It will surprise no one steeped in singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash's intelligent, introspective lyrics that she's a deep thinker and a fine prose writer. Her new memoir, "Composed," is several cuts above most celebrity autobiographies. At 55, Cash still has a lot of living to do, but what she's accomplished and learned so far makes for an intriguing read, thanks to her highly sophisticated sense of self. The shy, plump little girl who grew up in the shadow of her famous, largely absent father, Johnny Cash, blossomed into a still shy, serious, beautiful, proud musician leery of the public and the press. She writes of her sometimes sorrowful personal life, of the joys of children, of her struggle with a brain tumor, of coming to terms with her complex legacy, and most of all, of her passion for music and her growth as a musician and songwriter. "I have resisted, so many times, correcting public misperceptions ... out of pride, out of pain, or out of a longing for privacy," she says in her introduction. "But I relish the opportunity to write about my life ... not to set any record straight, but to extend the poetry, and to find the more subtle melodies and themes in a life that on reflection seems much longer than the years I have lived." Luckily for us, she has, indeed, composed an interesting prose ballad about herself.
PAMELA MILLER, NIGHT METRO EDITOR
