Rosanne Cash Sings Her Wish List

Rosanne Cash will honor her late father, Johnny Cash, with her upcoming album 'The List,' in October. The singer explains that the 12 songs are all tunes off a list of "100 Essential Country Songs" that her dad gave her back in 1973.

"The list was assembled from my father's intuitive understanding of each critical juncture in the evolution of country music," Rosanne reports. "There were old Appalachian folk ballads, and the songs of Jimmie Rodgers and Woody Guthrie. The influence of gospel and Southern blues were crucial. Then he segued into rockabilly and the birth of modern country music by way of Hank Williams, and up to the present, which was then 1973. He also included a couple of his own songs. I endeavored to learn them all, and it was an education."

Rosanne puts her own unique signature on each of the 12 songs included on the new project. Among the tunes she picked are Jimmie Rodgers' 'Miss the Mississippi and You,' Hank Snow's 'I'm Movin' On,' Bobby Bare's '500 Miles' and Bob Dylan's 'Girl From the North Country.' Also included are duets with Bruce Springsten ('Heartbreak Hotel'), Elvis Costello ('Heartaches by the Number') Jeff Tweedy ('Long Black Veil') and Rufus Wainwright ('Silver Wings').

Johnny presented his then 18-year-old daughter with the list of songs after he became alarmed that she might not have the deep understanding of country music that he would like her to have. He came to this conclusion after noticing that she was obsessed with the Beatles and loved Southern California rock and pop music.

"I looked to that list as a standard of excellence, and to remind myself of the tradition from which I come," Rosanne explains. "This album enables me to validate the connection to my heritage rather than run away from it, and to tie all the threads together: past and future, legacy and youth, tradition the timelessness."

Rosanne's 'The List' is her 12th studio album. It is the first she has recorded since she underwent surgery in 2007 for a benign brain condition, from which she has fully recovered.

"If my father had been a martial arts master, he might have passed a martial arts secret on to me, his oldest child," Cash says. "If he had been a surgeon, he might have taken me into his operating room and pointed out the arteries and organs. If he were a robber baron, he might have surveyed his empire and said, 'Honey, some day this will all be yours!' But he was a musician and a songwriter, and he gave me The List."

'The List' will be released on Manhattan Records on October 6th.