Tag Archives: The List

The 10 best for ’09

December 22, 2009Music'60s rock, Albums of the Year, Alexis Babini, All In One, Already Free, Bebel Gilberto, blues-rock, Bram Rigg Set, Brazilian jazz, Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez, classic rock, Coryell Auger Sample Trio, Derek Trucks Band, Electric Dirt, Elvis Costello, folk, folk-rock, gospel, Horehound, Jack White, jazz, Johnny Cash, Just Roll Tape, Kala Farnham, Karma Auger, latin jazz, Levon Helm, Middle Cyclone, Neko case, Orange Television, rock, Rosanne Cash, soul, Stephen Stills, The Dead Weather, The Deep End, The List, the ShagsPaul Rosano

Last year I picked five albums I considered the best of the year. This time I’m upping it to 10 with a few bubbling under and some added tidbits.

1. Already Free, The Derek Trucks Band: Traditional blues with modern sensibilities and influences from jazz, roots and world music, all played by an array of accomplished musicians and one of the best slide players of our time.

2. The Deep End, Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez: Stellar songwriting, impassioned vocals and infectious grooves highlight Ohlman’s fifth album, which also features an impressive roster of guests. Her best yet.

3. Electric Dirt, Levon Helm: On this electrified followup to his comeback album Dirt Farmer, Helm blends traditional roots music with elements of folk, blues, soul and gospel. The mix of new original material and classic covers works perfectly. The arrangements are clean and to the point and musicianship impeccable.

4. Middle Cyclone, Neko Case: A wonderful concoction of folk, rock, country and pop interlaced with enigmatic lyrics and penetrating melodies. All topped with Case’s crystal clear voice.

5. All In One, Bebel Gilberto: Her best since Tanta Tempo in 2000, this work is alive with beautiful songwriting and Gilberto’s gorgeous, hushed, cool vocals. Aided by her pals Carlhinos Brown and Didi Gutman among others.

6. Soul On Ten, Robben Ford: A ripping, rocking live set with two live-in-the-studio cuts, filled with Ford’s interesting blues-based originals, some classic covers and his unique take on blues, rock and jazz playing.

7. The List, Rosanne Cash: A love letter to her father Johnny and her audience, giving back songs from his list of 100 that he gave to his teen-age daughter. Arrangements and execution by Cash and husband John Levanthal are enthralling. Continue reading The 10 best for ’09 →

Johnny Cash’s list for Rosanne

October 20, 2009MusicAmerican music, Americana, Bruce Springsteen, country, country rock, Elvis Costello, Hal David, Hank Snow, Infinity Music Hall, Jeff Tweedy, John Leventhal, Johnny Cash, Norfolk Connecticut, pure Country, Rosanne Cash, Rufus Wainwright, Ted Jensen, The Carter Family, The List, the Rolling StonesPaul Rosano

I had a taste of The List when I saw Rosanne Cash in concert this past July at the Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut.

rosanne-cash-the-list-lp She performed six selections that night from the album released in September of songs chosen from a list put together by her father Johnny Cash as a musical education for his teen-age daughter in 1973.

The songs on The List are pure country, pure American music as Rosanne puts it, and she brings her special vocal interpretations to them along with wonderful arrangements by her husband John Leventhal, who plays just about all the instruments except for drums.

She also has some special guests in Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy and Rufus Wainwright, who put a harmony to Cash’s lead on one song each. The result is an album that started as an education for Rosanne but is now one for the listening audience.

Miss The Mississippi And You, written by William Heagney, is a surprising opener for the album because it’s so unlike anything else on it. It’s the only song arranged with a swing jazz feel, melancholy but light in comparison with much of the subsequent fare. What it shares with the other selections is Leventhal’s basic, pared-down and meticulous arrangement that sees him interweaving guitars and other instruments, as he does on all the tracks.

The traditional Motherless Children is a smouldering, slow-burning house on fire, using beautiful substitution chords with intricate interplay of guitars, mandolin and Larry Campbell’s fiddle, topped with Cash’s expressive vocal. Leventhal takes the first lead in a traditional country style easily riding the rhythm, then closes with a full-bore, hard-edged guitar tone on the tag. The track is a highlight of the album. Continue reading Johnny Cash’s list for Rosanne →

Rosanne Cash and The List

July 16, 2009MusicBlack Cadillac, blog, country, country rock, folk, Infinity Music Hall, John Leventhal, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, King's Record Shop, Music, Norfolk Connecticut, rock, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, The Carter Family, The List, The WheelPaul Rosano

It’s not common that a gifted songwriter is also an excellent interpreter of other’s songs. Sure, many of our great songwriters will occasionally record cover versions and quite well, but few do it on a consistently wide-ranging basis and do it with few peers.

rcash-w-guitar Rosanne Cash does that, perhaps as well or better than anybody. At the Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut Tuesday night, Cash mixed songs from Black Cadillac, an album dedicated to her late father Johnny Cash, and a few requests with songs from her upcoming album The List, which will consist of some of the pillars of the great American country songbook.

As Rosanne tells it they come from a list her father gave her. When she graduated from high school in 1973, she went on tour with Johnny Cash, and when he asked her if she was familiar with a particular country song and she said no, he asked about another. When she couldn’t identify three he named, he said that’s it and made a list of 100 country songs for her to learn as her musical education. Continue reading Rosanne Cash and The List →

The Trick Is To Keep Going

All about music

Tag Archives: The List

The 10 best for ’09

Johnny Cash’s list for Rosanne

Rosanne Cash and The List

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: