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Composed: A Memoir

Rosanne Cash

3.75 · Rating details · 1,709 ratings · 320 reviews

A candid and moving memoir from the critically acclaimed singer and songwriter For thirty years as a musician, Rosanne Cash has enjoyed both critical and commercial success, releasing a series of albums that are as notable for their lyrical intelligence as for their musical excellence. Now, in her memoir, Cash writes compellingly about her upbringing in Southern California ...more

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Hardcover, 256 pages

Published August 10th 2010 by Viking (first published April 1st 2010)

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Apr 02, 2014 Melki rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, hum-a-few-bars

It's a hard road but it fits your shoes.
--50,000 Watts

Fans of Rosanne Cash know she's been writing her memoir for decades... through her songs.
The pain, the joy, the love and the heartbreak - stories of a life. laid out for your musical enjoyment.

But, this is the "official" version, the one for you to read instead of listen to... Cash writes quite candidly about her relationship with her famous father, the importance of family, and her struggles with balancing her career and motherhood, Many ...more

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Jan 04, 2020 Ed rated it it was amazing

I grew up listening to the different songs by Johnny Cash on the radio and TV. His eldest daughter Rosanne carried on his legacy as a musician, forging her own impressive body of work. She has written a candid, penetrating, and, at times, wryly humorous memoir. I like how sincere, compassionate, and proud she feels about her family and friends. She talks a lot about her famous dad and shares her thoughts on him. All in all, it's a delight to read.

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Sep 30, 2010 Gary Anderson rated it it was amazing

One of the most moving concert experiences I've ever witnessed was from Rosanne Cash. This was toward the end of her Black Cadillac tour. She'd done a great set, including some of her hits and some of the songs that later became The List. The audience was clearly with her. She came out for the encore seeming like she'd enjoyed herself. As she prepared to go into her last song, someone yelled out "I Still Miss Someone, Rosanne." She said, "Yeah?", turned to her husband John on piano and asked, ...more

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Sep 10, 2010 Carol rated it it was amazing

I have yet to call myself a fan of Rosanne Cash's music. She is a great songwriter, but not a lyricist of the quality of, say, Suzanne Vega, who I think possesses some of my devotion that I could have diverted to Cash. Now, Cash has finally won me over, because while her lyrics might not have Vega's poetic flexibility, her prose writing is solid and evocative. For example, her explanation of the analog recording process is fascinating and enlightening without seeming technical, although she did ...more

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Dec 10, 2010 Pris robichaud rated it it was amazing

"I'll send the angels to watch over you tonight/And you send them right back to
me./A lonely road is a bodyguard/If you really want it to be."
song: 'Sleeping In Paris' from the album 'The Wheel'.

Rosanne Cash, it seems has been writing forever. The above song was written after the demise of her first marriage. She remembers as a school child writing a sentence and feeling the extraordinary power of words. What she has given us in her memoir is a lifetime of writing that is, indeed, so "I'll send the angels to watch over you tonight/And you send them right back to
me./A lonely road is a bodyguard/If you really want it to be."
song: 'Sleeping In Paris' from the album 'The Wheel'.

Rosanne Cash, it seems has been writing forever. The above song was written after the demise of her first marriage. She remembers as a school child writing a sentence and feeling the extraordinary power of words. What she has given us in her memoir is a lifetime of writing that is, indeed, so beautifully written that we are transported. We are taken to her birth which her mother related in detail so many times, Rosanne was unsure that she ever wanted children. Her life in California, the daughter of Johnny Cash and her petite mother, Vivian. Rosanne speaks of her self doubt throughout much of this book, her body, never thin enough, and the ever present shadow of her father. All of this, like most of us, has taken a lifetime of thought and experience to work through. She says at one point, "I worked out a lifetime of self-doubt and musical and emotional vulnerabilities under the spotlight." In time she realized that "the arena I thought was a circus of humiliation actually held half the available light of what was intended for me, for my whole life." What a remarkable paragraph. That this memoir is filled with these kinds of pearls and delectable writing should be enough, but she also graces us with a life to write about.

