Unless you’ve spent the last 50 years cryogenically frozen in deep space, you may have heard of Rosanne Cash‘s father, Johnny Cash. When Rosanne locked in on becoming a successful country singer/songwriter, she had a formidable set of footsteps to follow. But she isn’t one to duck a challenge. Twenty of her singles cracked the top 20 in the country charts from 1979 to 1990, with 11 reaching the number-one spot. Her new album, The List (out next week on EMI/Manhattan), is a terrific reworking of country classics, handpicked from a list of indispensable songs her dad made for her 36 years ago. Having Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy and Rufus Wainwright appear as guest artists on the record is a nice fit. Rosanne will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week long. Read our Q&A with her.
Cash: I am fully aware that I know nothing about hip hop. And “All The Above” has a lot of melodic resonance that maybe more hardcore hip hop would disclaim. (Is there such a thing as “hardcore hip hop”? If not, I lease the title to anyone willing to explain it to me.) But I love this song so much that it brings tears to my eyes. The first time I heard it, when Maino got to the line “The struggle is nothing but love,” I got a lump in my throat. When he ended up at “I’m destined for greatness,” actual tears came. This guy is a Brooklyn native, which already claims my loyalty, since I’m his neighbor across the bridge in Manhattan, and he is full of love, and he spreads it around. I wish he’d spread it around more. He is a light: soulful, poetic and tough. That combination makes me swoon. (It defines my husband, in fact, although he’s a white guy who plays wicked Telecaster.) There’s a great line in “All The Above” that says “Trying to hope for tomorrow/When I think that I can’t, I envision Obama.” The hair stood up on the back of my neck. I loved Obama before, but now I really get it. Or at least I have the insouciance to think I get it, and that’s a first step. I’ve listened to this song a million times, and I don’t get tired of it. And also, you gotta love a guy who has a tatoo that says Death Before Dishonor. Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roe3Ba0uQKs
