![\"CROW-0-Issue-No30\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CROW-0-Issue-No30.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nBy Russell Hall<\/strong><\/p>\n Call it a slight turn, not a giant leap. That\u2019s how Sheryl Crow assesses her nimble move into mainstream country music. She\u2019s quick to point out that even \u201cAll I Wanna Do\u201d\u2014the Grammy-winning megahit that vaulted her into the limelight 20 years ago\u2014featured a country staple: pedal steel from beginning to end. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s that big a switch,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing guitar pulls for years and writing conventional songs with guitar solos. Today\u2019s country format is where you hear the kind of music I\u2019ve always made.\u201d<\/p>\n Crow\u2019s country roots run deep. Growing up in Kennett, Mo.\u2014a four-hour drive from her current home outside Nashville\u2014she experienced the full gamut of rural Southern life. She was also blessed with parents who performed in swing orchestras and encouraged Crow to explore music at an early age. \u201cThe community was all farmland and church and school and a town square,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of life I wanted to give my own kids. Clearly I\u2019m also a girl who loves to rock\u2014I fell hard for the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan\u2014but my favorite rockers had close ties to country music.\u201d<\/p>\n Crow may have loved small-town life, but she nurtured big ambitions. Graduating from the University of Missouri with a degree in piano and voice, she worked as a music teacher for two years before heading to L.A., determined to make her mark as a recording artist. A lengthy period of peripheral work ensued\u2014including a two-year stint as Michael Jackson\u2019s backup singer. But in 1993 she broke through with Tuesday Night Music Club<\/i>, her debut album. Industry awards\u2014including the Grammy for Best New Artist\u2014followed, and Crow became one of music\u2019s leading singer-songwriters. In the past two decades, she\u2019s scored nine Grammy wins and sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.<\/p>\n In 2006 a health scare prompted Crow to take stock. Diagnosed with breast cancer, she underwent successful treatment and soon afterward adopted the first of her two sons. Another change came that year when she moved to Nashville. She now resides on a 50-acre horse farm on the outskirts of the city. \u201cI was kind of a lost soul,\u201d she says. \u201cI realized that during 25 years of touring and making records, I had never put down roots anywhere. I felt it was time to reassess my life, to see what was missing.\u201d<\/p>\n Crow\u2019s new album, Feels Like Home<\/i>, places her firmly at the center of the Nashville songwriting community. The spark for the record was kindled three years ago, when Crow joined Loretta Lynn and Miranda Lambert for a performance of Lynn\u2019s \u201cCoal Miner\u2019s Daughter\u201d at the CMA Awards. Country vets like Brad Paisley and Vince Gill quickly set about convincing her that the country format was where she belonged. \u201cThere was a huge response after I sang with Loretta,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n As with her previous two albums, Crow recorded the bulk of Feels Like Home<\/i> in a barn-turned-studio on her farm. Struggling at first with the production, she turned to Gill for advice. He in turn put her in touch with Justin Niebank, a noted producer-engineer. Niebank\u2019s co-production work proved integral to the project\u2019s success. \u201cI was a bit lost with the numbers charts,\u201d Crow explains. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the way I was used to working. I told Vince what I know best is to go in with an engineer and talk about how we want things to sound and feel, and then go at that together. I give Justin total credit for leading the way. He even chose the musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n High points include \u201cShotgun,\u201d a brawny country rocker fueled by a twangy guitar riff; \u201cWe Oughta Be Drinkin\u2019\u201d a slinky ballad that would have fit snugly onto a Bobbie Gentry LP; and \u201cWaterproof Mascara,\u201d a nicely orchestrated anthem every unmarried mother can relate to. Most of the material was worked up in songwriting sessions with some of Nashville\u2019s finest writers, including Paisley, Chris DuBois, Luke Laird and Natalie Hemby, among others. Crow\u2019s longtime writing partner Jeff Trott co-penned two tunes as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been invigorating and satisfying to study what makes a country song work,\u201d says Crow. \u201cI\u2019m still doing what I love, but I\u2019m learning and stretching at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why a country album?<\/b><\/p>\n Many encouraged me, but the major character in the story is Brad Paisley. He really believed in me as a country artist. After I performed with Loretta, he came backstage and said, \u201cNow, will you please make a country record? It\u2019s a format you belong to.\u201d I was nervous, because I felt I might be perceived as yet another pop artist trying to make that transition. But Brad offered great support, as did Chris DuBois.