Rosanne lived in California as a child with both parents, but then her father split and moved to Tennessee as his career started to boom. They always had a good relationship, and even though Johnny Cash had his demons he was a wonderfully loving father. Rosanne and her sisters spent time with him every summer and at Christmas. She remembers fondly the peach ice cream he would make on hot evenings, taking everyone to the movies when it was too hot outside to play. Eventually her stepmother, June Carter Cash entered the picture, and Rosanne found another woman to emulate and love. They spent many lovely times at their estate in Jamaica, and it was there that Rosanne discovered one night the overwhelming feeling to move on with life. She resisted singing like her father, the shadow was too large, but singing and writing prose and melodies overtook her, and so she persisted, and year after year she pushed on, finding her own place. A marriage to Rodney Crowell produced three lovely daughters, and she also brought up Hannah, Crowell's daughter from a previous marriage. Although Rosanne is often classified as a country artist, her music draws on many genres, including folk, pop, rock and blues. In the 1980s, she had a string of chart-topping singles, which crossed musical genres and landed on both Country & Western and Top 100 charts. 'Seven Year Ache' was one of her biggest hits. When her marriage to Rodney Crowell ended she moved to New York City, and in 1995 she married John Leventhal, a musician and producer who produced the album 'The Wheel'. They have a son together, Jakob. At one point, Rosanne developed polyps on her vocal cord and could not sing, thus Rosanne picked up her writing career. She wrote her first book to great reviews and continued writing several articles. In 2003 her stepmother, June, and father, Johnny, both died within a short period of time of each other. Her sister, Rosie died. Her mother followed in 2006. What a legacy to be gone within such a few short years. In 2007 Rosanne had brain surgery to correct a malformation that was giving her persistent and blinding headaches. This was a grueling time, but she recovered and continued writing and assembling this memoir that has taken ten years to write.

When Rosanne graduated from high school, that summer, her father took her on his bus tour. He discovered that she had a limited knowledge of the old songs, and sat down and wrote down the 100 songs that he felt delineated the times. It is a list of the 100 Folk/Americana songs that she needed to know about. Somehow she picked twelve of the very best, and these suit her to a 'T'. She has made a CD that is pure love and music. She has made these songs her own. 'The List' has been nominated for album of the year.

Rosanne Cash's 'Composed' is a perfect title, that is how she has followed her life- in music, from one lyric and song to the next, in life, from one issue to the next, an authentic person. She writes as she lives. She tells us "So, in writing this in nonfiction and a memoir, I felt a responsibility to be true to the facts as I remembered them. And you know there is melody in prose. It's more subtle, but it's there. So I was always trying to find the melody." Rosanne's eulogies for her stepmother, June, and her father, John, are so ephemeral and poignant, that a tear or two are bound to slide down your cheeks. What Rosanne Cash brings to her memoir, with her prose and melodies are the beauty, fire and the stuff of dreams.

Addendum:

Publishers Weekly chose her memoir as one of the top non-fiction books of the year! 11-18-10

...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Kim rated it it was ok

I had never heard of Rosanne Cash, and certainly had no idea she was remotely famous as a musician; my in-house librarian just brought it home thinking my fondness for Johnny Cash might spill over to her life and this book. I did enjoy learning a bit more about Johnny and his family. (With apologies to Rosanne, I'm afraid I didn't stay all that interested in *her* life, which is her cross to bear, I suppose.) For the first 75 pages or so I had no idea why anyone was reading this book and ...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Kerry Dunn rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2016

Gee, I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. It's a memoir but she never seems to delve deep enough into her own life. It all feels like surface. Impressions. Feelings. There are big ideas here about art and grief and living an independent life, but it just never connected for me. The part of the book I enjoyed the most was her eulogy to June Carter Cash. That was truly beautiful and touching. Near the end when she writes about her traumatic brain surgery I was disappointed in her ...more

