by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS
Being the daughter of a musical legend can open doors, to be sure, but it multiplies the difficulty of forging a career apart from his shadow. Consider, then, the talent of Rosanne Cash.
After the Man in Black recorded a song she wrote, Rosanne formed a partnership with singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell. They collaborated on her American-debut album, Right or Wrong, which yielded three top-30 hits. Her follow-up, Seven Year Ache, was a crossover smash that sent three singles to the Billboard country chart’s top position. In 1985, she won a vocal Grammy for another number-one hit, “I Don’t Know Why You Want Me.” King’s Record Shop yielded four number-one country hits, among which was a catchy cover of her father’s “Tennessee Flat Top Box.” (She claims she was unaware of the song’s origin when she recorded it.) Now she hits The Washington Center for the Performing Arts with John Leventhal, whose production and performance credits include albums by Cash, Crowell, Michelle Branch, Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainwright III.
Jill Barnes, executive director for The Washington Center, notes the event serves a growing Olympia fan base for traditional forms of American music — as will the Lyle Lovett/Robert Earl Keen concert two days before it. “We’ve been sold out for (Lovett/Keen) for several weeks,” says Barnes. “We still have tickets available for Rosanne Cash in the mezzanine and balcony.”
“In the last several years,” says Barnes, “The Washington Center has presented one country show a year. We had full or almost-full houses for Clint Black, Travis Tritt (and) Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers. Not only are we selling out the shows, but we’re bringing in a lot of first-time Washington Center attendees. It’s a new audience for us, and many are coming from well beyond Thurston County. We’d been trying to bring Rosanne Cash here for a few years, but routing and dates didn’t work out until now. We can say the same for Lyle Lovett (and) Robert Earl Keen. … We carefully considered the impact of potentially overlapping audiences, but ultimately decided to go for it. Given the response with ticket sales,” she concludes, “we made the right choice.”
WHAT
Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal
WHERE
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts,
512 Washington St. SE, Olympia
WHEN
7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29
HOW MUCH
$45-$72
LEARN MORE
360-753-8586 | Washington Center information on Rosanne Cash