Interview With Sheryl Crow
About.com
On her seventh studio album, Sheryl Crow is striking chords that are, on the one hand, a seemingly natural musical progression and, on the other, a departure from her previous pop records. While some of the songs echo the personal themes of love and struggle we’ve come to expect, others, like "Shine Over Babylon," tackle larger, more community-centric issues.
She’s spoken rather publicly about her advocacy for environmental issues and peace. On Detours, she brings that together with her gift as an exceptional songwriter. I had the pleasure of speaking with Crow over the phone about what music fans can expect from the album:
Kim Ruehl: So, tell me a little about this record and where the title Detours came from.
Sheryl Crow: The theme that runs throughout the album [are] these detours that take us away from how we thought our life was going to be.
How we ultimately come back and investigate how to get back to who we really are. [It came] from having some major relationships and having breast cancer, trying to refine my life—not define it, but actually refine it. Also, where we are as a nation and the fact that we've gotten so far away from what America was founded on. Our reputation has been very damaged, and all this in the last seven years. How do we get back to who we are, what we stand for? So that's the theme on the album. There are quite a few political songs and a lot of personal songs. It's a very personal record.
One of the press releases they sent me, the quote from you was that it's one of the most honest records you've ever done...
It is. I think I went in, with a little baby just looking to me for all the answers. It certainly creates a sense of urgency to write about the things that are going on around me. It was, for me, just an idea of needing to get these songs out. Just needing to get them on paper and get them recorded, and not to be distracted. Because I think we've really mastered this posture of going to sleep and not being awake to what’s around us. That's largely why we are where we are.
Do you think those topical songs are harder to write than the more personal songs?
No, I think they all kind of come from the same place. Because it is deeply personal to me what's happening in our country, what's happening on our planet. When you consider what kind of a parent you are [and providing for] your kid, I think it becomes personal. You have a kid, you don't really feel like okay, well I hate what's happening to our planet, but I'm not going to be here, anyway. It definitely becomes more personal.
Is there an element of this that's hoping that you can change some minds? Do you expect that at all? Do you think music is capable of that?
I'm not really concerned with changing anybody's mind. I don't know where people’s minds are. I think most people are distracted. I think for me, it's really about creating a dialogue and waking people up. These are the things that are going on and to not talk about them would be irresponsible. To not do something about it would be irresponsible.
Certainly "Gasoline" calls to mind early Dylan, and there are a lot of folk influences coming through on this record. Do you identify with folk music?Do you think this is more of a folk record?
I think it's largely steeped in folk tradition and it's lyric-driven. I think folk music is typically lyric-driven and intelligent. And I think there are a lot of words on this record, a lot of verses. A lot of these songs we had more verses than what we needed.
The kids are going over there and fighting for this
idea of democracy, when really it's all about oil...
Where did "Gasoline" come from? I was just enjoying the narrative, reading the lyrics. What made you come up with that, aside from the obvious?
You know, part of what amazes me is that we're in a war based on, basically, oil ownership. We're very tied to oil, we're tied to coal. In the '60s and '70s when the Vietnam War was going on, every single day you saw people out on the streets rebelling, revolting. You don't see that now. You hear about people trying to change the way they live and not become oil-dependent, but the bottom line is that the government has made it so that we are dependent on oil. The kids are going over there and fighting for this idea of democracy, when really it's all about oil, about oil ownership. So the song was really inspired by that, acknowledging that things are not as they appear. And what if we do wake up and become enraged, and we did take it to the streets? It's kind of a sci-fi [story] looking back on a future when people actually demanded that our oil dependency come to an end.
Why do you think that so many other artists aren’t joining in?
I think it depends on the age group. I think some artists didn’t grow up listening to Dylan and the great commentators. So that tradition has kind of been weakened. I think we've also gotten away from writing songs that are not an attempt to get on radio. We’ve had that kind of thrust down our throats for so many years that commerce is tantamount, that's king, and hopefully it's changing. People tell me that other artists are writing about what's going on. I've yet to hear it. I know that a lot of people say Pearl Jam's doing it. I need to check out what they're doing. But, I'm hoping there's going to be a shift. I don't see how you can be an artist and not be writing about what's really going on.
Do you feel like this is a departure from what you were doing before? Sonically, it sounds like a natural progression, but looking at the difference between a tune like "Shine Over Babylon" and "Soak Up the Sun," it's just a totally different energy.
Yeah and they're different times we're living in. That record obviously came out when Clinton was in office. Although, that is an environmental song and there is some social commentary in that song. My desire to write a pop chorus kind of went by the wayside with this record.
Do you think people will be surprised?
I don't know, I guess so. I guess if they hear it [laughs]. Some people won't listen to it because of my past records. Some new people will get turned onto it. I just hope people will find something on there that resonates with them and that creates some kind of sense of community, that we all feel the same way.
You got into the industry and into the spotlight before the internet really took off and we got into this download culture. How has that changed your career and how you write, and what you think of in terms of putting work out into the world?
Well a couple of things, it hasn't really changed the way I write. Although I do love the idea that the worse things get, the more I feel like being an anarchist. The more offended I am by what this administration has pulled off, the more I feel like I've got to write about it. It's almost like a dare, you know. So in that way, it hasn’t really changed that much, but I love the idea that technology is changing things in a way that....well, in a climate where everything is about commerce in entertainment, it's creating a new way to get music heard. I think the days of trying to get music bought are probably behind us. I love the idea that there are so many ways to get the music out there.
So this album is coming out on Mardi Gras day and it's also Super Tuesday. You've got a little competition as to what people will be paying attention to. Was that intentional?
[laughs] You know, I don’t think anyone realized it was coming out on Super Tuesday. I think it was completely random, but I'm glad.
Is there anything else you want people to know? What's coming up for you?
Well we're going to do a bunch of promo before we hit the road. We're going to Europe to do promo, we'll do some in New York and LA, all those TV Shows. And then we'll be hitting the road in May and we'll tour throughout the summer, for sure.
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