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Oct 31, 2019 Rene Saller rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Such a wonderful memoir--intimate without seeming exhibitionistic, well-written but not in a preeningly "poetic" way, perceptive, compassionate, and wise. I read Cash's collection of short stories several years ago and thought it was excellent; this memoir is even better. If I have to quibble, I'll note that there were times when the unpredictable, possibly intuitive arrangement of the material became needlessly confusing. (I don't know why, but there's some kind of new rule in publishing ...more

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May 22, 2014 Yaaresse rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century-setting, memoir, non-fiction, music-or-musicians, first-read-2014

Had it not been for Cash appearing on the On Being podcast and showing herself not only to be intelligent, articulate and thoughtful, but also a bit of a geek, I would probably never have checked out this book. Bios and memoirs of musicians or actors (or, really, anyone still alive) just isn't my thing. I like her music well enough, but the interview with On Being downplayed the "famous family" angle and played up the angle of someone who is curious about everything from Jung to quantum physics ...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Josh rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs, music

Lovely little memoir from one of my most beloved country musicians-- though I hasten to add that you don't particularly have to enjoy, or even know, Cash's music to be charmed by this book. Actually, those looking for behind-the-scenes discussions of the recordings themselves are those most likely to be disappointed; Cash talks just a bit about the conditions surrounding some of here albums, perhaps more than a bit about the three biggies (King's Record Shop, Interiors, Black Cadillac), but ...more

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May 11, 2015 Anne Jordan-Baker rated it it was amazing

This is probably the most interesting autobiography I've read, full of strange and fascinating language. I am in love with the paragraph that starts with, "If Magritte had painted my childhood...." A very interesting way to sum up her most memorable childhood images. Brilliant and breathtaking.

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Dec 21, 2018 Scott Hitchcock rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, 2018-published-and-read

Parts were interesting but overall it was very dry and hopped all over the place with a rambling style.

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Dec 18, 2012 Megan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoirs

It's not surprising that Rosanne Cash is a good writer. As a musician, composer and lyricist, she has honed these skills nearly all of her life. And, it didn't hurt that she's got some pretty powerful genes coming from, not only her famous father, but also her less well-known mother. Ms. Cash's ability to relate family and relationship dynamics is paramount in this book. And she does it without judgement, but rather as a seasoned observer. Both the dysfunctional and the exemplary models are It's not surprising that Rosanne Cash is a good writer. As a musician, composer and lyricist, she has honed these skills nearly all of her life. And, it didn't hurt that she's got some pretty powerful genes coming from, not only her famous father, but also her less well-known mother. Ms. Cash's ability to relate family and relationship dynamics is paramount in this book. And she does it without judgement, but rather as a seasoned observer. Both the dysfunctional and the exemplary models are described in detail with crisp clarity, but also with profound compassion.

Speaking of her parents, "The emotional debris field between them after thirteen years was enormous, too immense for them to cross toward each other..."

Speaking of the death of her father, "In the months since my father's passing I had come to understand the the loss of a parent expands you - - or shrinks you, as the case may be - - according to your own nature. If too much business is left unfinished, and guilt and regret take hold deep in the soul, mourning begins to diminish you, to constrict the heart, to truncate the vision of your own future, and to narrow the creative potential of the mind and spirit. If enough has been resolved - - not everything, for everything will never be done, but just enough - - then deep grief begins to transform the inner landscape, and space opens inside. you begin to realize that everyone has a tragedy, and that if he doesn't, he will. you recognize how much is hidden behind the small courtesies and civilities of everyday existence. Deep sorrow and traces of great loss run through everyone's ives, and yet they let others step into the elevator first, wave them ahead in a line of traffic, smile and greet their children and inquire about their lives, and never let on for a second that they, too, have cried until it seemed impossible that one person could hold so many tears, that they, too, keep a picture of someone locked in their heart and bring it out in quiet, solitary moments to caress and remember. Loss is the great unifier, the terrible club to which we all eventually belong.

