Hi Rosanne. It’s a great pleasure to be in contact with you. Here are some questions before your tour in Scandinavia.

We are very glad to have you back in Scandinavia. It was great seeing you here last time. How do you like playing here?
I LOVE going to Scandinavia! The audiences are so well-informed, musically intelligent and appreciative. I am amazed at how much Scandinavians know about American Roots Music, and not just the big names, but they also know more obscure artists and songs and the history of the genre. It’s an absolute pleasure to perform to this kind of audience.It feels like a shared experience.

How does the set up look for the shows, is your husband and the great guitarist Leventhal with you?
Yes, John is with me. We have done these duo shows a lot, and we love doing them. There is a subtle interplay, an intimacy, that you can’t get with the band (as much as I love playing with the band.) John is a band unto himself.

When I met Kris Kristofferson in November last year I heard by his wife Lisa that you are going to record one of Kris songs as a duet with Willie Nelson. Would you like to tell something about it and which song it is?
Yes, I recorded Kris’ song ‘Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends’. Singing with Willie is quite an experience. His phrasing is very.. UNIQUE, to say the least! The song turned out beautifully, I think. I’m not sure when it will be released.

Read that your coming album probably will be out in September and that’s make me really excited. Is there some theme on that album and can we hope for hearing some new songs on the tour?
There is a very definite theme: the South. All the songs are about people, places, stories, dreams, losses, past and future– in the American South. Memphis shows up a lot, as well as Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama… John and I are writing all the songs together, which is the first time we have done an entire album as a pure collaboration. I am more excited about this record than I have been about ANY of my records.It’s a very rich, swampy landscape of songs, inspired by the Delta, and more.

We all new the story about the list. The list of songs that your daddy gave to you with songs he wanted you to carry with you. How would your own list look like to your own children and would it be a big different from your daddys list?
Yes, somewhat different. I grew up in a different era, in California, listening to the Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival and Blind Faith and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and the Byrds.. to name a few. So I would have some Neil Young songs, some John Fogerty songs, some Bob Dylan and Springsteen. But there would of course be some overlap with my Dad’s list: ‘Long Black Veil’, plus some Carter Family and Hank Williams songs.

For all the readers of this interview I am glad to say that I will meet Rosanne for a longer in personal interview in Gothenburg. There I also will focus on Johnny Cash from Rosannes point of view. You can send me questions you would like to be asked and I will pick some of them. Send questions as a comment in this Facebook link, or to my e-mail rootsy.peter@gmail.com.

A big big welcome back to Scandinavia Rosanne!
Thank you! John and I can’t wait to get there! (Also, we are spending our wedding anniversary in Copenhagen, on a day off, which we are very excited about.)

Rosanne Cash – Scandinavia 2013:
25 April 2013 – Trondheim, Norway (Nidaros Blues Festival)
29 April 2013 – Copenhagen, Denmark (DR-Studie 2)
01 Mai 2013 – Malmo, Sweden (KB)
02 Mai 2013 – Gothenburg, Sweden (Pustervik)
03 Mai 2013 – Oslo, Norway (Kulturkirken JAKOB)
04 Mai 2013 – Stockholm, Sweden (Sodra Teatre)
06 Mai 2013 – Helsinki, Finland (The Old Student House)

Peter Söderlind