CD Review: Rosanne Cash, The List

Rosanne Cash used her previous album, 2006’s Black Cadillac, to process the loss, in a short span of time, of her birth mother, her stepmother and her father. That the latter two—June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash—were iconic American music figures of gigantic stature only complicated her stages of grief and acceptance. Not to mention that she suddenly found herself the torchbearer of a musical legacy that went back (via the Carter Family) nearly a century. As it does to all children who must one day face the world without their parents, the question for Cash became—what next?

Her inspired answer is The List, a dozen classic songs from various genres which she culled from a list of 100 “essential” songs her father compiled for her musical education. A couple—“Long Black Veil,” “Girl From the North Country”—had been Johnny Cash hits, but that was the least of it. All of them made up a priceless creative inheritance, a bequest from father to daughter. 

In Rosanne’s hands, these songs become her heirlooms, taken down and examined with tenderness and care. Throughout much of the album, her buttery, Southern-inflected voice is shadowy and intimate, as though she is channeling the spirit of the songs and those who sang them before her.

That being said, she doesn’t settle for worshipful mimicry. Hank Snow’s “I’m Moving On,” an up-tempo honky-tonker in his hit version, is rendered by Cash at a druggy, slow-bop tempo, her voice dreamlike and ghostly. Similarly, the folk classic “500 Miles” becomes a hymn-like statement of loss, and Hank Williams’ hit “Take These Chains From My Heart” benefits from a playful guitar buzzing with feedback and small electronic flourishes of sound. In fitting classic songs into her own template, Cash helps to make them her own.

The album features guest vocals by Bruce Springsteen, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Elvis Costello and Rufus Wainwright, but it’s hard to believe they are not just along for their marquee value. None add anything irreplaceable to their respective tracks. No, the central appeal of The List is listening to (and so intimate and heartfelt are her renditions that you almost feel you’re watching) Rosanne Cash commune and come to terms with the spirits who have preceded her, both familial and musical.

Roasanne Cash's website is: http://www.rosannecash.com/

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