Her personal and professional challenges are related with prose that is not verbose or trite, but, rather deep and moving. I had not been aware of the health challenges she faced in 2007, undergoing brain surgery for a rare condition called: Chiari I malformation. The journey she traveled towards recovery is fascinating as relates to her changed sensory perceptions and motivations as an artist.

And, finally, speaking of Art and her own personal spirituality: "We all need art and music like we need blood and oxygen. The more exploitative, numbing, and assaulting popular culture becomes, the more we need the truth of a beautifully phrased song, dredged from a real person's depth of experience, delivered in an honest voice; the more we need the simplicity of paint on canvas, or the art of a lonely body in the air, or the photographer's unflinching eye Art, in the larger sense, is the lifeline to which I cling in a confusing, unfair, sometimes dehumanizing world. In my childhood, the nuns and priests insisted, sometimes in a shrill and punitive tone, that religion was where God resided and where I might find transcendence. i was afraid they were correct for so many years, and that I was the one at fault for not being able to navigate the circuitry of dogma and ritual. For me, it turned out to be a decoy, a mirage framed in sound and fury. Art and music have proven to be more expansive, more forgiving, and more immediately alive For me, art is a more trustworthy expression of God than religion."

Highly recommended. Also her album, "The List" which is an excerpt of 12 songs from a list of 100 that her father gave her when she was touring him with 18. Songs that he felt she should know and master if she wanted to truly be a country singer. ...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Kyli rated it it was ok

I was planning on giving this book 3 stars until I got to page 224 and read this: "I adamantly refuse to join any community that identifies itself by an illness. This idea of becoming a spokesperson for this condition, which I was asked to do before the staples were even out of my head, was appalling to me, and entirely against my nature and sense of privacy - I was not inclined to trade publicly on anything related to my health or body, even, unfortunately in the service of others who suffer I was planning on giving this book 3 stars until I got to page 224 and read this: "I adamantly refuse to join any community that identifies itself by an illness. This idea of becoming a spokesperson for this condition, which I was asked to do before the staples were even out of my head, was appalling to me, and entirely against my nature and sense of privacy - I was not inclined to trade publicly on anything related to my health or body, even, unfortunately in the service of others who suffer with the same disease. .

While I've always been a fan of Johnny Cash (who isn't?), I admit that what encouraged me to buy this book was the fact that Rosanne and I both have the health condition she mentioned above: Chiari Malformation. Before I review the writing itself, I just have to mention that, up until I read those sentences above, I found myself thinking "This woman seems like somebody I could be friends with. She's so intelligent, insightful, and doesn't seem to be phased by her fame." I totally understand Cash's desire to keep her health private - dealing with this condition for over a decade, I understand that its not something you really feel like sharing, nonetheless, drawing attention to. I also understand that she isn't obligated to be a part of the community or to advocate for the illness, but perhaps she doesn't realize the deep struggles many people with this condition face and the disastrous results of inadequate treatment and lack of awareness. I know people who've died of Chiari Malformation and many of them would probably still be alive today had they been diagnosed and treated earlier.

Cash, whether she likes it or not, is in a position where she could spread awareness and not just change, but save lives. However, in those few sentences, she conveyed a selfishness and a lack of compassion, that quite frankly, shocks me. I can't imagine experiencing these symptoms PLUS the actual brain surgery and not feeling like you want to help others in the same situation. I know a lot of people in the online community - they're extremely sick people, who don't identify as an "illness", but instead try to triumph through their symptoms the best that they can. They would give anything to have an outlet to spread awareness about Chiari, but they don't have one. They're not famous.

What a shame. Really.

As far as the writing goes, I, too, felt that it was disorganized and a bit too time-liney for my taste. She's definitely a talented writer and an intelligent woman; very articulate and deep. I enjoyed some of the more emotional stories (like the one about the lady they picked up on the side of the road) and like others said, the funeral speeches towards the end - the one about June was really beautiful. I think it may have held my attention better if I was involved in the music industry; there were parts about the recording process that I felt like skipping over. I had a hard time staying interested at times. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it, but then again maybe I'm biased after those comments she made. ...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Louise rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography, entertainers, memoir

I saw the movie "Walk the Line", but the film did not portray the rich and wonderful relationship Johnny Cash had with his oldest daughter that comes through in this book. Johnny Cash is constantly there for her, as a father, mentor and friend.

