What’s On recently caught up with Rosanne to talk about her musical tastes, the restoration of her father’s hometown and her love of NYC...
When it comes to her personal listening habits, award-winning country and Americana artist Rosanne Cash doesn't like to limit herself to a single genre.
"I love all kinds of music,” she declares enthusiastically. “Right now I have Aaron Copeland and Tim O’Brien on. I listen to everything from bluegrass to classical, but if you said ‘I’m going to take away everything else and you can only listen to one kind of music...’ I’d have to pick soul. I mean, how could you live without Sam Cooke?"
Cash is also a fan of William Bell, who found fame with Stax - the Memphis-based label that defined a country-rock/R&B hybrid known as southern soul in the 1960s and ’70s. Still recording today, Bell’s new album, This Is Where I Live, has been produced by Cash’s husband, producer/musician John Leventhal, with the songstress co-writing the standout track, Walking On A Tightrope.
"Have you heard the album? Oh my god! It’s the one album I’ve been listening to for pleasure on constant rotation! It’s so great. His voice is so competently intact, and he’s back on Stax Records, like he was 40 years ago. It’s a real soul record, without it being a copy of what was done in the ’60s. It was such a thrill to write a song for a real soul singer.”
Of the track she wrote, Rosanne says: “I just tried to get into William’s head... his language, the language of his era, and the part of his world. I also wanted to write about a man who had a lover who he was really patient with - she was always threatening to leave and always blue, falling apart, but he was just patient. ‘When you’re walking on a tightrope, I’ll catch you when you fall’. I like men like that.”
The eldest daughter of Johnny Cash, Rosanne was born in Memphis and raised in California, getting her first taste of showbiz while touring with her father in the ’70s. She’s since forged an impressive decade-spanning, multi-Grammy-winning career, successfully combining music with writing and activism - most notably for the US anti-gun violence movement.
“I think there should be a complete ban on assault weapons, full-stop. There’s no question about that. There’s no reason why an ordinary citizen should own a military-grade assault weapon. It makes no sense.”
She’s also deeply involved in the restoration of the small Mississippi town of Dyess, Arkansas - the birthplace of her father.
"The colony is from the New Deal," she says, referring to US President Franklin D Roosevelt's depression-era programme of relief, recovery and reform, "and that’s a big part of our nation’s history that people don’t pay much attention to. It’s worth preserving and studying.”
Her father’s once dilapidated, now fully restored former home is part of a growing heritage site that also includes a museum dedicated to the legendary ‘man in black’.
“(There's) my dad’s Air Force trunk, his boy scout card, his booklet that he took to his high school prom that he got everyone to sign, his report card, his letters - all of those things are in the museum.”
On the music front, Rosanne and Leventhal are currently busily crafting a collection of new songs - but the singer confesses not all of them are destined for the follow-up to her acclaimed 2014 album, The River And The Edge.
"Interestingly John and I are writing the music and lyrics for a play, for a Broadway musical, and we’ve been working on that for about a year, in between still doing concerts. I’ve always gone to see a lot of musicals - I just like musical theatre - so we’re seeing a lot and doing homework, but I’m enjoying that.”
She’s unable to say any more for contractual reasons, but when asked about her favourite musical, she states without a pause: “I’d have to say Hamilton. For anyone who cares about music, art and culture, it’s essential.”
A major benefit of the writing project has been that Rosanne gets to spend more time at home in New York - her favourite city in the world.
“Why do I love it here? It’s everything! It’s the culture, the people - it’s a community of writers and artists, it’s the insanity, the energy, and the anonymity too. I like being anonymous, and riding the subway. And in New York, people, if they recognise you, just jut their chin at you and say, ‘Oh, you know, I didn’t like your last record!’ I hope I don’t sound arrogant when I say it, but New York is the centre of the universe.”
Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal appear at Shrewsbury Folk Festival on Sunday 28 August.
