Rosanne Cash has had some highs and lows in her life during 2003. Sadly, her step-mother, country music legend June Carter
Cash, passed away in May of this year.
Shortly before that, in the spring, Rosanne Cash released her first album in seven years, Rules Of Travel (Capitol), which is
considered by many to be her finest work. Cash is joined on the album by Sheryl Crow on the beautiful pop song 'Beautiful Pain,'
while Steve Earle completes the dialogue on 'I'll Change For You.' Cash's father, Johnny, even contributed duet vocals on the
stunning 'September When It Comes,' while fellow musical progeny Teddy Thompson appears on 'Three Steps Down.' Cash also
turns her distinctive perspective on the themes of aging ('44 Stories') and the Middle East ('Western Wall'), and even dabbles in
electric country ('Closer Than I Appear').
A well-respected singer and songwriter, Cash has also established herself as a prose writer. I recently had the pleasure of
speaking with her about some of her projects, current and forthcoming.
Gregg Shapiro: You do a duet with your father, Johnny Cash, on the song 'September When It Comes.' In the press kit, you made
a comment about your father needing to see the lyrics first, before agreeing to sing the song.
Rosanne Cash: (Laughs)
GS: What did he mean by that?
RC: It means he's a great artist and that he wasn't just going to put himself on anything, even if it was his daughter. I got a great
chuckle out of that. I thought it was so cute. Then when I took the lyrics down to him, he read it and said, 'Yeah, I could do that.'
GS: It's great to have his approval, as well.
RC: Yeah (laughs).
GS: In addition to your father, you have Steve Earle, Teddy Thompson and Sheryl Crow making guest appearances on the album.
Is it easy to ask people be guest performers on songs or are you a little bashful about it?
RC: No. I've known Steve for over 20 years and I've known Sheryl for a very long time too. I didn't know Teddy, so John
(Leventhal) asked him. It wasn't awkward. It happens all the time. People ask me to sing on their records all the time too.
GS: Speaking of Sheryl Crow, the dance remix of her song 'Soak Up The Sun' was something of a club hit, and more recently
both Yoko Ono and Jewel have had their songs remixed for club play. Would you ever consider allowing a remixer to transform a
song such as 'Hope Against Hope' for the purpose of dance club play?
RC: Sure! Are you interested in doing that?
GS: Oh no, I'm not a remixer. I'm just a journalist.
RC: (Laughs) Sure, absolutely. I would love to see what they would do with it. It would be fascinating.
GS: You would also be reaching an entirely new audience. Not that you don't already have a large gay following, but it would
certainly increase it.
RC: That would be nice. I wouldn't mind that at all.
GS: Why did you choose to include the song 'Western Wall,' which appeared on your 10 Song Demo album and has also been
covered by Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, on Rules of Travel?
RC: It was actually John's idea. He felt that it was a great song and not very many people had heard it on Ten Song Demo. We
started talking about it and I said that it was really timely too. I thought it would be great to have a song about simple compassion
between very different cultures.
GS: Speaking of cover versions, an openly gay, OutMusic Award-winning singer and songwriter Mark Weigle does a cover of
'The Truth About You' on his new CD Different And The Same.
RC: I'd love to hear it. It's interesting because I had kind of forgotten about that song and it came to mind the other day. I started to
play it to myself and I said to John that we should really put it back in the set.
GS: He has an interesting interpretation of the song. When I interviewed him, he said, 'To me that song is totally about a closeted
gay man. That's the only way I can see it. I don't know what she even intended it to mean. I guess just an inaccessible man.' How do
you feel about that interpretation?
RC: It's an entirely legitimate interpretation. I hadn't thought about it that way, being a heterosexual woman, but I can totally see
what he's talking about. That's actually really moving that he interpreted it that way.
GS: I think you'd like his version, it's really beautiful.
RC: Wow, I can't wait to hear it. You know I live in Chelsea (laughs). I'm the only straight woman within a square mile. I even wrote
a song called 'The Chelsea Boys' once, but I didn't record it. The coffee shop Big Cup (on 8th Avenue) is kind of ground zero for all
the boys who are coming to town, and I had a line in the song that went, 'Big Cup is ground zero,' and I felt after 9/11 that I could not
put that out. I've got another song that I'm going to record on the next record called 'Jim and George' which is about a gay couple.
GS: That's wonderful. When are you going to start working on the next record?
RC: I've already been writing songs. I've got half maybe the record written. It definitely won't be seven years (between albums),
maybe closer to two years.
GS: Are you looking forward to playing the songs on Rules Of Travel before an audience?
RC: I have been, a bit. I've been playing some weekend dates and I'm getting really comfortable with playing them live.
Particularly 'Rules Of Travel'—it's so much fun to perform. 'Will You Remember Me?' is a very sweet moment in the set as well. Yeah,
I'm loving these songs, I really am. I'm getting inside them even more.
GS: You reached an entirely new audience via your short-story collection Bodies of Water. Are there plans for another book?
RC: I'm writing a book of non-fiction actually. It reads more like stories. It's about a period of my life, 1976 to 1991, but they're all
separate stories. It's kind of what I intended with the song '44 Stories' (on Rules of Travel), that there would be stories from your life
that have a beginning, middle and an end. That's what I'm working on right now and Viking is going to publish it.
