Review: Rosanne Cash previews her new album for the Free at Noon crowd

The Black Friday blues were washed away by a glorious performance by Rosanne Cash at World Café Live’s Free at Noon show. Performing a set of songs that heavily drew from her forthcoming release The River & The Thread, Cash and her band – featuring her husband John Leventhal on guitars – made an early argument for best record of next year. Beginning with Cash beautifully unwinding the tale of “A Feather’s Not a Bird” on vocals and continuing through to the rocker “Modern Blue,” which has gained plenty live with a full band since her last stellar Pennsylvania performance as a duo at Sellersville Theater in August, the first four songs of the album were quite stunning. The new material complemented works like Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country,” from Cash’s album The List, quite well. And the post-broadcast encore of one of Cash’s early classics, “Seven Year Ache,” complete with singing help from a fan in the crowd, brought the show to a memorable close. Check out the setlist and look through a gallery of photos from the show below, and listen to the entire performance here (via the WXPN media player).

Setlist

A Feather’s Not a Bird

The Sunken Lands

Etta’s Tune

Modern Blue

I’m Movin’ On (Hank Snow cover)

Girl from the North Country (Bob Dylan covr)

Money Road

50,000 Watts

ENCORE

Seven Year Ache