Sheryl Crow
The Missouri-born singer was inspired by the “tough chicks”.
“Idon’t have anyone that I answer to,” says the straight-talking, ninetime Grammy winning, cancer surviving mother-of-two, rock’n’roll badass Sheryl Crow. “There are so many things to write about and there’s no risk in my writing about them.” Those things on last year’s Be Myself include politics, our addictions to our digital devices, mindless celebrity, sexism and more…
In 2013 you released Feels Like Home, your first ‘country’ album. Your most recent sees you returning to rock.
It’s a follow-up to the last record in a couple of different ways. I’d moved to Nashville and I felt like I had so many country influences, and most of the songs people know from me were definitely influenced by country. So when I was approached about doing a record for the country format, I thought, well that’s very logical, I live here… And then when I got there I realised: “Oh, this is not my home.”
Making the record was a good experience, I worked with a lot of great songwriters in Nashville, but the country format itself… I mean, they don’t play women, the music is very misogynistic, it’s just good ol’ boys party music, which was not what I loved about country.
I loved Gram Parsons and Emmylou [Harris], and the Rolling Stones doing Exile and Let It Bleed. The kind of country that was more about swagger. Country has had so many iconic women, though, like Emmylou, Dolly Parton …
But it’s really changed right now. And I’m hoping it comes out of its growing pains. It’s become very commercial. And because they’ve had success with this one genre of ‘bro’ music, they’re not willing to step away because there’s too much money in it. And that’s the nature of the beast where commerce is succeeding. So this record was really my knee-jerk response to that.
A return to your roots was in order?
It wasn’t really a conscious decision stylistically, but it was in terms of making the album. I called my buddy Jeff Trott [who has collaborated with Crow since 1996] and said: “Hey, come over, and let’s write some songs,” and within three weeks we had a whole record.
Is it different being back in the rock world? Actually it’s kinda great. I think that’s part of why it feels fun right now. And the other thing that’s been great has been my age. It’s been wholly liberating to write music for grown-ups; to not be trying to write for a demographic, because I already know
I’m not going to get played at radio.
Who were the women who inspired you?
I was lucky. The females when I was growing up were the tough chicks. They were like Pat Benetar, and Stevie Nicks who, while not tough, in her own way held
her own. She was gorgeous without using her sexuality, she was more mystical. Chrissie Hynde was tough and could wield a guitar. And Bonnie Raitt and Heart’s Wilson sisters. I had a large group of women I could look at and go: “That’s what I wanna do.” I don’t know who girls look at now and go: “I wanna do that.”
Of those you’ve mentioned, they’re more realistic humans, somehow.
They’re not a cartoon. Celebrity is such a weird thing now. It’s infiltrated all aspects of kids’ lives. For instance, our Disney TV shows, all these girls, even they’re supposed to be teenagers, they seem like adults and they’re sarcastic and every kid can sing like Mariah Carey… But more than that, the girls who proclaim to be role models and want equality for women are peddling sex. And while that may be a powerful tool, what kind of equality are you asking for? It’s very confusing. It’s confusing to girls and confusing to boys. And now I sound like an old lady.
Nothing wrong with that. But can you see how things might change?
I wanna say give your daughters a guitar. Take ’em out of dance class and give them a guitar and see what can happen. Give ’em a Joni Mitchell album or give ’em Rumours and a guitar and see what they become.
Be Myself is out now via Warners.