Album Review

In 1973, Johnny Cash was discussing music with his teenage daughter Rosanne while on a tour bus, and he was shocked to realize that she didn’t know many of the songs that inspired him. Deciding that this situation needed to be rectified, he took out a pencil and paper and meticulously assembled a list of the “100 Essential Country Songs” and gave it to his daughter.

Some 36 years later, Rosanne Cash has returned to that piece of paper and recorded her own versions of 13 of those classic songs. You hear the term thrown around often these days, but it is fair to say that the resulting album, simple titled The List, could with all sincerity be described as a labor of love.

Cash’s tactics on these songs is to give them the respect that they demand without doing outright copies. It’s a fine line to walk, and, at times, the resulting arrangements drift a little bit into tasteful blandness. It’s a good thing on these occasions that the songs are unassailably brilliant enough to compensate; there’s no denying that Johnny had some great taste.

It’s also a good bet that Johnny probably included a few rollicking honky-tonk numbers in that original list, but none of them made it onto this project. Maybe Rosanne is saving those for Volume 2. On this album, she sticks to the emotions of loneliness and heartbreak that these songs embody. Still, it feels like we’re missing some of the story.

Cash has assembled an A-list of guest stars to help her out, and the results of their efforts are mixed. You wouldn’t know that Jeff Tweedy of Wilco guests on a somewhat lifeless reading of “Long Black Veil” without reading the credits. But Bruce Springsteen pretty much duets with Rosanne on “Sea Of Heartbreak,” the two harmonizing on that impeccably sad chorus in lovely fashion. The boom-chicka beat even suggests Bruce’s own “I’m On Fire,” albeit without the overt sexual frustration.

Elvis Costello is on board for “Heartaches By the Number,” and the backing band, led by Cash’s husband, multi-instrumentalist John Leventhal, responds to his presence with one of their feistiest performances. Rufus Wainwright adds some ethereal harmonies and backing vocals to the separation lament “Silver Wings.” But the best help of all comes from a guy who doesn’t sing a note; Chris Thile’s haunting mandolin is the perfect accompaniment for “Sweet Memories,” a deceptively simple song with deeper psychological depths roiling below the surface.

Cash doesn’t do much showing off vocally. Her method here is to let the melodies speak for themselves, but at times a little emotion would have gone a long way. Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country” never quite connects for that very reason. But Cash turns Hank Cochran’s “She’s Got You” into a smoky torch song, and the resulting performance is one of her most affecting on the entire album.

You really can’t go wrong with any of the songs on The List. You’ll likely come away with a deeper appreciation for the lost art of songcraft, how there isn’t an ounce of excess flesh on these songs, how every note and word are poised for maximum impact on the listeners’ hearts and minds. The performances pay this art a respect that comes just shy of stifling the songs at times, but, with a little help from her friends, Rosanne Cash pulls together enough worthy efforts to make The List a great gift of musical anthropology.

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