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was their advice?<\/b><\/p>\n One thing Brad said was, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to turn your vocals up, and make the songs more first person.\u201d He pointed out that if \u201cAll I Wanna Do,\u201d \u201cIf It Makes You Happy,\u201d \u201cSteve McQueen\u201d or \u201cEveryday Is a Winding Road\u201d had come out today, they would have fit the country format.\u00a0 My songs were already story-oriented\u2014the thing I had to do was to make them more succinct and instrumentally more in the country vein. It really wasn\u2019t that big a departure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did you approach your vocals?<\/b><\/p>\n I hadn\u2019t written songs with a big vocal range prior to this album. One of the things that\u2019s always been discouraging is when people would come to my shows and say, \u201cWow, you\u2019re such a better singer live than you are on your records!\u201d Having a lot more range was great. It\u2019s been fun to stretch out and really sing those big, soaring ballads. Luckily I\u2019m sort of like my mom in that my voice has aged well, I think, and has become better than when I started.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Describe the songwriting process.<\/b><\/p>\n I wrote with perfect strangers, something totally new for me. I\u2019m probably like most singer-songwriters in that songwriting is a personal process. Plus I\u2019ve had such a great songwriting relationship with Jeff. To walk into a room with two other writers\u2014which is typically the way it works in Nashville\u2014was a real challenge. But I found I really enjoyed that process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Was it different in other ways?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ve had the luxury in pop music of being able to leave some things kind of esoteric in my narrative songwriting, because it means something specific to me. But writing for country involves dropping some of that imagery and getting to the point. I think that\u2019s typically what country music has encapsulated\u2014telling a story in everyman terms. In pop music you can get away with a lot more. I\u2019ve had lyrics I\u2019m really proud of, but not everybody can relate to them. That\u2019s something that will forever be ingrained in my songwriting head. Is this the best line I can put here? Is this the best way of saying what I want to say? That\u2019s a big game-changer for me. It\u2019s something I became more mindful of while doing this record.<\/p>\n Did you want to address the concerns of I think I wound up looking back at how it was done in the 1960s and \u201970s. I was conscious of writing an album that was about a current-day woman. There are a lot of young women out there in country radio, but you don\u2019t hear too many middle-aged women singing about what it\u2019s like to be a single mom, or those types of issues. There are all those artists we counted on, like Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, who wrote those kinds of stories, but it\u2019s become sort of a dead art form. I wanted to write those types of songs about what it\u2019s like to be a working mom. Interestingly enough, I\u2019ve had a great response from men. I\u2019ve had men come up to me and say they love \u201cWaterproof Mascara,\u201d because they were raised by a single mother. I felt like there was a hole where all that stuff used to exist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do scheduled writing sessions feel less inspired?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s definitely different. But everything about my life is different now. I have two kids\u20143 and 6. The luxury of waking up and picking up a guitar and spending the morning with a cup of coffee and the newspaper, writing songs, is behind me. As much as I love and value doing that, being a mom\u2014particularly a single mom\u2014involves compromises. Inspiration is something that gets scheduled, but I\u2019m OK with that. I don\u2019t think it means my art form is weakened. I don\u2019t know that getting up and writing alone at 4:30 in the morning makes for a better song. This album is as personal as anything I\u2019ve done. Even though there are a lot of co-writes, there are stories that are so close to me it\u2019s sometimes difficult to sing them.<\/p>\n Any surprises during the sessions?<\/b><\/p>\n It was great having Zac Brown come in and sing on \u201cHomesick,\u201d a song I wrote with Chris Stapleton. And I actually wrote \u201cStay at Home Mother\u201d after the album was completed. I felt there was one thing missing, so Natalie Hemby and I spent an afternoon writing that song. But I think the big surprise for me was the way we recorded the album, with four or five musicians in the room. There was a feeling of egoless musicianship, a sense that when people play together in this town it\u2019s because they have great respect for what the other person does.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Have you had to tailor the live show to accommodate the new material?<\/b><\/p>\n Not really. We usually play four or five of the new songs each night, and they\u2019ve fit beautifully with the older material. \u201cShotgun\u201d is practically the sister song to \u201cSteve McQueen.