"There is," said Grammy-award-winner Rosanne Cash, "a lot of beauty about writing." The prolific singer-songwriter and author (who has logged 11 No. 1 singles and recently released her best-selling memoir, Composed), lives a life characterized by family and charity, as well as words and music and commitment to craft.
To balance such a textured reality, where touring means performing and promoting, Cash combines humanity and serenity, suggesting some of her experiences as an artist might be "comparatively unusual," while many of her memories are "universal."
"I'm not the only one to experience love and loss," she said.
Even so, critics note Cash's lyrical writing style (Composed is but one of her many forays into prose) has a cadence that captures audiences and wraps readers in a truly American tale.
Called, "honest, touching and quietly revealing," by the Chicago Sun-Times, Composed is a memoir of a life recollected and a life in progress. In fact, at only 55 years old, Cash suggests she may have to write her complete story, still interesting, still unfolding, "in volumes."
Raising a family, recording and touring (Cash released 12 albums in 30 years) meant carefully making time for Composed, a project she said took 10 years.
"I kept saying to my editor, 'Am I finished?' and he would say, 'No'," she explained. "I'd write after I got my kids off to school, late at night, or in bed. Sometimes, I'd just grab 20 minutes to do a paragraph."
Her advice to career-minded parents: "What I learned with every child, is there's no point in feeling frustrated about not working so much. You're just not going to. I had to cut out time to be with a newborn and a toddler. It's like a seesaw. When they're little it's all them. Slowly, as they get older, things tip a little, and you're able to do more."
Few would argue Cash's "more" exceeds what most will accomplish. Cash notes she is a "big list maker" and also cites a high level of curiosity and stamina as imperative to her work ethic. "I have a lot of energy," she said.
The daughter of music icon Johnny Cash and his first wife Vivian Liberto, Rosanne Cash was born in Memphis, Tenn., and began touring with The Johnny Cash show at age 18.
In her book, Cash remembers growing up typical (she shared a room with her sisters) yet apart (the family was, after all, well-known, and highly regarded). She also recalls an inquisitive nature that continues today.
One of her current interests is neuroscience; and, many will remember Cash's journey's included a successful 2007 brain surgery. This experience, she said, heightened her interest in brain research and the study of the nervous system.
It also helped her reconnect professionally with Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., a record producer, neuroscientist and auditory researcher whose pivotal book, This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, is a bestseller, and whose expertise has contributed to the sale of more than 30 million records and CDs.
"I had met [Levitin] and had become friendly with him years ago, and reconnected later on," Cash explained. "I am a musician who had brain surgery. He's a neuroscientist, so there were some synergies: I'm really interested in neuroscience, he's interested in my world."
The pair will share their mutual interests in Omaha this month.
As compassionate as she is passionate, Cash enhances her family and career with relevant, philanthropic experiences.
"I adore children," she said. "I have to have a child in the house at all times." Cash noted the importance of attending her young son's games and practices, and said the charities she and her family support reflect their interest in young people.
"SOS Children's Villages is one my family has been involved with for many, many years" she explained, adding the organization "has been nominated for a Nobel prize 11 times. It's a very unusual model for kids who may not be able to continue living with their biological families, but are still raised with their brothers and sisters (making every effort to keep siblings together), in a safe environment, and home-like setting. It's a great, great organization."
Cash is also supportive of PAX, "an anti-gun violence organization. I got involved after Columbine. Like a lot of parents, I was just shocked by the Columbine incident, and asked my teenager, my daughter, 'Where do these kids get their guns?' and, she said. 'Mom, guns are as easy to get as cigarettes.'"
With a heart for children, a mind for science and a creative spirit, Cash — artist, author, mother — is as humble as she is accomplished.
"There is a way to frame your experience poetically," Cash said of writing Composed . "Narratives and themes resurface; and even in prose, there is melody and rhythm. What I realized as I wrote, while some things seemed trying and mysterious and inconceivable at the time, there is beauty in that."
Cash appears in Omaha Sept. 14-16, as part of KANEKO's Great Minds Series, where she and Levitin will jointly present Composing Identity, a conversation and musical set exploring connections between music and the brain, Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 7:30 p.m. Cash will also conduct a Sept. 16 songwriting workshop while in town and participate in a roundtable discussion on Creativity and Collaboration. For information, and to register, visit thekaneko.org.
