Sheryl Crow

October 12, 2003 at PDT

The Very Best of Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow is an all-killer-no-filler hitmaker, and this best-of collection draws material from just four incredibly tight albums from the ‘90s and early ‘00s. And while she comfortably journeys from country to pop to blues, her roots-rock credentials ring throughout. “Strong Enough” is tender and wistful, her fingerpicked guitar style and raspy vocals on full display, while mega-hit “All I Wanna Do” showcases her more playful side, with its tongue-in-cheek lyrics and folk-funk groove.

16 Tracks

September 23, 1996 at PDT

Sheryl Crow

After the multi-platinum success of her debut album, Sheryl Crow could've coasted on her second. Instead, she took a bold leap into unknown territory with her 1996 self-titled release, weaving strands of alternative rock, '60s psychedelia and hip-hop into an ever-surprising whole. Flower Power guitar lines snake around techno grooves and folk-rooted melodies throughout these tracks. But Sheryl Crow is more than a kaleidoscopic combination of pop styles - it also displays Crow's newly-sharpened lyric thrust. "A Change Would Do You Good" glides on a gushing stream of wordplay, while"Everyday is a Winding Road" is infused with expansive idealism. "Love is a Good Thing" takes on dangerous targets (Wal-Mart, no less!), balancing the rueful angst of "If It Makes You Happy" and the clear-eyed regret of "Home." Whether she's mocking the world's absurdities or revealing her scars, Crow flies high and proud on this risk-taking release.

13 Tracks

September 20, 1998 at PDT

The Globe Sessions (Bonus Track Version)

13 Tracks

April 7, 2002 at PDT

C'mon, C'mon

Crow’s fourth album is a return to form for the star, her summery, Cali-pop leanings (the amped-up Beach Boys of “Soak Up the Sun”) and idiosyncratic lyrics (“My friend the Communist holds meetings in his RV”) seasoning her classic-rock roots. And if it’s a little extra spice you’re looking for, this is the LP for you, as the likes of Lenny Kravitz (“You’re an Original”), Don Henley (“It’s So Easy”), Emmylou Harris (“Weather Channel”), and Stevie Nicks (“C’Mon C’Mon”) lend their talents.

13 Tracks

August 29, 2019 at PDT

Threads

“Making this album felt like a travel in time,” Sheryl Crow tells Apple Music. “There was a lot of reflection involved.” The trailblazing rock icon—whose conversational, subversive megahits helped soundtrack the past three decades—says that her 11th album Threads will be her last. But she isn’t retiring so much as changing gears; from here on, she’ll focus on releasing singles and playing shows. “I am unequivocally not going to stop touring,” she says. “I’ve had a wonderful, long career of making albums. I’m up for something different now.”

To cap off her LP era, Crow assembled a staggering crew of rock, blues, and country legends to sing alongside her, a roster that feels lifted from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. There are her idols, like Stevie Nicks, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Emmylou Harris, and Willie Nelson; friends and peers, like St. Vincent and Gary Clark Jr.; and next-generation superstars like Maren Morris and Brandi Carlile who are set to carry her torch. “These are people who inspired me to do what I'm doing, whose records I pored over as a young girl and studied as a young songwriter,” she says. “It's a history of my influences and a look forward.” So it's fitting that Threads includes a mix of original songs and classic covers, and one track that’s a bit of both: She and Johnny Cash duet on a new version of her 1996 song “Redemption Day,” which Cash covered in 2003 shortly before his death. Here, she tells us about a few of the project's highlights.

“Prove You Wrong” (feat. Stevie Nicks & Maren Morris)
“Stevie was one of my first calls. Not only has she been a great friend and collaborator over the years, but she was one of my original inspirations for doing what I do. I wanted to be that girl in the ballet slippers on the cover of Fleetwood Mac. Inviting Maren in just made sense. She’s sort of like a godchild to Stevie and I—super fierce, loves that connection with her audience, and truly has her own perspective on life. That song is a celebration of strong women bringing it.”

“Live Wire” (feat. Bonnie Raitt & Mavis Staples)
“I saw Bonnie play when I was 17 years old. It was the first time I'd seen a woman play an electric guitar, and it was a defining moment for me as a young artist. And Mavis’ music—and the music of The Staple Singers—was the soundtrack to my childhood in the late '60s and early '70s.”