2010 seems to have been the year of the singer memoir. Of ones by women that I've read "Between a Heart and a Rock Place: A Memoir", "Lips Unsealed: A Memoir", "Just Kids" and now "Composed", the life stories are very different. While Smith's book is ...more

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Dec 06, 2014 George rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, audiobooks

ENTERTAINING BUT SAD.

“Loss is the great unifier, the terrible club to which we all eventually belong.” ― Rosanne Cash, Composed: A Memoir

There’s an awful lot about loss in this book, COMPOSED: A Memoir, by Rosanne Cash. In fact, her eulogy of her step-mom, June Carter Cash, was the most interesting, one of the most poignant passages of her tale.

It is amazing all the things that happen to people in the course of a lifetime. Some uplifting, some tragic. On balance it would seem that Rosanne Cash ...more

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Oct 20, 2010 Elisabeth rated it liked it

I'm not entirely sure what I expected from Composed, but I picked it up with a vague idea in mind of learning more about Johnny & June Carter Cash from the perspective of one of their children. I was wrong, and I was pleasantly surprised. Composed primarily tells the story of her professional development, as it was affected by her childhood, adolescence, and her non-professional adult life. While it contains some wonderful notes about her parents & stepparents, it is first and foremost a ...more

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Mar 02, 2017 Bonnie G. rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir, music, audio-and-print

Not a lot to say about Cash's book. I am a fan of her music, and that of the Rodney Crowell. Johnny Cash, and to a lesser extent the Carter Family. It's an interesting road Cash has taken, and I was pleased to hear about her formative experiences as a musician, and about the dynamic of this well known family. I somehow came away from this wanting more information about all of it. Her family, her time in England, her marriage to Crowell. Though she is very up front about what happened in her ...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Susan rated it really liked it

Having just finished Rodney Crowell's Chinaberry Sidewalks, reading the memoir of his former wife seemed fitting. They were both very respectful of each other. Neither book is a trashy "tell-all" meant for the National Enquirer's readership.

While I connected with Crowell's book culturally, I read Cash's book with the enthusiasm of one who's found a new friend who "gets it." Cash's Nashville pedigree provides her with amazing experiences, but its her introspection and sojourner's spirit that ...more

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Dec 27, 2010 Scottsdale Public Library added it

Shelves: adult, nonfiction, biography-or-memoir

A beautifully written memoir by Rosanne Cash, the famous singer and daughter of Johnny Cash, that covers everything from her parents painful split when she was a child, to touring with her father and launching her own career as a young adult, to living in New York on 9/11 and her recent brain surgery. Lush with stories and sneek peeks into the lives of the Cash and Carter families and other Country greats this is a must read for music lovers!

-Lindsey D.-

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Oct 03, 2010 Laura rated it liked it

Cash is likeable and a great storyteller. I enjoyed getting to know more about her and her friends and family. She's very upfront about her family's history of substance abuse, and she writes about heartbreak and pain very beautifully.

I felt that she treaded too lightly over her divorce from Rodney Crowell - she details the hurt she felt, but never explains why. In general, there were other relationships that I wanted to hear more about (like with her step-family and June Carter). Also, the book ...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Erika Marks rated it really liked it

A lovingly and beautifully written memoir, understated and powerful, Ms. Cash shares, and often with aching honesty, pieces of her life and her passions. She reserves falling into tabloid confessions in private matters, which only serves to give more power to the sections of the book that address the intimacies of her music and her sometimes challenging, but always tender, relationship with her father. There are frequent distillations of her songs and how she came to shape the lyrics, which is ...more

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Jul 23, 2015 Kim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: entertainment

Rosanne Cash's interview on Gretchen Rubin's Happier podcast is what led me to Composed. I had never been particularly interested in Rosanne or her dad (although, years ago, I was riveted by the movie, Walk the Line), but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I recommend listening to the audiobook so you can hear Rosanne's memoir in her own voice, occasionally accompanied by original music from her husband, John Leventhal. Beautiful.

