What We're Listening To: Rita

The List by Roseanne Cash

The back story for this album is a poignant one - when Roseanne was 18, her father Johnny Cash, alarmed that she knew only popular songs, gave her a list of the 100 songs that he considered to be essential country songs. She kept the list, and after the death of her father, mother, and stepmother in a two-year span, chose 12 of the songs for this collection. The songs are classic Americana, and Cash emphasizes their beauty and simplicity with understated arrangements. There are some duets here, most notably “Sea of Heartbreak” with Bruce Springsteen (nominated for a Grammy award), but Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy and Rufus Wainwright also make appearances. It is Roseanne’s voice that carries the album, however, and her singing is heartbreakingly lovely as she gives songs like “Miss the Mississippi and You”, “Motherless Children”, “500 Miles”, “She’s Got You” and “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow” a deeply personal perspective. There are 88 more songs on the original list – here’s hoping this isn’t the last we’ve heard from it.