Rosanne Cash

“I’m not a militant female songwriter, and I wouldn’t want to be considered some kind of new age uber-feminist,” Rosanne Cash says. “But having said that, expressing deep feelings does tend to make men uncomfortable.

“There’s really not much difference between men and women, but rubbing up against that little difference produces some great art and literature and music and sex. I love exploring that territory because it’s thrilling and liberating and feels sexy.” Cash, eldest daughter of Johnny, is known for the emotional power of her highly individual style of confessional songwriting, and people often assume that her songs come out of her reportedly tumultuous relationships. But despite her profound insights into the nature of heartbreak and the rapture of romance, the songwriter remains a fiercely private person. “I don’t live my life in public, and that’s a conscious choice. I may talk about an incident that’s the source of a song, or things that are important to me as a mother and a human being, but I don’t talk about my private life.”

That said, Cash did make a few disclosures. She recently recovered from a bout with throat polyps that kept her from singing—and speaking—for almost two years. “I was getting a bit hoarse and the doctor discovered a small polyp in my throat. I was pregnant at the time and the pregnancy hormones made it start growing like some bizarre plant.” Cash put off surgery until after her son was born, and as her hormones subsided the polyps shrank and were easily removed. While all this was going on, she was writing the songs that became Rules of Travel, an album that exhibits a big, open hearted, almost spiritual feeling.

“I’d say it’s more accepting,” Cash admits. “I wanted to live with the questions this time and not go looking for the big answers. I’m an obsessive person, and I found [that] writing more in the second and third person was a healthy way to pull me out of my own cesspool. There’s less navel-gazing—sometimes you can get sick of listening to your own thoughts—and more looking out at the world, more generosity of spirit.”

One of the albums most spiritual tracks is “September, When It Comes,” a beautifully poetic meditation on mortality that features Cash’s first recorded duet with her famous father.