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Sep. 22--Rosanne Cash does not want to become a professional mourner.
Her three parents -- stepmother June Carter Cash, father Johnny Cash and mother Vivian Liberto Cash Distin -- died within two years of one another, and this year she released a brilliantly powerful album about death, "Black Cadillac."
Still, "I refuse to be the poster child for grief and suffering," said Cash, who returns to Minneapolis on Sunday at the Pantages Theatre. "I will not do it. A lot of people come up at concerts and say, 'I'm sorry you lost your dad.' I know they're being nice, but it has been three years. I think I deserve the opportunity to get past the daily reminders."
"Black Cadillac" is about loss and renegotiating those relationships. In Cash's current "concept concert" with videos, narration and music, she explores three areas: loss, her familial and musical ancestry, and the rest of her career.
"I think people come expecting some kind of memorial service, or it could be very somber, and some people come even wanting that," she said this week from her New York apartment. "But people are surprised that there's so much ebullience and light and life in these songs and even humor in them. I've been loving uncovering those nuances."
With more than 150,000 copies of "Black Cadillac" sold, Cash has been receiving feedback from listeners who also have lost parents. "It makes it less scary to know that everyone suffers loss," she said. "And it gave me perspective: I heard some terrible, tragic stories and I realized that losing an elderly parent is not a tragedy; it's a part of the natural course of events."
Cash, 51, corresponds with her fans via her almost-monthly Mrs. L's Column on her website. She ruminates on fan e-mails, her life, politics and even her favorite movies, albums and books.
Sept. 12 was the third anniversary of her father's death, but Cash declined to discuss how she observed it. As for the first anniversary of her mother's death on May 24, well, that was her own birthday, as well.
"That was a tough day for me. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with that day. I polled my sisters and I said: 'I need a new birthday,' " she recalled with a chuckle. "They said, 'Well, you have to stay a Gemini.' So I'm not sure what to do with that."
Cash is still trying to figure out how to deal with her father's posthumous recordings. It took her a while to summon the courage to listen to this year's "American V: A Hundred Highways," some of which was recorded after the death of his wife.
"I thought it was beautiful. I listened to it just once," Cash said. " 'Unearthed' [2003's five-CD boxed set recorded with producer Rick Rubin] I haven't listened to all the way through. It's just too much. I can't do it."
"Black Cadillac" isn't the first time Cash has written with such exposed emotions. Her artful 1991 album, "Interiors," explored the breakup of her marriage to country singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell.
"'Interiors' was the young person's version of 'Black Cadillac.' " she said. "This time, I thought I was just going to be writing about loss and grief, and then it turns out I was writing about ancestry and that I'm the middle of the story, not the end of it. The most satisfying thing for me is that I realized that I wrote it for my [five] children. It's a little road map for them for later on."
"Interiors" was the album that took Cash, who had 10 No. 1 country hits in the 1980s, out of country and into the singer/songwriter world. Shortly after her divorce from Crowell, she moved to New York, eventually remarried (guitarist/producer John Leventhal) and wrote magazine articles and three books, and made albums far removed from mainstream country.
Last week, she did appear on Country Music Television's "Crossroads" program with Steve Earle, another lapsed country artist. Tonight, she'll be in Nashville for the fifth annual Americana Awards. She's nominated for artist of the year and top song for "Black Cadillac."
"It's nice except I had to cancel a gig [in Door County, Wis.] in order to go to the awards," said Cash, adding that she'll hang out at the awards with Crowell, who is competing with her for song of the year.
Even though she's getting a lot of career mileage out of "Black Cadillac," Cash is ready for her next vehicle. She's already written a few new songs. "And they're not about death -- thank God."
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