Cash Only

Rosanne Cash, who burst onto the country music scene in 1980, has many facets: edgy and incisive singer/songwriter, memoirist, Johnny's daughter. But there's one persona that's actually a bit better hidden than the others.

"I'm a real library geek," said Cash, recently. "When I was little, my folks often parked me in the library, afternoons, and I really came to love it."

Cash will be at the at 7 p.m. Tuesday to talk about her memoir Composed and probably answer a few questions about music and her illustrious family. 

"I'm going to be interviewed by Anthony Mason from CBS," she said. "It was actually supposed to happen before, but the first time it got bumped. I had a vocal polyp and had to have it removed."

Cash is probably best known for a run of albums and singles that brought depth, darkness and poetry back to country radio beginning with her 1980 album Right Or Wrong which produced three hit singles. Her musical reputation was solidified the following year with the pretty, painful album Seven Year Ache.

She pretty much busted free of the melodic and lyrical handcuffs of country music and went on to produce Interiors in 1990, arguably her masterpiece. A chronicle of the end of a relationship, it's as stark, steep and affecting as anything her father, country music legend Johnny Cash, ever did.

Last year, she wrote Composed–an acclaimed memoir of her turbulent, accomplished journey.

"I never thought of it in any of the current ways that people think of autobiographies," said Cash, who will talk about the book Tuesday. "I was simply looking to express myself, poetically, about certain aspects of my life. The title is a bit of a musical play-on-words, of course. But I do like to think of myself as a composed person. Some of the time, anyway."

Cash mentions that she doesn't have a lot of patience with the newfangled terms associated with this current crop of tell-all books.

"I know that people love to use the word 'closure' a lot, when it comes to these things. How writing a book really healed something inside of them. I learned a lot about my relationship with my parents writing this. But it was a literary enterprise, for the most part. I don't think 'closure' exists. It's a daytime television word."

As for the music, Cash is still in the thick of things, recording and releasing from her Manhattan base.

"I just finished singing on Jeff Bridges' new album. It's really great and legitimate, what with T Bone Burnett producing it. I also recently did a Christmas song with (alternative songwriter) Mike Doughty. But, maybe the biggest thing is this two CD compilation that Sony is releasing of mine. It's called The Essential Rosanne Cash, and it's hand-picked stuff, starting with my debut album in 1978. It comes out May 24th—my birthday."

But Tuesday, she does the book thing, and she couldn't be happier. If also, quite concerned.

"I've spoken and read at a bunch of libraries over the years," said Cash, "including the Ossining Library. As much as I love them, I'm very concerned about their plight. Governmental support for them is really dwindling right now. They're shutting or reducing their staffs.  I hope this trend doesn't continue. The library is still one of the best places a kind can spend their time."

She ends on a note of worry and irresolution. One worries with her. However, perhaps a great, sad song will come out of Rosanne Cash's angst. Or a chapter in her next book. It may not fix things. But, it would be pretty decent. As consolation prizes go.

Rosanne Cash will be at the Tuesday at 7 p.m. with moderator CBS News Correspondent Anthony Mason, a Rye resident and Rye Free Reading Room board member. For more information, call 914-967-0480.