Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-212) and index.

"In 1973, Rosanne Cash's father gave her a list of 100 songs, many from the Southern tradition, that he felt a young musician had to know. Always Been There tells the inside story of the album that, more than thirty-five years later, resulted from 'the list.' Based on original interviews conducted in the studio, at home in New York City, and on tour in Europe, Always Been There documents a pivotal episode in Rosanne Cash's long and fascinating career. As she and her producer and husband John Leventhal painstakingly reconstruct what songs made 'the list' and why, we gain an unmatched understanding of a longer musical continuum that includes the Carter Family and other fabled names of the Southern pantheon, and their influence on her music and writing. We also see how Leventhal's talents as an arranger and musician pair with Rosanne's searching vocal performances to make these old songs new again."--BOOK JACKET.