Rosanne Cash won three Grammy Awards for her album “The River & The Thread,” a project she described to Growing Bolder as the most personal and meaningful of her career. As the album was in the midst of receiving rave reviews, with some critics calling it the best album of the year, Rosanne told us it was a collaboration of love between herself and her music producer husband John Leventhal.
Rosanne Cash won three Grammy Awards for her album “The River & The Thread,” a project she described to Growing Bolder as the most personal and meaningful of her career. As the album was in the midst of receiving rave reviews, with some critics calling it the best album of the year, Rosanne told us it was a collaboration of love between herself and her music producer husband John Leventhal.
“John and I have worked hard at getting to a place where we don’t take everything personally when we’re in the studio,” she told Growing Bolder Radio. “We work at bringing our best selves to each other and appreciate what the other one does well, which is really marriage in a nutshell. In fact, someone said to me that this record is the sound of a marriage, and that was very moving to me.”
It was a sound that was moving to Grammy voters as well. At Sunday night’s Grammy awards, Rosanne won in three categories: Best Americana Album, Best American Roots song for “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” the album’s first track, and she won the inaugural Best American Roots Performance for the same song, beating out artists like Gregg Allman and Taj Mahal, Billy Childs with Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas and Keb’ Mo’.
“The last time I won a Grammy, Reagan was president!” Cash said after taking the stage. “I just showed up for work for 35 years and this is what happened. Thank you to all the fans who have stuck with me for 30-plus years.”
At 59 years old, Rosanne told us she’s finally in a place where she knows who she is.
“I have fewer expectations about my career now, which is very freeing. I think that’s common for those of us in middle age. It can take a lot of doubt and uncertainty to get to this place, but now you finally feel you know what you do, or don’t do, well. I know a lot of people who are burnt out at my age, and I know I’m so lucky I still feel inspired. Art and music inspire me. After 20 years, I’m still in love with my husband. I love being a mom. I love my work. And when I do feel burnt out and tired, I remind myself I’m lucky to do what I do.”
And we’re lucky she does what she does! Rosanne is living proof that if you keep pursuing your passions on your terms, success will follow. When others have tried to follow a formula in music, Rosanne has followed her heart, and in the process, she’s producing gorgeous music.
Click below to listen to our full conversation with Rosanne and hear her talk about the double-edged sword of being the legendary Johnny Cash’s daughter. Plus, find out about the tremendous obstacles she’s overcome in life, including losing her voice — twice — and brain surgery.
