Orchestra center, Row H, Seats 101-103
Among other things, Rosanne Cash is one of the most convincing performers
I’ve ever seen. She means every word she sings.
Her intermission-less show at Strathmore ran close to two hours,
featuring 19 songs. She began with three cuts from The River And The Thread, perhaps her finest album, and added two
more near the end of the show, while the middle was dominated by 8 of the 10
cuts from last year’s She Remembers
Everything. She closed the main set with her classic “Seven Year Ache”,
returning to encore with a moving rendition of “500 Miles” from The List. That album’s “Long Black Veil”
popped up midway, just before covers of “Ode To Billie Joe” and “Things We Said
Today” (one of my favorite Beatles songs). This was a somewhat different
approach from the show I saw four years ago, where she played The River And The Thread in its entirety
as the first of two sets.
I was also impressed by her five bandmates, including former Mary
Chapin Carpenter sideman Kevin Barry and hubby John Leventhal, whose work on
electric and acoustic guitar complemented the material perfectly.
She also reached back for “Blue Moon With Heartache”, a #1 hit on the
country charts from 1982. It occurred to me that, while it could easily have
fit on last year’s album, it would unfortunately have virtually no chance of
getting played on country radio today.