\u201d \u201cGive It to Me\u201d is practically the sister song to \u201cIf It Makes You Happy.\u201d \u201cHomecoming Queen\u201d and \u201cStrong Enough\u201d are very similar as well. \u201cEasy\u201d sounds like \u201cFirst Cut Is the Deepest.\u201d Everything works great together.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tell us about your studio.<\/b><\/p>\n I have a couple of API recording consoles, including a new 1608. I also have a Neve BCM 10. There\u2019s an old Studer, but we don\u2019t hook that up anymore. I have all the vintage gear I\u2019ve always had, from Fairchilds to Universal Audio 1176 compressors\u2014all old stuff I love. There\u2019s also a roomful of guitars and basses, along with Hammonds and other keyboards\u2014everything you can imagine. And it\u2019s all located in a room above 10 horses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What\u2019s your go-to guitar for songwriting?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ve bought a lot of beautiful guitars but I always end up coming back to the 1964 Gibson Country Western. I call it the old moneymaker, because all the hits I\u2019ve ever had were written on that guitar. I play an original model\u2014always keep it close by. Gibson made a signature model as well, and I also play a Les Paul quite a bit.<\/p>\n Do you recall your first song?<\/b><\/p>\n It was for a contest for Missourians to write a song of pride about the state. My mom found the sheet music for it just the other day, but I\u2019ve yet to sit and play it. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s quite hideous.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Know a hit when you hear it?<\/b><\/p>\n I never get that right. I\u2019m always wrong when I tell people what I think the first single should be. \u201cAll I Wanna Do\u201d barely made the first album. My brother kept saying, \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest song on the record!\u201d I was like, \u201cNo way.\u201d I really struggled with whether or not I wanted it on the album, and of course it wound up being a big song.<\/p>\n You struggled for years and then success came fast. Were you prepared?<\/b><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t like it is now, suddenly you\u2019re huge and the entire world knows who you are. We worked for a long time before that night I won the Grammys. Then I received the Grammys, we went to the parties\u2014and the next day we played in Fresno. And then the day after that we played in San Francisco. I didn\u2019t have time to sit back and think, \u201cWow, I\u2019ve really made it. Now I can rest on my laurels.\u201d It was a nice acknowledgement for years of work, but it didn\u2019t change the way I felt about my job, about being a touring artist and a songwriter. And I still feel that way. It\u2019s hard to internalize the accolades when really you\u2019re doing something simply because you love it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is dealing with celebrity easier in Nashville than L.A.?<\/b><\/p>\n That\u2019s something that\u2019s also changed since I first became successful. Celebrity wasn\u2019t as intrusive as it is today. I\u2019ll probably always be uncomfortable with that aspect of what I do, so much so that living in Nashville has been a real blessing. I have my boys here, and they don\u2019t get their pictures taken whenever they go to school or when we get off an airplane. There are no paparazzi. It\u2019s definitely the way I choose to live. I don\u2019t enjoy the celebrity aspect of what I do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How far into the future do you look?<\/b><\/p>\n I try to at least get to the end of the day. (laughs<\/i>) I know I\u2019m picking up my kid in three hours, and that I\u2019m going back on the road this weekend. It\u2019s encouraging to think that I\u2019ve been doing this for 25 years\u2014and yet I\u2019m still excited about it. I\u2019m excited about songwriting, excited about what\u2019s ahead, and I\u2019m still learning. But the days of looking out five years into the future are definitely behind me.\u00a0 M<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WHERE THE\u00a0HEART IS Sheryl Crow\u2014and her music\u2014find a\u00a0Home in the country By Russell Hall Call it a slight turn, not a giant leap. That\u2019s how Sheryl Crow assesses her nimble move into mainstream country music. She\u2019s quick to point out that even \u201cAll I Wanna Do\u201d\u2014the Grammy-winning megahit that vaulted her into the limelight 20 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[7299,1197],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11350"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11355,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11350\/revisions\/11355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"CROW-1-Issue-No30\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CROW-1-Issue-No30.jpg\")
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\ncontemporary women?<\/b><\/p>\n![\"CROW-2-Issue-No30\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CROW-2-Issue-No30.jpg\")
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