Rosanne Cash, legendary singer-songwriter and daughter of Johnny Cash, brings her experience of the south to Athens.
Her father famously “walked the line,” but Sunday, Rosanne Cash will be walking into Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium.
Many know her as Johnny Cash’s daughter, but Rosanne Cash is very much her own artist, according to her manager Danny Kahn.
“Her life is to do her own art, her own work, her own music,” Kahn said.
Cash has racked up 21 country singles from the Top 40 list, including 11 No. 1 hits since her breakthrough hit “Seven Year Ache” in 1981. She continues her success as she tours behind her three-time Grammy-winning album, The River & the Thread, making a stop in Athens on Sunday.
The event is part of the Performing Arts and Concert Series. Faculty, staff and Athens locals, rather than students, are expected to make up the majority of the audience, according to Andrew Holzaepfel, senior associate director for the Campus Involvement Center.
“We expect a very nice crowd for Sunday,” Holzaepfel said in an email. “This is just the type of performance that works very well in Athens."
The Athens stop will particularly be a bit different than others on her tour.
Usually playing alongside Cash is her collaborator, music director, guitarist and husband, John Leventhal. However, Kahn said Leventhal will not be accompanying Cash on the Athens stop in their tour due to physical issues that hinder his ability to perform.
Instead, Cash will perform in a trio setting with her band mates, Zev Katz and Kevin Barry.
Although Cash is typically labeled as a solely country artist, Kahn said Cash’s musical performance draws upon what it means to be an American artist.
The theme of an American artist is ever present in her newest album. The River and the Thread is a collection of original songs written by Cash and Leventhal that take her back to her place of birth in the American south.
Using the traditions that are so much a part of Cash, Kahn said she takes those as inspiration to move forward in her musical endeavors.
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The pressure to play the same kind of music as her father has always been present. However, Kahn said Cash has adamantly worked her whole career to be her own artist.
“There are songs she’s written with her father in mind, and that’s what connects her to her father as opposed to her own music just being like her father’s,” Kahn said. “If anything, she’s probably avoided that.”
On the other hand, Kahn said Cash possess some of the iconic traits her father possessed, such as her determination and outspoken personality.
“She learned a lot from her father and she carries some of his traits of having an inquiring mind and being interested in so much of life around her — determined at any cost to say what she wants to say,” Kahn said. “So, in many ways, she is her father’s daughter.”
Holzaepfel said all attending will be in for a great treat.
“She’s constantly creating and exploring new ideas and that comes out in her music. That’s what makes her such a special artist,” Kahn said.
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