For further details, including full line-up, visit shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk
What’s On recently caught up with Rosanne to talk about her musical tastes, the restoration of her father’s hometown and her love of NYC...
When it comes to her personal listening habits, award-winning country and Americana artist Rosanne Cash doesn't like to limit herself to a single genre.
"I love all kinds of music,” she declares enthusiastically. “Right now I have Aaron Copeland and Tim O’Brien on. I listen to everything from bluegrass to classical, but if you said ‘I’m going to take away everything else and you can only listen to one kind of music...’ I’d have to pick soul. I mean, how could you live without Sam Cooke?"
Cash is also a fan of William Bell, who found fame with Stax - the Memphis-based label that defined a country-rock/R&B hybrid known as southern soul in the 1960s and ’70s. Still recording today, Bell’s new album, This Is Where I Live, has been produced by Cash’s husband, producer/musician John Leventhal, with the songstress co-writing the standout track, Walking On A Tightrope.
"Have you heard the album? Oh my god! It’s the one album I’ve been listening to for pleasure on constant rotation! It’s so great. His voice is so competently intact, and he’s back on Stax Records, like he was 40 years ago. It’s a real soul record, without it being a copy of what was done in the ’60s. It was such a thrill to write a song for a real soul singer.”
Of the track she wrote, Rosanne says: “I just tried to get into William’s head... his language, the language of his era, and the part of his world. I also wanted to write about a man who had a lover who he was really patient with - she was always threatening to leave and always blue, falling apart, but he was just patient. ‘When you’re walking on a tightrope, I’ll catch you when you fall’. I like men like that.”
The eldest daughter of Johnny Cash, Rosanne was born in Memphis and raised in California, getting her first taste of showbiz while touring with her father in the ’70s. She’s since forged an impressive decade-spanning, multi-Grammy-winning career, successfully combining music with writing and activism - most notably for the US anti-gun violence movement.
“I think there should be a complete ban on assault weapons, full-stop. There’s no question about that. There’s no reason why an ordinary citizen should own a military-grade assault weapon. It makes no sense.”
She’s also deeply involved in the restoration of the small Mississippi town of Dyess, Arkansas - the birthplace of her father.
"The colony is from the New Deal," she says, referring to US President Franklin D Roosevelt's depression-era programme of relief, recovery and reform, "and that’s a big part of our nation’s history that people don’t pay much attention to. It’s worth preserving and studying.”
Her father’s once dilapidated, now fully restored former home is part of a growing heritage site that also includes a museum dedicated to the legendary ‘man in black’.
“(There's) my dad’s Air Force trunk, his boy scout card, his booklet that he took to his high school prom that he got everyone to sign, his report card, his letters - all of those things are in the museum.”
On the music front, Rosanne and Leventhal are currently busily crafting a collection of new songs - but the singer confesses not all of them are destined for the follow-up to her acclaimed 2014 album, The River And The Edge.
"Interestingly John and I are writing the music and lyrics for a play, for a Broadway musical, and we’ve been working on that for about a year, in between still doing concerts. I’ve always gone to see a lot of musicals - I just like musical theatre - so we’re seeing a lot and doing homework, but I’m enjoying that.”
She’s unable to say any more for contractual reasons, but when asked about her favourite musical, she states without a pause: “I’d have to say Hamilton. For anyone who cares about music, art and culture, it’s essential.”
A major benefit of the writing project has been that Rosanne gets to spend more time at home in New York - her favourite city in the world.
“Why do I love it here? It’s everything! It’s the culture, the people - it’s a community of writers and artists, it’s the insanity, the energy, and the anonymity too. I like being anonymous, and riding the subway. And in New York, people, if they recognise you, just jut their chin at you and say, ‘Oh, you know, I didn’t like your last record!’ I hope I don’t sound arrogant when I say it, but New York is the centre of the universe.”
Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal appear at Shrewsbury Folk Festival on Sunday 28 August.
For further details, including full line-up, visit shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk