St. Francis Project: Cash shares her Southern heart

By Monica Collier Staff Writer Originally published in the TimesDaily, Nov 27, 2016 Rosanne Cash will be making a stop in the Shoals for a good cause. Cash, along with John Leventhal, will headline a concert at Shoals Theatre in Florence on Dec. 3 to benefit the St. Francis Project. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. Shoals natives, The Secret Sisters, will open the show for Cash. The St. Francis Project, an outreach ministry of Trinity Episcopal Church in Florence, raises money for Shoals charities and organizations. The project, formed eight years ago by Mary White, has a goal to give away $1,000,000. Distribution is made twice a year in the form of grants. Recipients of the grants range from area schools, churches and art associations to hospices, homeless shelters, addiction and women’s shelters. “It’s really been fun to be part of the generosity of the people in this area,” White said. “This is an amazing place. It’s also fun to see the solutions to many of the problems we face. There are a lot of creative, caring people here. We’re sort of twofold — we get to see both sides.” White said the project, governed by a nine-member board, gives away $100,000 each year in two cycles. For first-cycle awards, grant applications must be made by Jan. 31 and by July 31 for second-cycle awards. Guidelines for funding and grant applications are available at stfrancisproject.org. “I was so excited when I learned Rosanne Cash was headlining our fundraiser, I went out and bought a CD,” White said. “I’ve played nothing else since. It’s going to be phenomenal. She’s remarkable, her husband is amazing and the Secret Sisters are fabulous, too. It’s going to be a very special night.” Cash has released 15 albums, won four Grammy awards and had 11 No. 1 singles. Her latest album, 2014’s “The River and the thread,” is a collaboration with her husband, John Leventhal, that received three Grammy awards in 2015. Cash recently took time from her tour schedule to answer a few questions by phone. TimesDaily: You have such a strong musical background, with your father, Johnny Cash, being an icon, did you always know you wanted to be a performer? Cash: I always knew there was something odd about me. I always knew I wanted to be a writer. I started writing songs as a teenager, and I thought that was what I would do with my life. I didn’t think so much about being a performer or recording. TimesDaily: You’ve had such a successful career, but was it a challenge in the early days to find your own unique voice as a singer/songwriter? Cash: Yes it was. I came from a family where my dad had iconic stature. When you go into the same family business, you have to prove yourself. I don’t think it’s that different from a family of doctors when the next generation goes in or in a family of lawyers. Young people have to prove themselves. Not necessarily living up to expectations but creating new expectations for yourself. TimesDaily: Although you have strong Southern roots, you didn’t grow up in the South. Is your latest album, the Grammy award-winning “The River and the Thread,” a journey through your roots? Cash: In some ways, yes. Both my parents were Southerners. I was born in Memphis, but I didn’t grow up there. I still have a profound connection to the South even though I’ve only lived there a relatively short period of time of my life. The past several years, going down South a lot has opened my heart in a way to the South and to my own Southern ancestry that I didn’t expect. Certainly, when your heart gets opened and you’re a songwriter, you start writing songs from that place. It wasn’t just my personal ancestry, it was musical ancestry. My husband, John Levanthall, and I wrote this album together and recorded it together. Even though he’s a native New Yorker, his love for Southern music is as deep as anybody I know. It was a joy to traverse those territories together. TimesDaily: Was collaborating with your husband on “The River and the Thread” a rewarding experience? Cash: It was. That’s not to say we didn’t have difficult moments but always, hopefully, in the service of the music. We try not to get bogged down in making things personal. We tried to keep our eyes on the prize, which is the best song we could write together. TimesDaily: In the album’s title, “The River and the Thread,” does “the thread” refer to Lauderdale County native Natalie Chanin? Cash: It certainly does. In fact, Natalie is my dear friend, I adore her. I was down in Florence at her studio several years ago and she was teaching me to sew. She said that line — “you have to love the thread.” I took that and put it in my song ("A Feather’s Not a Bird"). TimesDaily: While you were in Florence, did you visit Tom Hendrix’s wall? Cash: Yes. I’ve been there a couple of times. It was so moving. It was like a church for me. It was a truly spiritual experience to be there; just to sit in the meditation area he has and walk the wall and see the stones that look like the grandmothers. Also, his mission and his commitment, that in itself is so inspiring. TimesDaily: You seem to love and appreciate the Shoals as much as we do. Did you enjoy your time here? Cash: I love it so much. I love FAME and the recording studios. I love Billy Reid, Natalie (Chanin), and John Paul White. You’ve got so much going on. TimesDaily: What do you have planned for the set list at Shoals Theatre? Will it be a mix of newer and older songs? Cash: We’ll definitely have some older songs. This is me and John playing together. We do this show a lot; we really love it. It’s exciting and it’s intimate. We improvise sometimes on the set list. It’s really fun. We just connect on a lot of levels. We do a lot of songs from “The River and the Thread” but also older songs going back to “Seven-Year Ache” and “Blue Moon with Heartache.” TimesDaily: Your concert at the Shoals Theatre benefits the St. Francis Project. How do you feel about giving back to the community? Cash: It’s really important to me. It’s my version of tithing. I do several charity concerts every year for community-building things like the St. Francis Project and also for children’s charities and anti-gun violence — those are the three I focus on a lot. Discounted balcony seating tickets are available for $35. General admission tickets for the show are $75, VIP Experience tickets are $500. VIP Experience includes prime seating, a private cocktail reception and a personal meet and greet with Rosanne Cash. Tickets are available at billyreid.com/events/RosanneCashConcert and at Trinity Episcopal at 410 Pine St. Unless the show sells out in advance, tickets will be available at Shoals Theatre box office, 123 N. Seminary St., on the night of the concert. Ms. Monaica R. Collier | 256.765.4564 Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Arts & Events Specialist School of the Arts UNA Box 5115 | School of the Arts; 128 W. Tombigbee Street • Florence, AL 35632-0001 https://www.una.edu/schoolofthearts