Rosanne Cash is part of country music royalty. The daughter of Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian, Rosanne was also married to Rodney Crowell from 1979 to 1992. Her family lineage and her former spouse made her one of the most respected artists in music, a truth that bothered Rosanne deeply.
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"We make a real conscious effort to stay out of that bullsh--," Rosanne tells New Musical Express in 1986. "I don't buy that myth. There's a whole package deal that you're expected to buy if you're in country music. There's a certain way to relate to your fans, a certain way to make records, a way to look, to act and move through the machinery to become successful. I just don't buy it, and neither does Rodney. In fact it makes me feel uneasy."
Rosanne goes on to say she understands the ideology, evne if she doesn't subscribe to the same beliefs.
"Those people are very sweet and genuine," Rosanne says. "But I really don't see life as that black and white, certainly not that simple. I just think there's an individual way to approach success, to approach life. ... I've got really contradictory feelings about the whole thing. I want to be successful," she adds. "But at the same time, I don't want to give my life away."
Rosanne Cash Recalls Her Early Introduction To Music
If anyone has music practically in their blood, it's Rosanne. Born in 1955, she vividly recalls her early years and how formative they became to her own career path.
"The first music I heard was Ray Charles, Marty Robbins and my dad's," she remembers. "But as I grew up and began to make my own choices, I didn't listen to country music at all, I hated it. It wasn't a rebellious thing, I just didn't like country music."
Fortunately, her distaste with country music was relatively short-lived. After graduating from high school, Rosanne traveled with her famous father, working as part of The Johnny Cash Show, where her love for the genre was reignited.
"When we were on the bus, he'd start singing old country songs," Rosanne remembers. And I thought, 'God, some of those are pretty neat.' Then he made a list of 100 essential songs for me and my step-sister to learn - old folk songs, standard country, Carter Family songs. So I started to get a little interested."
