by Michael Bialas

Created on: October 09, 2009   Last Updated: October 10, 2009

Finally, at the age of 54, Rosanne Cash has become a cover girl.

The eldest daughter of the late Johnny Cash, Rosanne released her 12th studio album, The List, on October 6 (Manhattan Records). But it's the first time she has covered other singers' songs on an entire album, getting a little help from her late, great, country-singing dad, of course.

In 1973, the Man in Black decided to educate his teenage daughter, giving her a list of what he considered 100 essential country songs. The Southern California girl who back then had a penchant for pop now says they should be considered classic American songs.

This list is not only a personal legacy, but I have come to realize it is also a cultural legacy, as important to who we are as Americans as the Civil War, or the Rocky Mountains, she wrote on her website's blog.

Turning into a prolific songwriter and Grammy-winning performer who has been in the business for more than 30 years, Cash figured the timing was right to pass along this lesson in American history. After losing her stepmother, June Carter Cash, and famous father within months of each other in 2003, her mother, Vivian Liberto, died in 2005. Then Rosanne experienced a health scare that necessitated brain surgery on November 27, 2007, delaying her music career and giving her a chance to reflect on the family legacy.

Now, thankfully, she is back, and the result is a satisfying, if not totally riveting, record of country comfort. Cash's cozy vocals and the production/instrumental work of her husband, John Leventhal, provide just the right touch on this all-too-brief collection that is being marketed as a contemporary interpretation, perhaps to reach out beyond the hardcore country masses. Some songs were written by country legends such as Hank Williams (Take These Chains From My Heart was the last song he ever recorded), Hank Snow (I'm Movin' On) and Merle Haggard (Silver Wings) while others were turned into Nashville gold by classic artists such as Patsy Cline (She's Got You), Jimmie Rodgers (Miss The Mississippi and You) and Don Gibson (Sea of Heartbreak.)

Leventhal is a gifted guitarist and excels throughout, also playing drums, organ, piano and anything else with strings. Combined with Rosanne's sultry alto, this makes for easy listening in the best possible way. After hearing her slower but lovelier takes on I'm Movin' On (sounding like the Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins) and Take These Chains From My Heart (turned into a rowdy rave-up by John Doe and

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