Touring still makes her happy
Sheryl Crow talks to James Croot about brands, Bond themes and bonding with her two boys on her upcoming tour of New Zealand.
Sheryl Crow admits she’s glad she isn’t starting out in the music business today. The nine-time Grammy Winner, who has sold 50 million album since Tuesday Night Music Club debuted in 1994, believes it would be ‘‘torture’’ for her to try to make it big as a newcomer in 2018.
‘‘Everything is so brand-oriented,’’ she laments while speaking to Stuff from her home in Nashville.
‘‘You practically have to prostitute your personal life to have people interested in you – and then hope they like your music.
‘‘If I had to come out now, I know I wouldn’t [succeed]. I couldn’t stomach the scrutiny selling my life in order for someone to care about my songs.’’
Now 56, the mother of two adopted sons says she’s also concerned about the demise of the traditional ‘‘song’’.
‘‘There aren’t really very many songs any more in the popular world – it’s more beats and top-lines. I really love the tradition of songwriting and rocking out so you know it is what it is. I still love the kind of music I listened to my whole life.’’
Of course, Crow has spent the last near-quarter-of-a-century providing a soundtrack to people’s lives. Songs like All I Wanna Do, If It Makes You Happy, Soak Up the Sun, Everyday Is A Winding Road and Run Baby Run are still on high rotation on radio stations around the globe and now she’s headed back to our shores for the first time in a decade.
Crow will join fellow 1990s singersongwriter icon Melissa Etheridge in visiting Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington this month.
While admitting that she has ‘‘no idea’’ where the idea of touring together came from, Crow says she’s looking forward to what she believes will be an ‘‘extremely fun’’ time.
‘‘She [Melissa] and I have a long history together. And if Melissa is like what I think she is, she lives her life right up until the second she goes on stage, so we’ll probably only decide right before we come over or when we get there [as to the logistics].
‘‘But I’m sure there is going to be some collaborating and some celebrating as both she and I are breast cancer survivors and have definitely scrapped to get where we are – to have the longevity we have. So I imagine it’s going to be a very celebratory feeling tour.’’
Confirming that she will be bringing her beloved boys on the tour (‘‘it’s a great way for me to get to see the world again through their eyes’’), Crow says she has talked to them about New Zealand ‘‘a lot’’.
‘‘There are things about New Zealand that I love and that I wish were embraced here. When we lived out in the country [in more rural Tennessee], my whole farm was on