Don't analyse my eyes (Rosanne Cash)

Rosanne Cash - The River And The Thread (2014) ***

Nominated by: Biggie Gee

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: When The Master Calls The Roll

Rosanne is Johnny Cash's oldest child - born in 1955 to his first wife. That's a note to myself really, because I get horribly confused with the Cash dynasty.

That's what Rosanne is - part of the Cash dynasty. Not to say she hasn't ploughed her own field in country and Americana but Johnny looms large. 

Biggie Gee loves Americana and seems to love the work of the greats' children - AJ, Jakob and now Rosanna.

So there is that, plus she's prolific (this is her 13th album) and it appears on the esteemed Blue Note jazz label of all things.

One final thing before I get into the songs - this is the first time I've listened to a Rosanne Cash album, although I did once own a Rodney Crowell album (her first husband).

The River And The Thread is an album that gets better and better and while I still prefer Mary Chapin Carpenter's songs/singing style, I can certainly enjoy this album for what it's doing.

She seems to have blended genres successfully because, although she's known as a country singer, this isn't country (no pedal steel fer a start), and while there are elements of pop, it's not pop.

Americana it is then. Bits of all sorts fused together. Sort of.

I enjoyed a lot of things here - especially the river thread that runs through most of these songs. I preferred the faster songs like When The Master Calls The Roll, least favs were the two slow ones - Tell Heaven and Night School. Night school is obviously an effective lullaby because it put me to sleep every time. Not good when you're pootling homewards in the Purdmobile, though. 

I also liked the brevity of the album - far too many CD era and download albums try to be lengthy and over ambitious. This one whizzed by each time I played it.

Nice one Biggie Gee.