Composed
A Memoir
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4.3 • 78 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A candid and moving memoir from the critically acclaimed singer and songwriter
For thirty years as a musician, Rosanne Cash has enjoyed both critical and commercial success, releasing a series of albums that are as notable for their lyrical intelligence as for their musical excellence.
Now, in her memoir, Cash writes compellingly about her upbringing in Southern California as the child of country legend Johnny Cash, and of her relationships with her mother and her famous stepmother, June Carter Cash. In her account of her development as an artist she shares memories of a hilarious stint as a twenty-year-old working for Columbia Records in London, recording her own first album on a German label, working her way to success, her marriage to Rodney Crowell, a union that made them Nashville's premier couple, her relationship with the country music establishment, taking a new direction in her music and leaving Nashville to move to New York. As well as motherhood, dealing with the deaths of her parents, in part through music, the process of songwriting, and the fulfillment she has found with her current husband and musical collaborator, John Leventhal.
Cash has written an unconventional and compelling memoir that, in the tradition of M. F. K. Fisher's The Gastronomical Me and Frank Conroy's Stop-Time, is a series of linked pieces that combine to form a luminous and brilliant whole.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This work is a rare treat, as Cash, firstborn to country music legend Johnny Cash, is not only a hereditary celebrity musician, having made scores of albums and #1 singles, but a terrific writer in her own right. Indeed, her memoir is an intensely reflective, carefully hewn chronicle of her coming-into-her-own as a writer. Born in 1955 to Johnny Cash's littleknown first wife, Vivian, just at the breakthrough of her father's music career with the hit "Cry, Cry, Cry," Cash describes herself as a "pudgy, withdrawn girl" already aware that she was "a counterfeit with a strange, hidden life." That included an anxious mother, three younger sisters, and a father who was frequently absent and erratic, due to his abuse at the time of amphetamines and barbiturates. From growing up in Southern California to visits to her father's house in Hendersonville, Tenn., Cash idolized her father and rarely questioned his authority, such as sending her off to work at CBS Records in London at age 20. At Vanderbilt University, she studied with Walter Sullivan; toyed with Method acting in L.A.; then recorded four demos in Munich, Germany, for Ariola Records, away from the scrutiny of comparison with her father. Cash depicts pensively her early delight in analogue recording and honing her writing craft. Despite an inordinate preponderance of funeral eulogies and some odd structuring toward the end, Cash's memoir sheds clear light on her talent and drive.
Customer Reviews
"Composed"
Definitely worth reading! As q man i often find women writers difficult to read. R. Cash's book can be pretty gloomy at ties as she seems to lament much of her life's path!
But while she has fought o stay out of her father's tremendous shadow I don't know if she realizes how much her siblings have to bear considering they have to be in her dad's shadow as well as hers! (not forgetting of course, June Carter's and the Carter Family's shadows as well!)
I think Roseanne is a tremendous talent in her own right and should use some of her considerable wit to keep on bringing the public more musings and songs.
I know her dad had a hell of a sense of humor as evidenced by some of his songs and she should proudly follow in his footsteps once in a while. I know I'd buy those songs!
Loved it
Personal. Authentic. Engaging.
A reflective piece, and not your typical autobiographical tell-all.
Composed is both moving and compelling. Rosanne Cash is a poet, and writes with a complete command of the English language. I am inspired, humbled, and optimistic that staying true to the past is not lost on contemporary artists.