Rosanne Cash on Life, the List and Johnny Cash’s Big Black Hats
Monday, November 29, 2010 at 12:53AM
The late country music icon, Johnny Cash, was asked one day by a fan, “Are you Rosanne Cash’s father?” Now Cash’s daughter, Rosanne, is telling her story of the challenges of growing up as the child of that superstar performer and how she finally came in to her own.
The auditorium of the 92 Street Y in New York City was packed on October 7, 2010, as Rosanne was interviewed by American novelist A.M. Homes in an engaging conversation style, answered audience questions, played her favorite Bob Dylan song live, and later signed copies of her new book, “Composed.”
As a psychologist, of course I was fascinated by her revelations about her childhood and how she overcame writer’s block and brain surgery. Some highlights from the evening on:
(1) Growing up the daughter of Johnny Cash (and his first wife, before his marriage to June Carter). Rosanne admitted that “At first, it was difficult growing up with a famous dad, who was ‘an iconic figure’.” She “resented it at first” and “had a chip on my shoulder about my parents” but then went on the road with him (when she was 18 years old) and “realized I could be bitter, but saw he had a bigger mission.” Still, she moved to Europe to “separate myself” and later felt about her heritage that “it became beautiful.”
(2) Her favorite topic: quantum physics, as she says, “there is such poetry in the language of physics.” Her pay-off for speaking at Harvard’s Kirkland House was meeting any professor at the top Ivy League school. She picked physics professor Lisa Randall, featured in the New York Times for her work on extra dimensions, whom Cash says, “dumbed down for me… asked me about music and became a friend.” Quantum physics unravels mysteries of the universe!
(3) Overcoming fears in her career. As a 24-year old, she wrote a song about street people, that became a big hit, but she says, it “scared me to death.” Despite being an Grammy-award winner, Rosanne reveals, “I had a lot of fear to overcome…I had stage fright… [thinking] Why am I doing this? [wondering] should I just be “in my father’s shadow all my life…never being as good as Bob Dylan (her favorite songwriter).”
She got over writers blocks by saying to herself, “Keep doing it” until in her 40s, when she decided “I got it.” Now, she says, “When it’s really not coming, I go to the refrigerator.”
A recent big success is her studio album, “The List,” with 12 of the 100 songs her father gave her when she was 18 on a list of essential country and American songs. (The album includes vocal duets with Brice Springsteen and Elvis Costello among others).
She finds inspiration from American philosopher, inventor and futurist Buckminster Fuller, in his advice to “always to tell only the truth, and all the truth, and to do so promptly—right now.”
(4) Overcoming adversity. Rosanne echoed a phrase my mom often tells me, about having to develop a “thick skin” once she moved to New York City – which anyone who lives here knows you need to survive this tough environment. Fortunately (describing a perfect combination in my psychological view), she said she has “a thick skin but an open heart.”
In 2007, Rosanne had brain surgery, While fortunately the tumor was benign, as a result, she sometimes has headaches and aphasia, once saying “batteries” when she really meant to say “credit card.” The upside, she says, is that she still gets some great ideas and that her “music got 27% better.” Also -- as everyone who has gone through trauma knows – while you can feel as Rosanne does, that “there is not enough time to complete what I have to complete,” you also develop like Rosanne, “a sense of the precious every day.”
(5) About musicians needing to have social responsibility: We often hold celebrities and artists to a high standard, insisting they be role models for a better world. Says Rosanne in response, “There’s nothing worse than proselytizing, but be your authentic self.”
(6) Cultural clothing symbols. Rosanne liked my jacket (see picture), A grey Nicole Miller with beaded lapels. Funny how a piece of wardrobe can take on a life on its own, becoming a cultural symbol. Johnny Cash was always known for his big black hat, but daughter Rosanne says “he was not a big hat guy.”
Rosanne’s address to the adults followed a discussion with a group of youth, launching an educational outreach program, “The Lyricist’s Voice,” provided free to New York City high school students, combining classroom sessions, workshops, and meetings with award-winning authors and musicians about their art. The 92nd Street Y's Poetry Center Schools Project is supported by Time Warner Cable New York and Ovation TV (the interesting TV culture-channel for whom for whom my long-time friend from CBS-TV, Ellen Schned, works).
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