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Four decades after releasing her first record,Rosanne Cashstill defies stereotypes.
Thats a lot of woman power.
I had to put a stake in the sand.
I cant take it anymore.
You were the first artist to make country cool for my generation.
What prompted you todefendSwifts recentpolitical coming outmomenton Instagram?
She has a lot of integrity, and shes self-sufficient.
I was waiting for somebody with her clout to say something.
Even though it was a simpleendorsementand it was mostly about voting, it was hugely important.
Did you seehow manyyoung people registered to vote after that?
I thought it was an act of great social responsibility when she did it.
Are the two albums checkpoints or bookends?
I hope [She Remembers Everything] is not a bookend.
I hope its the opening of a new door.
I could go into a dark place and stay there.
I didnt think of it as a rebuttal, but that is a fair and accurate [assumption].
Youre a longtime New Yorker.
Is it true you wrote 8 Gods after you heard a woman mumble ocho dioses on the subway?
I was going down into the subway and she was coming up.
She was clearly heavy-hearted, her forehead was creased, and she was talking to herself.
I could have sworn I heard her say ocho dioses.
One of my daughters called me after the 2016 election and said, I feel like I dont matter.
I felt like I didnt matter, like women didnt matter, and its gotten worse, not better.
Its like you cant be trusted with your own memory.
You cant be trusted with your own body.
I have my own stories, you know.
I didnt tell them publicly because I dont think the specifics matter, but the story matters.
We all carry those stories in our bodies.
Have those stories influenced yourinvolvementin a separate project to bring aNorma Raeshow to Broadway?
Its been a four-to-five-year process, which is now infused with a new kind of energy.
I mean, even my own husband [John Leventhal] said, Im really getting an education.
I said, Yes, you do.
You just dont know that you dont know.
Youre very supportive of women, especially fellow musicians.
Was that ever an intentional move on your part, to get to be viewed as an equal?
I always had this sense that I was as good as the boys.
I never liked the notion of women songwriters and women musicians.
I just felt that wasnt fair.
You shouldnt make a subset for women so that you’re able to judge them differently.
I went, Oh shit!
Its like you just work with the people you work with.
I dont know, maybe Ive been wrong about that all along.
Or maybe youve been right because youre not limiting yourself?
You co-wrote the title track She Remembers Everything with respected singer and songwriterSam Phillips.
How did that come about?
We share a publisher and he suggested Sam and I write together.
I love her as a writer.
I was in L.A. by myself doing something, and I called and asked her for a date.
She goes, Perfect.
Sara Watkins is playing at Largo, lets have dinner and go see Sara.
So we did and we talked and talked.
Later, I wrote the lyrics to She Remembers Everything and sent them to [Sam].
A few months later, she sent them back [with the music] and I loved it.
When I took the song to Tucker [Martine, the songs producer, whose credits include R.E.M.
Of course, Sam had to sing on it.
You dont write compartmentalized verses about hookups or breakups.
Did you visualize this song as a timeline?
I couldnt have written it when it was still all about lust and heartbreak and sex.
That is inevitable and its incredibly sad.
Is there any particular significance for you in the meaning of Jerusalem?
Then I thought,Oh, Jerusalem is the other side.
Jerusalem is leaving the planet.
I said,No, no, no.
The songs not about religion.
I dont really believe in heaven or hell, but thereisanother side.
You survivedbrain surgerya decade ago and are interested inquantum physics.
To me, the song Particle and Wave melds those experiences.
What does the rainbow of sufferingmean?
I dont believe were on the planet just to experience happiness.
We all tend to push away from pain and suffering.
You know, its not comfortable, but painishalf of life.
I mean, nobody escapes that.
I know it sounds trite, but I wanted to recognize that there can be beauty in suffering.
The song alludes to the sacrifices women make for each other and for future generations.
Tell me about the writing process.
For months, I labored over the lyrics to The Undiscovered Country.
I wrote four different melodies for it.
All of them are still on my phone.
Ultimately, thats what [a songwriter wants], right?
The album is so profoundly a female narrative and a womans long story.
If the takeaway from it is that Im Johnny Cashs daughter, I just … Im gonna snap.
Particularly since Ive been doing this for 40 years.
People have to stop [writing about] who my parents are.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
