Rosanne Cash in Cambridge

I celebrated my sister's birthday by taking her to see her all-time favorite singer and songwriter, Rosanne Cash. We went to Sanders Theatre in Cambridge on Thursday night to see Cash and company perform her latest release, The River & The Thread. Leading the band on acoustic and Telecaster guitars was Rosanne's husband and music director, John Leventhal. His wing man on Telecaster, acoustic and lap steel was Kevin Barry, a Boston-based teacher at the Berklee College of Music. Each guitarist was masterful at weaving unobtrusive support around the other's blazing solos. The bassist was Zev Katz, a longtime collaborator with Cash and Leventhal. Rounding out the band were keyboardist Glenn Patscha and drummer Dan Rieser.

The first set was all the songs from The River & The Thread played in sequence. Rosanne's patter between numbers shed light on the creative sparks behind the songs and continually showed her humor, intelligence and love for music. Here is a distillation of the playlist:

A Feather's Not A Bird – Rosanne set the tone with her American roots style. She draws on country, folk and gospel influences without sounding derivative. What makes Rosanne Cash a great songwriter is that she is a great listener, to both the musical tradition and the stories of the people she encounters. Cash's voice, with its clear, light twang, is ageless.

The Sunken Lands – Her father's first memory of the old family home was five cans of paint.

Etta's Tune – The secret to 65 years of marriage is to repeat each morning, "What's the temperature, darlin'?" As Rosanne observed: "what a non-confrontational way to start the day."

Modern Blue – This is the first time that Barcelona and Memphis have appeared in the same song.

Tell Heaven – A gospel number that embraces agnostics.

The Long Way Home – Life's journey has too many left turns.

World Of Strange Design – As seen through the prism of the deep South.

Night School – A musing on Mobile, Alabama. She's never been there, but she vetted the details on the internet.

50,000 Watts – The transformative power of radio.

When The Master Calls The Roll – Rosanne's current husband John Leventhal and her former husband Rodney Crowell co-wrote this tune for Emmylou Harris. Rosanne wasn't having that. She eventually got Crowell to rewrite the lyrics with her, turning the song into a tribute to the Cash ancestors of the civil war.

Money Road – It's a dark trail from William Faulkner's home to the Tallahatchie River.

The second set intermixed a few of Rosanne's early originals with covers from the American folk and country songbook. Most of these latter songs came from her album, The List, a selection of titles that her father, Johnny Cash, thought essential for her exploration. Here's the set:

Radio Operator
Movin' On (by Hank Snow)
Blue Moon With Heartache

Rosanne and Leventhal performed the next three songs as a duo:

Ode To Billie Joe (the Tallahatchie makes another appearance)
Long Black Veil
Sea Of Heartbreak (she recorded this with Springsteen; he never shows up)

The full band returned to the stage to close the show:

Tennessee Flat Top Box
Seven Year Ache
Encore: 500 Miles

How was the concert? Engaging vocals with excellent musicianship – my sister and I loved it.