SINGER ON HER CLOSE BOND WITH SCOTLAND
Rosanne and her dad in 1982. Left, Johnny at Falkland Palace in 1992
Liberto, is also set to appear on Ken Burns’s Country Music series on BBC Alba in July.
The singer cannot wait to get back to her “hometown” of Falkland, Fife, once travel restrictions are lifted.
Rosanne and her family have been frequent visitors to the village since her late father discovered they were descended from King Malcolm IV of Scotland and their clan originated in nearby Strathmiglo. Johnny made severa l pilgrimages to Fife before his death in 2003, aged 71, and his daughter has found solace by returning to the village and chatting to the people who knew him.
She said: “After lockdown is over, Scotland is the first place I’ll be heading to. I’ve got so many friends there . It ’ s one of the places I feel
Star Rosanne performs in London in 2018 closestosest to my dad. Fife was his specialecial place.place I feel a deep connection to Scotland.
“Strathmiglo is where the Cash family originated, just down the road from Falkland many centuries ago. Our name is still there on the streets and farms. Easter Cash, Cash Feus, Wester Cash, Cash Mills farm – it’s everywhere.
“I remember the first time I saw that I was stunned. It felt so good.
It felt like touching the past and touching my own roots. There is something special about Fife and that’s why it is the only place in Scotland to be called the kingdom.
“My dad found out about his Scottish roots after he sat next to Major Michael Crichton- Stuart, the former keeper of Falkland Palace, on a flight to America in the 1970s. He told him the Cash name was all over Fife.
“My dad got a genealogist to do some research and discovered our connection to King Malcolm IV. He visited Falkland at least three times and recorded a Christmas special there in 1981 with
Sunday Mail
AndyAnd Williams. When my dad was very ill and in his last years of life,l whenever he visited hospitalhosp he did not check in as JohnnyJohn Cash – he always went underunde the name of Malcolm.” Rosanne,Ro who developed an interestinter in performing after going on the road with her dad when she was 18, added: “I went back tot Fife three months after my fatherfa passed away and I cannot tell you what an emotional experienceexperie it was.
“I visited ththe old violin shop at the top of Falkland high street with my daughter Carrie and we got talking to its owner Bob Beveridge. I told him my name was Cash and I had family connections to the village. “He then told me about meeting Johnny in 1981 and, when I told him I was his daughter, he went away and came back with photos of my dad and told me how lovely he was. I cried and cried. To know I was in a place my father took pride in was a great comfort. “Bob and I became friends and we’ve stayed in touch. We emailed each other last week and I’ll definitely pop in to see him when I’m back in Scotland. “I don’t think our family will ever lose our ties with Fife. I’ve taken my children there over the years and I perform in Scotland any chance I get. I’ve done Celtic Connections and concerts in Falkland and Inverness.
“The celtic melancholy has always been in my music and my dad’s, before we even knew about our Scottish roots.”