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Jan 24, 2014 Evi rated it liked it

Found this book at a used book sale. Since I'm a fan of country music and always enjoyed listening to her father's music, it was a safe buy.

Nothing special, but I enjoyed the book and the little inside stories about the Cash family.

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Feb 11, 2013 Nancy rated it really liked it

A view into a family from poor origins dealing with fame through two generations. Roseanne's unique way of coping with growing up in the shadow of her father and stepmother is not a linear path. Her persistence and honesty are admirable Maybe TMI at times.

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Jul 15, 2014 Carolyn (in SC) C234D rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir-biography

Rosanne Cash is a wonderful writer. Enjoyed this book very much. It’s not a linear account, but wanders around a bit. Terrific anecdotes. It’s interesting to read how different a creative, artistic person reacts to life. 9/10.

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Jan 22, 2014 Brent rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, biography, music, favorites, parenting, memoir

I love reading this lyrical book by a favorite author of great songs.
Highly recommended!

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Dec 21, 2014 Janet C. rated it it was ok

Recommended to Janet C. by: n/a

I really don't know why but I was disappointed in this book. It just didn't appeal to me but I did finish it.

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Feb 12, 2018 Well Read Southerner Blog rated it really liked it

Recently I listened to the Garden & Gun magazine podcastWhole Hog. It was episode 3 of season 2 and was entitled "Rosanne Cash's Arrow to the South" andhost John Huey speaks with Cash about storytelling; the influence of her father, Johnny Cash; speaking up politically; and the ability of songs to mean something different to each listener. They also discussed her memoir, Composed, so I checked it out at the library.

I'm a faithful listener of this podcast. Frankly, I could listen to John Recently I listened to the Garden & Gun magazine podcast Whole Hog. It was episode 3 of season 2 and was entitled "Rosanne Cash's Arrow to the South" and host John Huey speaks with Cash about storytelling; the influence of her father, Johnny Cash; speaking up politically; and the ability of songs to mean something different to each listener. They also discussed her memoir, Composed, so I checked it out at the library.

I'm a faithful listener of this podcast. Frankly, I could listen to John Huey, Former editor-in-chief, Time Inc., read the back of a shampoo bottle. I love his voice. But more importantly, I love the questions he asks of guests with a way of opening a dialogue that makes you realize you never thought of something that way before.

I follow Rosanne on Twitter. I've read her New York Times opinion piece and am totally in agreement with her dislike of Trump. Is hatred of him too strong a word? I don't think so. I also read the two articles in Rolling Stone magazine about the use of her dad's name on a tee shirt worn by a Neo-Nazi and a white nationalist radio show. I applaud her for standing up for that nonsense.

There was some of the book that I didn't really know a lot about what she was talking about in regards to the music industry such as mixing music, being in the studio, etc. But that didn't matter much. I enjoyed reading about her life in trying to be independent of the large effect her father's life and influence had on her.

But, If I'm honest I'll tell you that I never really listened to that much of Roseanne's music. Oh, I remember her hits from the 80s and 90s and liked them and have them downloaded to my iPhone but I'm talking about her other music. The music she writes about that changed her life in her book. That's the music I haven't heard. Those are the lyrics that haven't spoken to me as they spoken to her. But now, after reading her memoir, I want to listen. I want to hear the words that made her write so eloquently in her book that moved me to tears. Words that hit me in my heart such as the ones quoted below. Words that I could have sworn I wrote myself.

"It was never too late to undo who you had become."

"I have taken every sorrow in my life to the ocean - the deaths of my parents, my grandparent, my aunts and uncles, friends who died untimely deaths, my stepsister Rosey, and my best friend from eighth grade, the baby that never came to term, the broken relationships, divorce, the terror of the addictions of those I love - I have taken all of it to the sea. I have performed many rituals of release while immersed in salt water or walking on the shore. The ocean, for me, is what those in a twelve-step programs call a Higher Power."

