By Paul Freeman [1996 and 2003 interviews]

It's far more than simply genetics that has made Rosanne Cash such a wondrous songwriter. Hard work, remarkable candor, unflagging courage and peerless perseverance are among the ingredients, as well as her inherent talent.

Among her memorable songs are "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me," "Blue Moon with Heartache," "Hold On," "Second to No One," "If You Change Your Mind" and "Seven Year Ache."

Below are two of our vintage interviews with the colossally gifted Ms. Cash. Her latest album, as of this writing, is 2018's "She Remembers Everything"

[1996 INTERVIEW]
CASH GETS RAW WITH RICH DEMO

Rosanne Cash has always been motivated by creative, not commercial concerns. But even for her, "10 Song Demo" is a bold move.

The new release was actually meant to be a demo. "I was sending it to the record company to give them an idea of the songs we were working on. They said, 'Let's release these just the way they are!'" she says.

Cash had doubts. "It was a shock at first. John [Levanthal, her husband and co-producer], kept saying, 'I can't believe you're going to release this as a record.' It was recorded in John's home studio. If you listen close enough, you can hear trucks going by.

"I played piano on it, for God's sake. I'm a terrible piano player! Some of the record is very raw. On some of it, we were experimenting. Listening back, I hear all the mistakes. There was a time I forgot a word!"

Nevertheless, Cash appreciated the concept of presenting her creations in beautifully bare form. "It's a really good document of the songwriting process. It's about as close to the inceptions of the songs as you can get," she says.

Since 1979, Cash, the daughter of country music icon Johnny Cash, has been captivating country, pop and folk fans with her distinctive songs. The process has changed over the years. "It's more conscious. When I started, I was at the mercy of blind inspiration. Now I know how to catalyze myself, how to keep an idea germinating."

She doesn't think of songwriting as therapy. "It would cheapen it to put it in the same breath as pop psychology. But it is cathartic and it can be revelatory," she says.

"It's gotten more important to me as I've gotten older. I hate to use a cliché, but it's my passion."

The passion in her personal life is directed to gifted producer and guitarist John Leventhal, her husband of 15 months. But they're still establishing guidelines for collaboration.

"We're figuring it out as we go along," Cash says. "We found out that it's not good for us to go on the road together for long periods. We found that we're overly sensitive to the other's remarks, when we're working. We're learning. We're careful.

"Creating together is very romantic. It's incredibly intimate," she says.

She likes her new life, which includes a move from Nashville to New York. "Nashville was stifling for me," she says. "Image-making is as important as music there. I didn't buy into that. Also, I didn't like the fact that everybody knew who I was.

"In New York, I like feeling anonymous. I also like being in a city where I feel connected to a history of other writers."

Cash has a connection to the latest music, courtesy of her three daughters. Looking ahead to her next album, she says, "I want to rock. I'm tired of being sensitive."

Her 14-year-old, a Sex Pistols fan, shouts, "Mom, you never rock hard-core!"

Laughing, Cash says, "Of course, I could never do anything that was mindless. I would feel too guilty."

2003 INTERVIEW LOST AND FOUND: ROSANNE CASH BACK IN VOICE

Rosanne Cash is happy to talk about "Rules of Travel, her first studio album in 10 years. Actually, she's just happy to talk. Shortly after beginning to work on the CD in 1998, she lost her voice.

"It was pretty sudden," recalls Cash, who, a couple of months prior, had learned she was pregnant. "A couple days I was kind of hoarse. By the end of the week, my voice was gone. I thought, 'Oh, it's an allergy; oh, it's laryngitis; oh, it could be related to my pregnancy.'"

After a silent month, her husband/producer John Levanthal forced her to see a doctor. Turns out the problem was polyps.

"In the beginning, I wasn't too troubled by it. I was going to give the time to the baby anyway. But a year after he was born, when I still hadn't gotten it back, I started freaking out, like a guitar player whose hands are permanently borken. I thought,'I'm going to have to rethink my identity,'"

Cash's original dream was to become a writer. Her prose publications include the short fiction collection "Bodies of Water" and the children's book "Penelope Jane: A Fairy's Tale." But the thought of never singing again distressed her.

"I discovered how central it was to me to be a singer. I couldn't even pick up a guitar, when I didn't have my voice. It was depressing."

Surgery was planned for soon after the birth. "Then the doctor said, 'Let's wait until you've finished nursing the baby.' Six months after I finished nursing the baby, the polyps went away. It took about eight months to get my voice back in shape. So it was really a three-year process."

With therapy, the return of her voice came gradually. "I could sing two songs in a day, then four songs. It was a year later when I could do a full set."

The ordeal gave her a new perspective on singing. "It's the classic thing, you don't appreciate what you have until you lose it. There's a reason that those aphorisms are true."

The new CD showcases her songwriting skills as well as her restored voice. Cash wrote or co-wrote eight of the 11 tracks. She welcomed contributions from other writing talents, including her husband John Levanthal, Marc Cohen and Jakob Dylan.

"Before we started recording, I told John, 'I'm just so sick of the sound of my own thoughts, so sick of my feelings and sick of navel-gazing overall.' As it turned out, the three songs we pulled in from outside rounded out the record perfectly." Many other top artists contributed to the new CD. Sheryl Crow and Steve Earle provide guest vocals. But the most powerful teaming comes on "September When It Comes." Her father, Johnny Cash, whose wife, June Carter Cash, recently passed away, joins her on that track, which tackles the theme of mortality.

"I was facing the mortality of one of my parents. He had been really ill. It just seemed like an almost elegiac thing to do, to have him sing those words. I was weeping in the studio. He wasn't feeling well that day, so it was very poignant. He did it a couple of times to learn the melody and get used to singing it. And he was really getting into it. His energy really perked up. Afterwards, he said, 'Now you take that back to New York and if John's not satisfied, I'll come to New York and I'll do it again.'"

She also sings on "Kindred Spirits," a Johnny Cash tribute album. Like her father, she seeks to display sincerity and integrity in her singing, qualities that contribute to her career longevity. "I'm very careful about comparing myself to my dad, because my dad's a very original, unique, great artist. He's a prototype.

"I'm not a prototypical, great, original artist. I'm a hybrid. Maybe everybody from my generation's kind of derivative. Also, I didn't have the singular kind of focus that he did. I haven't been willing to make a lot of those sacrifices. I wanted to have other things in my life."

Cash has been lauded for her songwriting skills since the late 70s. "It's like Lillian Hellman said: 'I hate writing, but I love having written.' Sometimes I hate the process and sometimes the process is transcendent. Sometimes it's drudgery and sometimes it's inspiration. But it's my job."

Now 47, Cash continues to grow as a songwriter. "I do like that I'm starting to write in second person, instead of first person all the time. It seems that I'm engaged in the world more, observing something outside of my own insides.

"I don't think anybody's ever going to write a truly original song again," she adds. "All the chord progressions and all of the topics have already been covered. But there's still room for elements of originality. Everyone's experiences are unique to themselves."

Now Cash is back on course and back on tour. Special exercises have given her voice stamina. "It's pretty strong now, actually stronger than it was before I lost it. It's exciting to venture into new territory."

For the latest on this artist, visit www.rosannecash.com.