Finding Her Place Among the Stars

Two weeks ago, Rosanne Cash went back into the studio to begin recording her album, titled “Black Cadillac.”Ms. Cash says the title is “a metaphor for death.”“All the songs are about death in one way or another,” she said, quickly adding, “This sounds grim, but it’s not. It’s about transcendence and transformation and the continuance of relationships when one person dies, getting a glimpse into the next world when someone you love goes there, the loss of faith, the regaining of faith – all those things that happen around death.”It’s been a little more than a year since her father, the late, great Johnnym died, and the singer-songwriter has finally come to terms with and embraced her position in one of country music’s most celebrated families.Ms. Cash sits at the Rubin Museum of Art, several blocks away from her Chelsea apartment, and as she discusses her work, her father’s legacy, and her 22-year-old daughter – a third generation singer-songwriter, Ms. Cash seems well aware and deeply proud of the musical tradition that she has come to personify.With numerous no. 1 hits, 11 albums, and a Grammy to her credit, there’s nothing shabby about Ms. Cash’s solo career. But for a long time, Ms. Cash explains, she struggled with fame and her relationship with her famous family – not only did she have to contend with a famous father, but after divorcing her mother, Mr. Cash married country music star, June Carter Cash.It is understandable that the daughter of one of the most influential recording artists of all time would have reservations about filling his shoes. Indeed, when she was younger, she resisted following her father’s path.She watched him succumb to drugs and alcohol as he grappled with notoriety and success – Ms. Cash “thought that fame was the worst thing that could happen to you.”Unable to deny herself a career in music, but at the same time well aware of the risks associated with entering the family business, Ms. Cash contemplated changing her surname to Rivers, in honor of her grandmother. But in the end, she stuck with Cash, and released her first album “Right or Wrong” in 1979. Throughout the 1980s and ’90s Ms. Cash put out a slew of critically acclaimed albums, on which she experimented with country, pop, and folk, fusing them into a unique sound.After 10 years out of the limelight, due, in part, to a two-and-a-half-year hiatus when she lost her voice to a vocal polyps and a had a baby, Ms. Cash released “Rules of Travel” in March of 2003, once more to rave reviews. The album was produced by her husband John Leventhal and features appearances by Jakob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, and her father.“I was not going to ask my dad to sing on the album – it was one of my hard-and-fast rules for my whole career.” But the song, “September as It Comes,” according to Ms. Cash “was so right for him. It was about mortality, closing the door on the past, acceptance, where the past and future come together. Finally, I listened to the song again, and it struck me how good it would be for him. For me this would be the ultimate family photo.” Ms. Cash added, “It’s still really hard to listen to it.”Her collaboration with her father is indicative of a larger process of introspection that Ms. Cash has gone through in the past few years.“I came to terms with the fact that my dad belonged to the world, not just his family, and I learned not to resent that. I also came to learn that I would never be iconic like that, even though I didn’t want that. But I was in the same profession as him, and I thought, ‘is this what I have to measure up to? How can I possibly do that?’ I couldn’t and I let go of that idea.”Ms. Cash moved to New York from Nashville 14 years ago, where she lives with her husband and two children (she has three grown daughters from a previous marriage to singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell). About her move to New York, she says, “I was moving in a more stripped-down, kind of essential singer-songwriter direction, and that’s when I left Nashville…when I got here, I felt a tremendous amount of relief at the anonymity I had just bought for myself.”This Friday, Ms. Cash plays in her adopted hometown with Teddy Thompson as part of a monthly acoustic series at the Rubin Museum of Art. Not the biggest fan of touring, and a die-hard New Yorker, this seems like the perfect set-up.“I like performing now, I didn’t used to – I didn’t want the attention, I didn’t feel like I had a valid reason to be up there. That was all a mind trip I went through for about 20 years. Now, you know, I feel like I’ve written some good songs, and I’m an okay singer and okay, I have a right to be up there, and I enjoy it.”

Finding Her Place Among the Stars

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