Rosanne Cash, Mark O’Connor perform Johnny’s essentials

This critically acclaimed program pairs the classical/bluegrass violinist and composer Mark O’Connor with Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash. The extraordinary musical lineup is drawn from original songs and instrumentals inspired by the music and life of “The Man in Black.” Cash performs selections from “Black Cadillac,” the profoundly emotional album she wrote after her father’s death. In addition, she renders 12 of the 100 essential country songs given to her by way of a “list.”

Rosanne recalls that moment back in 1973. She had just finished high school and was about to receive an incomparable graduation gift.

“When I was 18, I was on the road with my dad,” she said. “One day we were sitting in the tour bus talking about songs, and he mentioned a song and I said, ‘I don’t know that one.’ He mentioned another one and I said, ‘I don’t know that one either.’ Then he started to get alarmed, so he spent the rest of the day making a list on a legal pad and on the top he put ‘One Hundred Essential Country Songs.’ And he handed it to me and said, ‘This is your education.'”

Thirty-six years later, she completed her album “The List.”

O’Connor, a prolific composer whose score, “Fiddle Concerto” has become the most-performed violin concerto, joins Joey “Arash” Animi on the violin, and Melissa Marsh on piano to present his “Trio No. 1 for Piano, Violin and Cello: Poets and Prophets: inspired by Johnny Cash.” The four parts of this composition praise “The Man in Black,” “The Tennessee Two,” “My June” and “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”

“Mark O’Connor and Rosanne Cash pay tribute to Johnny Cash with supreme musicianship and heart,” Strathmore Artistic Director Shelley Brown said. “Seems like a perfect show for the Music Center at Strathmore. When Mark was here in the first season, he played with his trio without sound amplification. People still talk about it in revered tones.”