Rosanne Cash channels Johnny with Ry Cooder at her side at SFJazz

Rosanne Cash brought her father’s songbook. Ry Cooder brought Luther Perkins’ cream-colored 1955 Fender guitar. They met in the middle of the stage at the SFJazz Center on Thursday night to do something Cash vowed she would never do and may never do again after this weekend.

They played an entire concert of songs recorded by Johnny Cash.

It was not a greatest-hits show. They did not do “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues” or “A Boy Named Sue.” Rosanne Cash sang mostly the slow stuff — ballads and story songs — which she delivered with pure country phrasing that sometimes left an audience that included Linda Ronstadt in silent reverie at the end of a number.