An Intimate Look at Rosanne and Johnny Cash

6 September 2010 1,010 views No Comment

The wonderful Rosanne Cash is coming out with a new recollection of her life as a country singer and daughter of a country legend.

In a recenter interview with Billboard Rosanne shared some intimate peaks into her life with her famous father Johnny Cash. Some of the moments are interesting and intriguing as life with a powerful father is not what it may seem.

Here are a few clips from the interview. Stayed tuned for the full interview in the next edition of Billboard Magazine.

Rosanne Cash Memoir

Rosanne Cash Talks New Memoir, Relationship with Father

Rosanne Cash: My dad worked out a lot of his stuff in the spotlight. He took his pain and his problems to the stage. It was his forum for unraveling his psyche and working out the boulders that were there — the pain, and the regret. And he took me to that moment with him that night. He was like many men of his generation in that he didn’t talk about feelings very much. Even though he was a great artist, in private moments he didn’t open up about his feelings. He was a tough guy with huge soul. That was the way he kind of got his feelings out in those moments, and it was very beautiful. And after that, of course, we got a lot closer in the last decade of his life.

It’s interesting to see that Johnny kind of worked out his life in front of his audience. In most of our lives we turn to trusted family and friends for advice and insight into how to live and how to make the best of our situations. Johnny seemed to feel the most comfortable in front of his close audience. Rosanne seems very perceptive. She was able to pick up on how her Dad worked.

How much did his legend affect your own creative growth as an artist?

I tried to avoid it in the early years, because I couldn’t figure out who I was in the glare of that; it was just too enormous. I don’t think it’s that different for any young person, particularly one that enters the same field as their parent. You have to separate to find out who you are. It so happened that my dad cast a very large shadow. I probably pushed away longer than was necessary or gracious. But fortunately, he completely understood that.

It’s understandable that Rosanne wanted to distance herself from her father’s shadow. It can be true for anyone that follows in the steps of their parents. You could want to be a teacher and do something that your mother has done. You could want to run a business that your father has run for many years. Stepping into that world you’re always going to have the success of your parents to deal with. It’s difficult to gain the respect of the same fans and new fans when you’re constantly compared to the success of your folks.

In country music there have been many instances of kids following in the steps of their parents. You can’t expect the children to go different directions all the time. Often the kids love country music. It’s in their blood. It’s their calling just as it was for their parents. People like Rosanne, Hank Williams Jr. and Shooter Jennings still deal with the pressures of their own career as well as the pressure of their parents’ shadows.