Rosanne Cash is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. Her eleven record albums, released over the last twenty years, have charted eleven number-one singles. She has earned numerous accolades for songwriting and performance. She was named Billboard's Top Singles Artist in 1988. The early 1990s saw the release of the critically-acclaimed, highly personal albums “Interiors” and “The Wheel.” “10 Song Demo,” a stark, minimally-produced “home” recording, was released in 1996. Cash’s new recording, “Rules of Travel,” was released in March 2003. Cash lives in NYC with her husband, John Leventhal, and her children. You can read more about Rosanne Cash at www.rosannecash.com. BSA member Adam Book had an opportunity to ask Rosanne a few questions about songwriting and her new CD after her April 14 show at the Ram’s Head Tavern in Annapolis, MD.

AB: What is it that inspires you to write songs these days?

RC: Well, in the beginning I think it was mostly just my internal ‘tar baby’ stuff - running in circles - my obsessions, you know, in relationships. As I’ve gotten older I feel that I’m looking out to the world more. Now it’s not just about my own insides, but about what’s happening to other people. How I affect other people and how they affect me. What’s happening in the world. One of the most recent songs I wrote was about when the Prince of Nepal blew away his entire family. But taking that from a personal perspective, you know, like what does that really mean? If you could kill everyone you loved. I mean, ultimately that was a drug story. But if it hadn’t been a drug story, where does that exist in the human heart? Those are the kinds of things that interest me.

AB: On your new CD you’re collaborating a lot more with other musicians than in the past. You’ve also included several songs written by other songwriters. Is this a new trend for you or just something you’ve tried and next you’ll try something different?

RC: Well, when I write songs with John (Leventhal), I write the lyrics and he writes the music. I like working with him because he can take me musically to places I couldn’t go by myself as a guitar player. So that’s really refreshing for me and I benefit greatly from it. Also I brought in some other writers on this record because I was just sick of myself and sick of the sound of my own thoughts.

AB: Not a bad thing - to branch out...

RC: Yeah! And I love being an interpreter.

AB: Personally, I was wanting more “Rosanne” on your new CD because most of your other recent CDs are so much you...

RC: It wasn’t laziness - it really was this conscious plan to bring in outside people - to give me relief from the sound of my own thoughts. But I think that on the next record it will be all me. (she grins)

AB: That’s good to hear! Which song on your new CD is closest to your heart?

RC: They all mean something in particular to me. “Western Wall” is a very poignant song to me. “September When It Comes” is a really powerful song for me because it was inspired by that first glimpse of my dad’s mortality and then to record it with him… so it has significant meaning to me. Also, “44 Stories” is important to me. I started writing it when I was 44.

AB: As we mature there’s more that can go into our songwriting.

RC: Yeah - absolutely. Not just “love lost, love regained”

AB: Do you have any tips for a developing songwriter?

RC: Yeah - I teach songwriting sometimes. I noticed that new writers in particular bring in their internal critic way too early in the process. That can dismantle you if your critic starts chipping away at you when you’ve just started the song. Yeah, the critic and the internal editor has a really important place but it’s somewhere toward the end of the process or the second half of the process anyway, not at the beginning. So I would say, as John Stewart told me, “write everything, edit later.”

AB: How do you feel about the state of the female singer-songwriter these days and how do you see it going for female singer-songwriters in the next 5 to 10 years?

RC: Well, I’m actually pretty encouraged. I thought it was a dying art, you know, that it was going to be in the Smithsonian or something. But, there’s Michelle Branch, Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne - all of these young girls who have their whole writing lives ahead of them - who are just starting out and yet are really interesting writers. So I’m really, really encouraged.

AB: A whole new generation of singer-songwriters.

RC: Yeah, absolutely. And then all of the other girls who are more Lucinda (Williams) types - the more rootsy girls - that’s all impressive too.

AB: Is there anything that you’d wish interviewers would ask you? Anything people haven’t asked you about that you’d really like to tell?

RC: No, I can’t think of anything... you guys have basically covered everything. There are no secrets anymore!

AB: Tell me about your songwriting process. Do you have a particular time of day set aside to write?

RC: No, I don’t do that - I have children and I’m a really busy householder. So what happens is that I’ll start something and then as I go through my day I’m kind of turning it over in my head - looking for just the right word or trying to sort out what the theme is and that may go on for weeks before I get it all down on paper.

AB: We really appreciate your talking with us, Rosanne.