On January 31, the Stissing Center for Arts & Culture in Pine Plains opens its 2026 season with “Spark!” a multimedia preview of the season’s new programming, from bluegrass to Beethoven, from Bollywood to burlesque. The evening will be anchored by a performance by Rosanne Cash, an artist whose work has long bridged country, folk, rock, and a distinctly literary strain of American songwriting.
Cash’s presence sets the tone for the evening, which pairs her performance with a multimedia preview of the Stissing Center’s upcoming season, which features local, national, and international artists slated to appear over the coming year.
Over the course of a career that now spans more than four decades, Cash has built a catalog defined by narrative clarity and moral weight. She emerged in the early 1980s with a run of country hits, then gradually widened her scope, drawing on Southern history, family legacy, and personal reckoning. Her 2014 album The River & The Thread earned three Grammy Awards and marked a late-career peak that reaffirmed her stature as a songwriter of uncommon depth.
Cash’s creative life extends beyond music. Her memoir Composed was praised for its clear-eyed account of an American upbringing shaped by music, loss, and artistic independence. In 2021, she became the first woman to receive the Edward MacDowell Award for music composition, and she was recently elected an honorary American member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, recognition that reflects her standing as both musician and writer.
For this performance, Cash appears with her husband and longtime collaborator, John Leventhal, whose understated production and guitar work have shaped much of her recent output. Together, they bring a quiet authority to the stage, favoring songs that unfold through detail rather than spectacle.
In Pine Plains, that approach feels well matched to the Stissing Center’s ambitions. “Spark!” functions as both concert and curtain-raiser, introducing a season built around range, curiosity, and connection. Cash’s performance does not promise fireworks. It promises something more durable: songs that linger, stories that hold, and an opening note for the year ahead that trusts the audience to listen.
Tickets are $100-$150 and go on sale on the Stissing Center’s website in January.
Rosanne Cash anchoring the Stissing Center’s season opener sounds fantastic! I’m really intrigued by the “Spark!” concept—a multimedia preview blending everything from bluegrass to Beethoven. How do you think her literary songwriting style will bridge those diverse genres during the showcase?