“Beware of Darkness” (feat. Eric Clapton, Sting & Brandi Carlile)
“I’ve always been a huge George Harrison fan, and this song is off of All Things Must Pass, which is probably my desert island album. I wanted to record this as a tribute to George, but also as a message to my children: to let them know that while they're living through what we're going through, they must witness people either moving towards light or moving towards darkness. I think that explains a lot about why we are where we are. I reached out to Eric—who knew George well and actually played on the original song, and who's been a dear friend of mine for the better part of 20 years—and he started working on it in his studio. He must've spent a few days on it, because I felt like he tapped into something bigger. When I heard it, it made me cry. He must've felt George's presence while he was playing. Sting has also been a very good friend from the beginning; it was because I gave my cassette tape to his producer that I got a record deal way back in the day. And in the years since, we’ve stayed friends and he’s been there for me in a lot of my own personal turmoil. So I wanted him on this as well.”

“Redemption Day”
“I feel like this song finally found its moment. It’s timely. It speaks to the fact that our children bear witness to the decisions that we make, you know? We model their future. I’m passionate about that. And having known who Johnny Cash was and what he stood for, to have him singing with me in this new version was a very profound experience. It’s still hard for me to listen to it. I can feel his presence.”

“The Worst” (feat. Keith Richards)
“Not a lot of people know this, but in the late '80s, I was a schoolteacher in St. Louis and went to see the taping of [the music documentary] Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll with Chuck Berry and Keith Richards. I was in the audience on a Friday night, taking it in. Cut to 20 years later, I’m recording with Keith Richards, with Steve Jordan producing, so you never know what can happen to a small-town girl—a town with three stoplights. It’s amazing what can happen in your life.”

“Lonely Alone” (feat. Willie Nelson)
“I sat down with a friend of mine and said, ‘I want to write a song that's worthy of Willie.’ Now, I’ve sung with Willie for the last 25 years, and he is really...how do I put this? I feel like singing with Willie Nelson is my kind of high, and I wanted to make sure I wrote a song that he could really sink his teeth into. We wrote this with him in mind.”

“Wouldn't Want to Be Like You” (feat. St. Vincent)
“This song is a comment on our relationship to the truth. It’s about the fact that while we're teaching our kids that the truth matters, we're seeing it become an inconvenience to people at the top of our government. I sent the track to Annie [Clark] and said, ‘Look, I've written this. Sit with it and let me know if you want to be a part of this.’ She got right back to me and said, ‘I’m in,’ although I think her direct words were ‘F—k yeah.’”

17 Tracks

October 8, 2020 at PDT

Hold On (feat. Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile & Natalie Hemby) - Single

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August 2, 1993 at PDT

Tuesday Night Music Club (Deluxe Edition)

In the early 1990s, Sheryl Crow seemed firmly on the path to mainstream pop stardom. As a young artist, she cut her teeth singing backup for Michael Jackson, contributed vocals to songs by Belinda Carlisle and Don Henley, and even recorded a duet with Kenny Loggins. Unsurprisingly, her first pass at recording a debut album resulted in an ultra-polished studio effort.

But before its release, the Kennett, Missouri native decided to rip it up and start again, and drew inspiration from an established wellspring of creativity: the songwriting circle. Every week, Crow and a group of musicians—her boyfriend Kevin Gilbert; Bill Bottrell; and David Ricketts and David Baerwald, the members of the alternative rock group David & David—met up to work on songs.

From these sessions came 1993’s Tuesday Night Music Club. The eclectic collection captured the changes coursing through culture at the time—Crow and others even wrote the torchy “Run, Baby, Run” the night Bill Clinton was elected president—but also verbalized romantic turmoil and youthful restlessness. The sassy disco-folk hit “All I Wanna Do” (which was based on a poem by noted writer Wyn Cooper) depicts late nights making mischief; in contrast, “Strong Enough” tackles the pain of insecurity and self-doubt within a relationship.

Sonically, Tuesday Night Music Club also captured evolving musical trends and the burgeoning alt-rock movement; songs touched on stirring blues (“What I Can Do For You”), rootsy folk (“Can’t Cry Anymore”), jazz (the Joni Mitchell-esque “We Do What We Can”), and contemporary soft-pop (“Strong Enough”). The hit “Leaving Las Vegas” transcended genre, courtesy of spare percussion, a loping tempo, and dusky Americana vibes; it felt like the photo negative of Laurel Canyon folk.

Crow’s instinct toward more casual music paid off. Tuesday Night Music Club became a massive global commercial success and she won multiple Grammys, including Best New Artist and Record of the Year for “All I Wanna Do.” And, in hindsight, the album’s sound was a blueprint for the ’90s alt-folk movement—and Crow’s expert bridging of pop and Americana presaged emerging initiatives like Lilith Fair.

