Sandy Cash

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif

Voices from the Other Side
Sandy Cash
sandycash.com

(This review is from the March 18, 2013 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)

Singer and songwriter Sandy Cash has an interesting back story. In the 1980s, the Detroit-born artist was a Jewish Studies major at Yale University who thought she might become a Conservative or Reform rabbi. However, she embraced Orthodoxy, gave up her rabbinical ambitions, and moved to Israel where she married, started a family, and pursued a career in musical theatre and, eventually, as a folksinger.

The 11 songs on Voices from the Other Side range from the poignant to the hilarious and include several commentaries on contemporary Israeli realities. “Song of Zion” is a response to those who would delegitimize the State of Israel while “Freeze Frame Truth” captures a moment at a West Bank checkpoint through the eyes of both a 19-year-old Israeli soldier who would much rather be travelling or starting university than searching a Palestinian woman’s car for explosives, and the Palestinian woman herself who is subjected to the search. Cash portrays both sympathetically while, at the same time, recalling the suicide terrorist attacks which led to the establishment of such checkpoints.

One of the more poignant songs is “Gilad’s Guitar,” an adaptation of a song called “Mom’s Guitar” by Stuart Kabak, which pays tribute to the power of song and of passing music on from one generation to the next. The guitar Cash plays was once owned by a cousin of her husband named Gilad who perished as a soldier in the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Perhaps the album’s most affecting song on the CD is Cash’s version of Kabak’s “Numbers” which describes an emotional encounter with an elderly Holocaust survivor.

Among the more humorous songs are “Free Food Bar,” about a mother’s desire to fulfil the varied menu demands of her children – one’s a vegetarian, another can’t stand veggies, a third likes everything done fancy while a fourth just eats corn flakes – and Deirdre Flint’s witty “Bridesmaid’s Dress Song,” about the horrible, expensive, never-to-be-worn-again creations so many bridesmaids are forced to wear. - Mike Regenstreif

Review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange (FAME)
by Roberta B. Schwartz

It is always a pleasure to hear something new from Sandy Cash, who opens up a window to her adopted land of Israel. A native of Detroit, Cash has been living with her family in Israel for the past eighteen years.

A Thing So Real is Cash's second studio recording. Like some of the best performers in the musical theater, she moves easily from the classic torch song to a comedic song and everything in between. She has the kind of voice - an alto with a lovely upper range - that is so easy to listen to that you won't want to remove her CD from your player even after it's ended. But more importantly, she writes great songs - both those that come from the heart and those that tell a story.

One of the recording's best cuts is Giorgio Perlasca, which tells the moving story of an Italian Christian living in Budapest during World War II. To avoid being sent to a labor camp, he sought out the Spanish diplomat to Hungary, Angel Sanz-Briz, who was known for issuing life saving Spanish passports to persecuted Jews. Soon after, Sanz-Briz fled Hungary, but Perlasca took on his name and role in his stead, eventually saving 3,500 Hungarian Jews from deportation and death. Cash's skilled storytelling and delivery bring it to life.

Songs of love and family abound. The opening tune, This Love is Only for You, is a beautiful love song. Stranger With One Heart speaks to the growing child within. But it is Cash's sense of humor that draws us in every time. In The Boy Next Door she finds a pied piper for her kids who leaves her time for herself - to chat with girlfriends and cuss all she wants. Cash pokes fun at her therapist abandoning her for a summer vacation in The Madlibs Song, based on the book of fill-in-the-blanks exercises popular in the Sixties. It will leave you laughing and perhaps identifying with the songwriter's plight. Survival of the Fittest plays with Darwin's theory of evolution with great fun and wit. I love this song!

It is clear from her music that Sandy Cash lives a life full of heart and love, and a lot of humor. Unlike many of her peers, there is something for everyone in her music. There is a universality in her style and in her message that is so appealing that it crosses all kinds of barriers. Who would have guessed that a child of Detroit, living a life in a place of continuing conflict as an adult, would know so much and still have a heart and a voice that speaks to all of us. It is good to laugh, to think and to love along with Sandy Cash. May she continue bringing her music to us for many years to come!

Copyright 2004, Peterborough Folk Music Society and Roberta B. Schwartz.
- Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange

Here is what people have to say about Sandy Cash:

"Sandy Cash has impeccable taste...a gorgeous, rich voice [and] an ear for clever lyrics...I'm so happy to know that she is out there singing songs like these in here part of the world. Lucky them!"

-Christine Lavin

"When I first listened to Sandy's Album 'A Thing So Real' I thought: 'Who is this woman and why haven't I heard her songs before?' Her consistently solid writing covers a wide range of material and is beautifully written, thoughtful and poetic. From tender to hard-hitting to humorous, this is a wonderful collection of songs that are sung with love and grace."

-Priscilla Herdman

It's rare to see such marvelous craft in writng these days (said the old duffer). I love the "Madlibs Song," but the rest of the work is wonderful too. "Survival of the Fittest" is a masterpiece!

- Peter Berryman

I love seeing Sandy Cash perform! No “look at me” attitude there, just a warm, real relationship with the audience . . . and when she starts to sing – wow! It’s like you’re at the opera, or the best musical theatre with guitar you’ve ever seen – she’s totally into the role of each song, whether it’s a comic tune about being a kid, or her own moving work about the life she has lived. Speaking of which, her new material grows from strength to strength, proving her a true poet as well as an actress with a golden voice.

– Ellen Kushner, host of Public Radio’s Sound & Spirit


...the power and broad interpretive style of a Bette Midler or Barbra Streisand... Sandy Cash has a very special gift, that more than a singer, she is an excellent storyteller.

– Bob McKenzie, Soundbytes, Canada


"Sandy's a splendid singer and musician, and her songwriting stands straight and true alongside the likes of Cosy Sheridan, Dar Williams, the Berryman's on her debut disk... an artist worth hearing..."

-David Roth


Turns out I did the American radio premiere of Sandy Cash's album last weekend... and I played [Sandy's] 'Pirate Bounty' this Saturday. What a gorgeous, moving song! This [CD] is a fantastic reflection on motherhood, terror and treasure, as well as keeping afloat."
-Frank Gosar, KLCC, Eugene, OR

Good Lord can [Sandy] sing!!!

I love this recording.. so full, so Present, so well done... a brilliant singer... if this is [Sandy's] debut, we'd all better watch out for a new folk star to rise out of Jerusalem!"
Chris Darling, WMPG, Portland, ME
- Various