An intimate and moving behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Rosanne Cash’s spirited 2009 album The List, generously illustrated with over 60 photos
In 1973, Rosanne Cash’s father gave her a list of 100 songs, many from the Southern tradition, that he felt a young musician had to know. Always Been There tells the inside story of the album that, more than thirty-five years later, resulted from “the list.”
Based on original interviews conducted in the studio, at home in New York City, and on tour in Europe, Always Been There documents a pivotal episode in Rosanne Cash’s long and fascinating career. As she, along with producer and husband John Leventhal, painstakingly reconstructs what songs made “the list” and why, we gain an unmatched understanding of a longer musican continuium that includes the Carter Family and other fabled names of the Southern pantheon and their influence on her music and writing. We also see how Leventhal’s talents as an arranger and musician pair with Rosanne’s searching vocal performances to make these old songs new again.
Always Been There tracks Rosanne Cash’s singular and storied career from her early commercial hits with albums like King’s Record Shop through her controversial split with Nashville tradition on albums like the mercurial Interiors to the sublime Black Cadillac. It paints an unforgettable portrait of Rosanne confronting music-making in the aftermath of serious brain surgery, her lifelong search for her legacy, and her unique creative partnerships.
WNTI- New Jersey online
“Always Been There moved me like few musical books that I have ever read.”
PublishersWeekly.com
“Streissguth is a skillful biographer…[An] intimate, illuminating narrative [with] a satisfying sense of history that should please any fan of modern American music.”
Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/29/09
“[An] emotion-packed, behind-the-scenes account of the making of the album.”
Austin Chronicle, 12/4/09
An effortless read… An enticing view of an artist.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1/10/2010
“[A] thoughtful book…[A] portrait of a middle-aged woman coming to terms with a complicated legacy…Top-notch.”
Michael Streissguth is the author of Johnny Cash: The Biography, and five other books. His work has appeared in Mojo, the Journal of Country Music, and many other publications. He is a professor in the Department of Communication and Film Studies of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, where he lives with his wife and family.
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Distributor: Perseus Books Group
Publication Date: 10-27-2009
Pages: 240
Measurements: 9.00in X 6.00in X 14.50oz