"We all need art and music like we need blood and oxygen. The more exploitative, numbing, and assaulting popular culture become, the more we need the truth of a beautifully phrased song, dredged from a real person's depth of experience, delivered in an honest voice, the more we need the simplicity of paint on canvas, or the arc of a lonely body in the air, or the photographer's unflinching eye. Art, in the larger sense, is the lifeline to which I cling to in a confusing, unfair, sometimes dehumanizing world. In my childhood, the nuns and priests insisted, sometimes in a shrill and punitive tone, that religion was where God resided and where I might find transcendence. I was afraid that they were correct for so many years, and that I was the one at fault for not being able to navigate the circuitry of dogma and ritual. For me, it turned out to be a decoy, a mirage framed in sound and fury. Art and music have proven to be more expansive, more forgiving, and more immediately alive. For me, art is a more trust-worthy expression of God than religion." ...more

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Jul 03, 2018 Valerie J K rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018

Last month I was driving when Cash's song Seven Year Ache came on the radio. I remembered the powerful song well from childhood but hadn't heard it in years. I went home and listened to a number of her songs and read about her life, which led me to her memoir. The audiobook is narrated by Cash herself, which I loved. She is well known as Johnny Cash's daughter and has achieved success in her own right with a beautiful voice, eleven #1 singles, fourteen albums recorded from 1978-2018, 4 grammy Last month I was driving when Cash's song Seven Year Ache came on the radio. I remembered the powerful song well from childhood but hadn't heard it in years. I went home and listened to a number of her songs and read about her life, which led me to her memoir. The audiobook is narrated by Cash herself, which I loved. She is well known as Johnny Cash's daughter and has achieved success in her own right with a beautiful voice, eleven #1 singles, fourteen albums recorded from 1978-2018, 4 grammy awards, and 11 nominations. The book is composed of events and stories, not necessarily chonological, which I appreciated--it felt more like conversation than chronology. The passages describing her family--her dad, mother, children, and even June Carter Cash are beautiful and expressive, which speak for her character and loyalty. She shares her stories openly, yet I felt she held back (understandable given the demands of publicity vs. privacy). I would love to see her perform some day, perhaps I'd be one of the 6% that she sings to. Some of my favorite passages...

“Loss is the great unifier, the terrible club to which we all eventually belong.”

On 3 decades of motherhood while making cupcakes with grown daughters for her 10 yr old son: "Thirty years of cupcakes. It's a privilege."

On June Carter Cash: "That was June. In her eyes there were two kinds of people in the world--those she knew and loved, and those she didn't know and loved. She looked for the best in everyone."
Describing how June lifted those who were down, she'd say "Well honey, we'll just have to lift him up," and "She was forever lifting people up. It took me a long time to understand that what she did when she lifted you up was to mirror the very best parts of you back to yourself."

On Johnny Cash: "It was not the scope of his artistry and his remarkable body of work which made him great. He was already great. The music just came out of it."
"All that he said and sang and strummed changed us and moved us."
"He was not an icon when he told us he loved us, how beautiful or handsome we were, how proud he was. He never criticized, he never condescended to us, never forced his will on us, never raised his voice or lectured. He offered advice only when we asked for it and then he would measure his words with respect and kindness. He respected us as much as we respected him. He was so modest and humble and so willing to live with the weight of his own pain without making anyone else pay for it. He was a Baptist with the soul of a mystic. He was a poet who worked in the dirt. He was an enlightened being who was wracked with the suffering of addiction and grief. He was real, whole, and more alive to the subtleties of this world and the world beyond than anyone I have ever known..." ...more

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About Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash

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Roseanne Cash is a four time Grammy award winning American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country music icon Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto.

Cash married country music singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell in 1979. They have three daughters: Caitlin, Chelsea and Carrie. They divorced in 1992. She married her second husband, John Leventhal, in 1995, and they ...more