Rosanne Cash - She Remembers Everything (2018)

This CD was given to me a few years back by a friend o' the blog and I gave it a listen every few months since but never really got into it. Because of that general indifference, I kept putting off writing a blog post about it. Granted, country folk isn't my usual thing, but that doesn't mean I can't expand my horizons in my retirement years, right? And today was the day - I was finally in the proper headspace to enjoy the thing. I played it immediately following a Bonnie Raitt album and that seemed to do the trick. I previously knew Cash only through her early '80s radio offerings Seven Year Ache and Blue Moon With Heartache. Her voice sounds as good now as it did then which is no small feat. The tracks are usually slower, reflective pieces in which the music perfectly matches the lyrics. The album could use a little more variety in tempo, but maybe that's just me.

I classified the music as "country folk" but it almost defies convenient genre grouping. Heck, in its promotional material, the album is described as "shimmering pop—with hints of twang and jazz—that could find a home in almost any year of postwar American music." And Rolling Stone mentions in its ★★★★ review: "She remains hard to categorize, refracting country alongside rock, folk and other elements befitting a longtime resident of New York City’s melting pot."  The album ended up with a favorable 80/100 rating over at Metacritic. I wouldn't go that high, but I'm glad I got a chance to listen an album I'd have otherwise ignored.

Chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200 chart: #172
• Billboard Top Country albums: #16
• Billboard Folk albums: #5
• Billboard Top Rock albums: #30
• Billboard Top Tastemaker albums: #11

Tracks: Track 5, Crossing to Jerusalem, was nominated for a Grammy for Best American Roots Song, and it's one of the better cuts here, along with The Only Thing Worth Fighting For, and the haunting album closer, My Least Favorite Life. However, my pick for top cut is the beautiful, sparse ballad, Everyone But Me, which sounds like a traditional song lifted whole from another era. The title track doesn't work for me, but that's the only skippable track here.

Bonus tracks: the "Deluxe Edition" contains three bonus tracks, all good and all would have fit into the album proper. Of the three, the best is Nothing But The Truth although there's also a beautifully performed version of the Scottish folk song, The Parting Glass.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None