Before Johnny Cash wed eternal duet partner June Carter, he married Vivian Liberto, whom he met at a roller-skating rink in San Antonio, Texas. The pair had one daughter, Rosanne Cash, a musical talent in her own right. Getting her start as a background vocalist for her father, Rosanne scored her first No. 1 solo hit with 1981’s “Seven Year Ache.” The next year, she landed a Grammy nod for Best Female Country Vocal Performance with her single “Ain’t No Money.” She didn’t win, but the experience landed her a Grammy anyway.
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Rosanne Cash Wrote This Song With Then-Husband Rodney Crowell
With her cover of Brenda Lee’s “Break It to Me Gently,” pop-country crossover Juice Newton beat out Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, and Sylvia for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Cash, who had been certain of her forthcoming victory, was driving down Hollywood Boulevard after the ceremony when she came up with the song’s central message. I’m in the right mood, I’ve got my new shoes tonight (I don’t know why you don’t want me) / I’ve got my new dress, I couldn’t hurt less tonight / (I don’t know why you don’t want me.)
Working with her then-husband-producer Rodney Crowell, Cash fleshed out the lyrics. She released “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me” in February 1985 as the lead single off her fifth studio album, Rhythm and Romance. This record marked Cash’s first project featuring herself as the primary songwriter.
With backing vocals from Vince Gill, “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me” topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and cracked the top 20 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Ironically, it also secured Cash her first Grammy Award, this one for Best Country Song.
[RELATED: 3 Songs Vince Gill and Rosanne Cash Collaborated on in 1985]
She Didn’t Want to Be a Singer
Often times, the children of successful musicians run full speed toward the spotlight. Just as often, however, the opposite is true. That was the case for Rosanne Cash, who understood that becoming a singer meant “you were going to get famous – and then your whole world would fall apart.”
On the cusp of recording a new album in 1998, Cash developed hormone-induced polyps on her vocal chords during her pregnancy with son Ben. Only able to speak in a rasp, she discovered what many already knew—she was a singer, whether she liked it or not.
“I thought, ‘If I get my voice back, I’m not going to take anxiety with me,’ ” she said in a 2003 interview. “And I didn’t. This is the first time I feel really free.”
Featured image by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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