Black Cadillac (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Rosanne Cash (vocals); John Leventhal (various instruments); Kevin Breit (acoustic guitar, mandolin); Michael Rhodes (bass instrument); Shawn Pelton, Charlie Drayton (drums); Catherine Russell (background vocals).

Between 2003 and 2005, Rosanne Cash lost her father Johnny, stepmother June, and mother Vivian. The songs that populate BLACK CADILLAC are fueled by those losses; it's an elegiac album full of wistful longing for the departed. At the same time, Cash's music has gotten more adventurous with each album of her career, and BLACK CADILLAC is no exception; the looming bass line that drives the opening track, for instance, could have come off a Massive Attack album, and "Burn Down This Town" rides on cutting blues guitar riffs. There are a number of contemplative ballads, of course, but the sharpness of Cash's writing and the richness of her aesthetic keep things from ever getting maudlin. minimize