Details
Track Listing
1. Miss the Mississippi and You
2. Motherless Children
3. Sea of Heartbreak - (featuring Bruce Springsteen)
4. Take These Chains From My Heart
5. I'm Movin' On
6. Heartaches by the Number - (featuring Elvis Costello)
7. 500 Miles
8. Long Black Veil - (featuring Jeff Tweedy)
9. She's Got You
10. Girl From the North Country
11. Silver Wings - (featuring Rufus Wainwright)
12. Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow
Album Notes
Audio Mixers: John Leventhal; Rick DePofi.
Recording information: 12th Street Studio, NYC; New York Noise, NYC.
Arranger: John Leventhal.
After the dark and chilling themes of 2006's BLACK CADILLAC, which saw Rosanne Cash dealing with the deaths of her mother, Vivian Liberto, her father, Johnny Cash, and her stepmother, June Carter Cash -- all of whom passed within a two-year span -- one might assume that her next project would move into an even deeper level of bleakness, but with THE LIST, it's immediately clear that she has instead found a more measured place to stand. It's a lovely and redemptive outing that looks back to go forward. When Cash turned 18, her father, alarmed that his daughter only knew the songs that were getting played on the radio, gave her a list of what he considered 100 essential American songs; Cash kept that list, and now she's drawn on it for this wonderfully nuanced outing that brims with a kind of redemptive timelessness. THE LIST is a renewal and a testament to life, and it belongs to her father as much as it belongs to her, a beautiful restatement of her father's passions, only now, they've become his daughter's treasures, as well. It's an affirming story, but that's all it would be if Cash didn't sing her heart out here. The opener, a version of Jimmie Rodgers' "Miss the Mississippi and You," is full of comfortable grace and sentiment, and Cash keeps that fine emotional tone throughout this set. Songs like the folk classic "500 Miles" feel at once both lovingly rendered and reborn for a new century in Cash's hands. There's also her fine rendering of Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country," a nice turn at Harlan Howard's "Heartaches by the Number" (which features Elvis Costello), a calm but still spooky duet with Jeff Tweedy on the faux-murder ballad "Long Black Veil," and a duet with Bruce Springsteen on Hal David and Paul Hampton's "Sea of Heartbreak." Cash sings with a calm, measured authority, and all these the songs fit together with the same sort of refreshing resignation and care.
Industry Reviews
[T]he spotlight is rightfully on Cash, who sails gently through 'Miss the Mississippi and You' while deliciously strolling through Hank Snow's 'I'm Movin' On.'
'500 Miles,' made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary, is an unexpected little gem that showcases Cash's vocal talents, clear and direct as the song she sings.
THE LIST is a testament to both Cash Jr.'s vocal talents and Cash Sr.'s catholic taste. -- Grade: B
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