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: The Staircase is a documentary by an Academy Award-winning director, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, and was produced by Sundance, but it seems that the recognition factor and success of this film has all been by word-of-mouth. I can’t remember who first told me about The Staircase, but after a second person mentioned it, I bought it. My husband and I watched it when I was recovering from brain surgery, and I have to say that just seeing the DVD case reminds me of brain surgery, which is not entirely good. But the experience of watching it with John, when I was in a lot of pain and really wanted to be distracted, is a really pleasant and sharp memory, because I was deeply distracted. This is a nearly seven-hour documentary, divided into eight parts, that chronicles the story of Michael Peterson, an author in North Carolina, who stood trial in 2003 for the murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson. De Lestrade was given unusual access to both the legal team and Peterson’s family, and what emerges is fascinating. Gripping, in fact. I won’t tell you anything about the trial or what was revealed or whether I think Peterson was guilty or not, but I will tell you that I sent this to my daughter when she was recovering from a broken foot, and she and I talked several times about specific scenes, characters and details of the trial, and that we had real arguments about the guilt or innocence of Peterson. My husband and I talked about it all day long during the time we were watching it and couldn’t wait to get to our moment in the evening when we would put on a chapter of The Staircase. It is possibly—OK, it is definitely—the best documentary I have ever seen.
