A year or so ago, I woke to a Saturday morning interview on NPR with Rosanne Cash. I lay there, snuggled under the covers, listening to her talk about the death of her parents and the process of writing the songs for her new album, Black Cadillac. Cash was incredibly open and frank in the interview, generously sharing her loss and her journey towards healing. Afterwards I found myself thinking of the sculpture I made following my own father's death and my own journey to find healing through sculpture - my thinking place.
I have a limited personal collection of music. I let the DJ’s spin music for me, usually on public radio or classic rock stations, almost always skipping country stations. But I bought Black Cadillac, curious to hear more than the snippets included in the interview. At first there were songs I didn't like as much as others. They hit a little to close to the anger and feelings of abandonment I felt when my dad died, but the beauty of the music drew me into acceptance and eventual fondness for all the songs. Death and loss are part of life and we have to accept all the ugly and hard moments to move on. These songs were birthed from pure, raw grief but they are a life affirming, strong, and incredibly honest record of the healing journey needed to center and move on.
The other day I recommended the CD to yet another friend, and later listened to it again on my commute home. It was a beautiful sunny day, and Cash's clear voice backed by hauntingly beautiful accompaniment seemed float and weave ahead of me along the curving coastal highway dividing land from sea. I suddenly realized that I only listen to this CD on my 25 mile commute along the edge of the continent. Maybe it is because I drove to an overlook over the dock often after my dad’s death, just to watch the rhythm of waves and the routine of the fishing boats coming in, going out. Or maybe it is simply because my commute along this ribbon of highway hugging the coastline and Cash's songs are both about transitions and divides, and the fine line that separates one way of being from the next.
More information on Black Cadillac and Rosanne Cash can be found at her website http://www.rosannecash.com/bchome/.