22 Tracks

October 12, 2003 at PDT

The First Cut Is the Deepest - Single

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April 20, 2017 at PDT

Be Myself

On her ninth album, Sheryl Crow returns to slick pop-rock, pairing sing-along-ready choruses with her sly soprano and crisp arrangements. The shuffling “Long Way Back” is a motivational anthem for the world-weary; the flirtatious “Roller Skate” revives the breezy vibes of Crow’s earliest hits and adds roller-rink sauciness. Crow’s high-caliber band provide musical flourishes—a soft-focus harmonica on the blues-tinged “Alone in the Dark,” a juicy guitar solo from the virtuosic Gary Clark Jr. on the soulful “Halfway There”—to add potency to her hooks.

11 Tracks

January 6, 2022 at PST

Promised Land - Single

2 Tracks

September 9, 2013 at PDT

Feels Like Home

That Feels Like Home is considered Sheryl Crow’s “country” album is a matter of semantics. Many of her best records, starting with her 1993 debut, Tuesday Night Music Club, could’ve been marketed as country-rock albums due to their acoustic instruments and roots influences. And here, songs such as “Shotgun” and “Easy” are as close to the lessons of The Rolling Stones as they are to Trace Adkins (who’s taken a few lessons from the Stones as well). Crow operates at a highly professional level where only the best musicians get near her songs. These folks can shade a tune any which way they choose, and Crow only needs to twirl her vocal into a countrified croon for a song like “We Oughta Be Drinkin’” to sound more downhome than uptown. To hear what she can do vocally with “Give It to Me” is more on-point than whatever considerations she gives toward "country." A good song is a good song, genres be damned, and Crow knows a catchy one when she sings it.

12 Tracks

February 28, 2006 at PST

Always On Your Side - Single

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March 28, 2024 at PDT

Evolution

One of pop's best hitmakers reckons with technology, ego, and getting older.

9 Tracks

September 26, 2005 at PDT

Wildflower (Deluxe Edition)

15 Tracks

September 26, 2005 at PDT

Wildflower

By now Sheryl Crow has made enough albums, and earned so many millions of radio “impressions,” that her appeal and smarts could easily be taken for granted. Wildflower, though, is a twist on her L.A. studio rock – one that puts listeners on notice that she’s not about to go quietly. Don’t look at her less seriously because of unabashedly lighthearted hits like “Soak Up the Sun,” this album says; in fact, it’s a reminder that even her breakout single “All I Wanna Do” had a lot more than happy days on its mind. Like Aimee Mann, Crow’s music is rooted in ’70s sounds, and Wildflower reflects a downbeat, wondering tone in nearly every cut. At the same time, it’s also easy to hear vintage Fleetwood Mac, reminding us that pure pop can be escapist and challenging at the same time.

11 Tracks

December 31, 2007 at PST

Just Stand Up! (feat. Mariah, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Keyshia Cole, LeAnn Rimes, Ashanti & Ciara) - Single

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December 6, 1999 at PST

Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park

14 Tracks

February 4, 2008 at PST

Detours (Bonus Track Version)

Sheryl Crow’s 2008 album is a balancing act of magisterial proportions, seamlessly weaving together the ardently political and the painstakingly personal. Part rallying cry against the Bush administration (“God Bless This Mess”) and part post-breakup lament (“Diamond Ring”), Detours is held together by Crow’s gravelly, emotive vocals, whether epic and choral, as on “Out of Our Heads,” or country-tinged and multilayered, as on the title track.

15 Tracks

August 1, 2022 at PDT

Circles - Single

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September 7, 2023 at PDT

I'll Be Here - Single

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October 29, 2015 at PDT

Love Song to the Earth (Rico Bernasconi Radio Mix) - Single

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July 19, 2010 at PDT

100 Miles from Memphis (Bonus Track Version)

On her 2010 album, Sheryl Crow is feeling nostalgic, nodding heavily to the classic soul artists she grew up listening to. There’s the up-tempo, Stax-esque groove of “Our Love Is Fading,” the honeyed tones of Al Green on “Sideways,” and the homage to the Jackson 5 on a rendition of “I Want You Back.” She also weaves in a touch of the ‘80s here, as she duets with Justin Timberlake on the silky-smooth Terence Trent D’Arby cover “Sign Your Name.”

13 Tracks

November 11, 2007 at PST

Hits and Rarities (Deluxe Edition)

30 Tracks

November 25, 2008 at PST

Home for Christmas

12 Tracks