Songs Without Rhyme: Prose by Celebrated Songwriters

Rosanne Cash continues to champion genre-crossing singer/songwriters with Songs Without Rhyme: Prose by Celebrated Songwriters, in which 14 artists use the lyrics of one their own songs as a starting point for a prose piece. With works by luminaries like David Byrne (his funny, disturbing and well-wrought story concerns a future black market of genetic engineering), Johnny Cash (whose Cold War story from 1953 tells of the USSR's use of holograms and phonetic spelling to maintain its occupation of the ""USSA""), Shawn Colvin and the editor herself, the collection expands on wide-ranging themes explored more briefly or obtusely in the original songs. Rock, folk and pop fans will enjoy this broader view into the imaginations of certain stars. ( Mar.)