Rosanne Cash Crushes Carnegie Hall (Headlining) Debut 2-20-16
One might have thought that an artist of the stature of Rosanne Cash would have headlined Carnegie Hall before but that was not the case and it was clear that Rosanne was excited about the show. She and her husband of 21 years John Leventhal have both been honored recently. This past fall, Cash was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Leventhal won the Instrumentalist of the Year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards show. The River & The Thread, the most recent effort released by Cash on which they co-wrote the songs, was award winning too and as well-received as any album from her body of work that started with a self-titled LP in 1978. Still, the Grammys that The River & The Thread pulled in were received in Los Angeles and the songwriting and Americana awards were accepted on Nashville stages. Saturday night was different. It was New York where Cash has lived for 26 years and at what Rosanne called ‘America’s venue.’ Damn strait – she was excited. This was a celebration of her whole career and a triumph of her grit, her determination and perseverance, and most of all her talent.
The band, led by Leventhal on guitar, was of of course stellar: Kevin Barry guitar, Glenn Patscha (of Ollabelle) on keys, Zev Katz – who first worked with Cash on The Wheel and has been crossing paths with Leventhal since the mid 70s – on bass, Dan Rieser on drums, David Mansfield on fiddles as well as guitar, and Catherine Russell on backing vocals and percussion. Jeff Tweedy who, unless I missed one, last guested on a NYC stage with Dinosaur Jr in December, came on in the second set to sing some a couple of lovely duets with RC and some welcomed bonuses like California Stars.