Rules of Travel

Let’s say you’re Rosanne Cash. You’re a pretty good singer-songwriter who’s put together a solid career, but you’re still thought of as “Johnny Cash’s daughter.” How would you convince people you’re an artist able to stand on your own two feet? Can we recommend not making a record that includes a duet with daddy and contributions from two other seedlings of the rich and famous, Jakob Dylan and Richard Thomson’s son, Teddy? While Rules of Travel is a fairly agreeable album in a Shawn Colvin kind of way, it’s nondescript enough to be defined by what it lacks: grit. Nowhere is this more clear than on her warm, emotional duet with her pops, “September When It Comes”: Rosanne’s voice wafts along pleasantly; Johnny’s thunders with world-weary authority. A duet with Steve Earle on the first-rate “I’ll Change for You” can’t help pointing out the same thing. It’s unfair Rosanne should have to endure such comparisons, but by making an album like this, she’s pretty much asking for it.