From Roseanne Cash's blog dated 7/1/09: Dear Friends, I am finished making "The List", my new record, and it will be released on October 6th by the good folks at Manhattan Records.
I really enjoyed writing that last sentence.
Making this record was an adventure and I feel confident in saying that Mr. L’s arrangements are the masterwork of his career so far. The songs were culled from a List of "100 Essential Country Songs" that my dad made for me when I was 18 years old. It could have easily been called "100 Essential AMERICAN Songs", as the list covered every critical juncture in Roots music, from early Folk songs, protest songs, history songs, Appalachian, Southern blues and Delta bottomland songs, to Gospel and modern Country music. This list is not only a personal legacy, but I have come to realize it is also a cultural legacy, as important to who we are as Americans as the Civil War, or the Rocky Mountains.
It is perhaps the only record I could have made at this point in my life, and it is deeply thrilling and very emotional for me to claim this legacy in this way, and, after a lifetime as a songwriter, to showcase some essential and truly great songs as a singer, an archivist, and as a daughter. And mother. This list now goes to my children. What list will you pass on? (Note: find more of Rosanne’s family stories, reminiscences and recipes at thelist.tumblr.com. Join the conversation—submit your OWN list of what’s been passed on to you by family and friends.)
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