The River & the Thread
Rosanne Cash wrote this mostly acoustic album on a road trip to her father Johnny\'s childhood home; the songs are infused with a sense of history and a traditional country/folk sound. \"The Sunken Lands\" tells the story of a Civil War bride, its mandolin adding an old-world feel. \"The Long Way Home,\" about Rosanne\'s own childhood, sets her reflective voice to a stripped-down arrangement. But the album has a rocking side, as \"Modern Blue\" sports a gutsy vocal, a full electric band, and lively lead guitar.
The 11-song cycle is mostly a meditation on the textures and musical forms that emerged South of the Mason-Dixon line.
Nearly eight years after Rosanne Cash last released a set of original songs, 2014's The River & the Thread finds her in a reflective mood, and just as 2009's The List saw her looking back with a set of classic songs recommended by her father, the late country legend Johnny Cash, The River & the Thread is dominated by thoughts and emotions that occurred to her as she was involved in a project to restore Johnny's boyhood home.
Rosanne Cash's latest album explores her father's Arkansas childhood to powerful effect, writes <strong>Neil Spencer</strong>
Rosanne Cash has produced a thoughtful, varied album with songs that roam across southern America, says Neil McCormick