that was the concept waiting to happen.
"I kind of resisted it at first," Cash recounts. "I didn't want to trade on my dad. But John said, 'These songs are yours. This is a list he made for you. This is your legacy, if you don't step into it, who's going to?'"
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 6/26/10
By Jeremy D. Goodwin
PITTSFIELD—A few years ago, Rosanne Cash decided to dip into her inheritance.
It wasn't money or property that the Grammy-winning daughter of country music icon Johnny Cash was putting her hands on, but a list of 100 songs. Her father gave her the list when she was 18 and part of his traveling road show, when he discovered she was well versed in the rock music of the day but not in the roots of country and folk Americana.
Cash used the tucked-away document as the inspiration for an album of cover songs released last October called, simply, The List. She'll feature that material when she plays an acoustic duet with longtime producer (and husband) John Leventhal at the Colonial Theatre on Tuesday.
Her father passed away in 2003, her mother (Vivian Liberto Cash Dustin, Johnny Cash's first wife) died two years later. For this much-accomplished artist who had steadfastly created her own identity in a business indelibly stamped by her family, it prompted a look back at her own roots.
"You don't realize what your parents leave you until they're gone," Cash says in a telephone interview from New York City, where she lives with Leventhal when the two are not enjoying their house in Columbia County. "It's a paradox that seems to be true for everyone: you don't appreciate it or value it as much until they're not hear anymore. And then you start thinking about what they have left you, whether it's a recipe or dishes or a list of songs."
She described her 2006 album Black Cadillac, written and recorded in the wake of the deaths of not only her father and mother but her stepmother June Carter Cash, as "emotionally dense." She wanted to follow it up with a covers record as a sort of palette cleanser, and her husband pointed out that she was regularly telling stories about "the list" in concert. Perhaps that was the concept waiting to happen.
"I kind of resisted it at first," Cash recounts. "I didn't want to trade on my dad. But John said, 'These songs are yours. This is a list he made for you. This is your legacy, if you don't step into it, who's going to?'"

Photo: Deborah Feingold
The result is an album that was been enthusiastically received, garnering critical praise and featuring guest appearances from Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright, and an up-and-coming songwriter from New Jersey named Bruce Springsteen.
"We thought, 'Who is the quintessential American voice do to 'Sea of Heartbreak?'" Cash recalls of The Boss's contribution, a deep-as-the-earth vocal on the Hal David and Paul Hampton tune, which Johnny Cash had previously recorded in his late-career American Recordings series. "I think he relished the opportunity to use his voice in that way." Tweedy lends some guitar and subtle vocals to "Long Black Veil," the throwback country ballad with which the elder Cash scored a hit some decades ago. Costello, who Cash describes as "a walking archive of this kind of music," sits in for Harlan Howard's "Heartbreaks by the Number."
But the centerpiece of the album, beyond the material itself, is clearly Cash, who confidently puts her own stamp on this frequently familiar material, investing it with an emotional urgency befitting a set of brand new songs.
"You have to find your own place, carve out your own little spot, find out what your strengths are and what you do best. And then you can welcome the previous generations and what they did. Maybe some people can do the reverse; I certainly couldn't," she says of her long journey.
In concert, she’ll sprinkle in some favorites from throughout her long career, but songs from the list—and The List—will predominate. Though she’s touring with a new band, assembled for the latest record Cash is splitting the current tour between band shows and acoustic duets. She says the latter are a particular joy.
“We love doing this show. It's a really musically satisfying show and John and I both get to stretch a bit,” she says. “It's kind of looser but not musically looser, just looser in terms of attitude. It's a lot of fun.”
"We thought, 'Who is the quintessential American voice do to 'Sea of Heartbreak?'" Cash recalls of The Boss's contribution, a deep-as-the-earth vocal on the Hal David and Paul Hampton tune, which Johnny Cash had previously recorded in his late-career American Recordings series. "I think he relished the opportunity to use his voice in that way." Tweedy lends some guitar and subtle vocals to "Long Black Veil," the throwback country ballad with which the elder Cash scored a hit some decades ago. Costello, who Cash describes as "a walking archive of this kind of music," sits in for Harlan Howard's "Heartbreaks by the Number."
But the centerpiece of the album, beyond the material itself, is clearly Cash, who confidently puts her own stamp on this frequently familiar material, investing it with an emotional urgency befitting a set of brand new songs.
"You have to find your own place, carve out your own little spot, find out what your strengths are and what you do best. And then you can welcome the previous generations and what they did. Maybe some people can do the reverse; I certainly couldn't," she says of her long journey.
In concert, she’ll sprinkle in some favorites from throughout her long career, but songs from the list—and The List—will predominate. Though she’s touring with a new band, assembled for the latest record Cash is splitting the current tour between band shows and acoustic duets. She says the latter are a particular joy.
“We love doing this show. It's a really musically satisfying show and John and I both get to stretch a bit,” she says. “It's kind of looser but not musically looser, just looser in terms of attitude. It's a lot of fun.”