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Hear Rosanne Cash's instant classic 'Not Many Miles To Go'

Rosanne Cash
Rosanne CashMichael Levine

by Bruce Warren

October 11, 2018

The eldest daughter of Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash is a highly distinguished singer and songwriter. Since she released her debut in 1978, she's built a fantastic body of work. She's released thirteen studio albums with highlights including Seven Year Ache (1981), The Wheel (1993), and 2009's The List, a collection of 12 essential country songs she recorded from a list of 100 country songs that her father gave her.

Cash will release her latest album, She Remembers Everything, on Nov. 2 via Blue Note Records. It's her first new record since 2014's The River & The Thread, which won multiple Grammy Awards including Best Americana Album, Best Americana Roots Song and Best Americana Roots Performance for the song "A Feather's Not A Bird," co-written with her guitarist, producer, and spouse, John Leventhal.

She Remembers Everything was recorded in Portland, Ore., and New York City, with Leventhal and producer Tucker Martine and includes contributions from Elvis Costello, Kris Kristofferson, Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), and Sam Phillips.

On Thursday, WXPN premieres "Not Many Miles To Go," co-written by Cash and Leventhal and produced by Martine. It's an instant Cash classic — an uptempo song with the message that love carries with it the certainty of loss. It's a song about memory and the act of remembering. Throughout, the narrator recounts the times, events and emotions she's experienced with the passing of time with her partner. Anchored by a beautifully poetic guitar solo by Tim Young, Cash sings, "Time keeps slipping through the curtain / With the Empire State and small batch bourbon / Now there's not many miles to go / And just one promise left to keep."

The one promise left to keep? It's likely the idea that we keep the past alive, respecting the passing of time and the memories associated with our lives. As Cash once sang on "The Wheel," "The wheel goes round and round, the flame in our souls will never burn out." Inevitably, our time comes to a halt. However, the memories we have with the ones we love carry on, like the wheel that goes round and round.

She Remembers Everything comes out Nov. 2 via Blue Note Records.

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Rosanne Cash - official site

Rosanne Cash, 'She Remembers Everything'
Rosanne Cash, 'She Remembers Everything'
Blue Note Records