Rosanne Cash has become the 61st person to win the Edward MacDowell Medal, although the ceremony itself won’t take place till next year because of the ongoing pandemic. The award is named after the composer Edward MacDowell, and honours artists who have made “significant contributions to American culture.” Previous winners include John Updike, Leonard Bernstein, Joan Didion, Philip Roth, David Lynch and Georgia O’Keeffe.
“To be included in a list with Aaron Copland, Eudora Welty, Toni Morrison, and so many more distinguished artists, is beyond my imagining — something I would not have dared to dream or even consider,” Cash said in a statement. “I do not place myself in any way equal, but I accept this honor with deepest gratitude, as an encouragement to do my best work, and in the service of future inspiration. My heart is full with this precious recognition.”
Greil Marcus, chairman of this year’s selection panel, said in a statement: “From the shockingly intimate timbre of Seven Year Ache in 1981 to the reflective darkness of She Remembers Everything 37 years later, as a composer, singer, and someone who can, in a sense, summon ambiance, Rosanne Cash has distinguished herself from her contemporaries as she has escaped the weight of her celebrated forebears.”
Cash released her most recent album ‘She Remembers Everything’ back in 2018.
