Rosanne Cash
with opener Bob Skidmore

Friday, April 20, 2012 • 8:00 pm

The eldest child of Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto, Rosanne Cash was born in Memphis, Tennessee on May 24, 1955. After her parents separated she and her three sisters grew up in California.

At 18 she joined The Johnny Cash Show, further absorbing his influence along with that of his legendary touring show partners Carl Perkins and the Carter Family. The Carter Family's June Carter later became Rosanne's stepmother when she married Cash in 1968.

Rosanne went on to study drama at Nashville's Vanderbilt University and at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles before focusing on her music. In the 30 years since she has released 12 albums including Right or Wrong, Seven Year Ache,Somewhere in the Stars, Rhythm and Romance, King's Record Shop, Interiors, The Wheel, 10 Song Demo, Rules of Travel, Black Cadillac, and most recently, The List. She has also recorded 11 No. 1 singles, blurring the genres of country, rock, roots and pop. In 1985 she won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, for her hit "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me," and has received nine other nominations.

Her highly personal yet universally appealing writing style is also manifest in her parallel prose career. Rosanne published a collection of short stories, Bodies of Water, in 1995, and a children's book, Penelope Jane: A Fairy's Tale, in 2000. Composed, her long-awaited memoir, was published in 2010. Additionally, her essays and fiction have appeared in various collections and publications, including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, The Oxford American and New York Magazine.

The mother of five children, Rosanne lives in New York City with her husband, producer and guitarist John Leventhal, and her youngest child.

Bob Skidmore

A native of Muskingum County, Ohio, Bob Skidmore has been performing in some way, shape, or form, for over 40 yrs, and his resume includes work as an actor, singer and musician.

Bob’s professional stage credits include the role of “Pap Finn” in the 2002 national touring company of Big River, a role that he reprised for Newark’s Weathervane Playhouse in 2011, and he also appeared in the 2000 Columbia/TriStar Motion Pictures release A Better Way To Die, which was partially filmed in Newark, Ohio.

As a songwriter, Bob was awarded Honorable Mention by the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, for his songs “Is There Some Heaven Left for Me?” and “That Hand”, both of which are featured on his first CD release, From Cradle…. A second CD, …To Grave…, was released in 2010.

Now semi-retired from performing, Bob lives in rural Licking County, but can still be found on stage occasionally, just like when he opened 3 shows for internationally known singer/songwriter Carla Bonoff, right here at the Midland Theatre in 2010.