About Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow was born in Kennett, Missouri, in 1962. After she graduated from the University of Missouri, she worked as an elementary school music teacher and would sing in bands on weekends. She started singing jingles and eventually moved to Los Angeles to work as a backup singer.
After working as a backup singer for Don Henley, Michael Jackson, and others, Crow signed a deal with A&M records to release her own album. She was disappointed with the slick, contemporary pop sound of the album, wanting a rougher, roots-rock sound and she convinced A&M not to release the album. Then-boyfriend Kevin Gilbert and producer Bill Bottrell tried to salvage it, but eventually aborted it.
Still, the association with Gilbert and Bottrell paid off as they brought her into their weekly jam sessions, known as the Tuesday Night Music Club, “that ultimately produced the disc’s rootsy, beer-logged” SL debut album of the same name. She had a falling out with most of the collective that helped produce that album because they saw her as taking more credit for the songwriting than she deserved.
Second Time Around
Accused of being “a puppet to her all-male Tuesday Night Music Club,” SL Crow was determined to prove her credentials the second time around. “On her sophomore effort, Crow…found that rare balance between retro, organic rock, and slick, glam-pop.” SL
She “took full reign of the album’s production duties…As such, there’s a palpable, fear-driven ambition to the album. Her drive paid off and not only did Crow avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, but Sheryl Crow is easily her best album.” SL Commercially, it gave her another top-ten, multi-platinum album which won the Grammy for Best Rock Album.
The Songs
“The album’s lead single, the crunchy rocker If It Makes You Happy, was both a retort to the criticism Crow received as well as a fatigued reflection on two years of fame and touring, which included a stint at Woodstock ‘94, specifically referenced on the track.” SL The song won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
“While the song’s structure is fairly straightforward, other tracks on the album are filled with quirky, stream-of-conscious lyrics (pop-culture references abound: to Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Ouija boards, etc.) and a collage of drum loops, organs, and layered voices. Songs like Ordinary Morning, with its lazy piano figures and raw blues vibe, are cushioned comfortably next to loopy tracks like Maybe Angels and understated ballads like Home, in which Crow recounts the emotional strains of a deteriorating marriage.” SL
“Crow’s lyrics take a decidedly moralistic stance but never sound preachy. Hard to Make a Stand touches on pro-life terrorism, while Love Is a Good Thing sees the solution to the world’s problems in the same four-letter word so many other rockers have enthusiastically endorsed over the years. Crow makes subtle references to the Beatles’ ‘Love Is All You Need,’ but not before giving us a dose of modern reality: ‘Watch our children while they kill each other/With a gun they bought at Walmart discount stores.’” SL That song got her album banned by the chain.
“‘These are the days when anything goes,’ she sings on the buoyant Everyday Is a Winding Road, and the sentiment speaks for both the song’s playful optimism and the album’s sonic adventurousness. Both Tuesday Night Music Club and 1998’s The Globe Sessions are solid pop-rock efforts, but neither are as consistent, immaculately produced, or distinctly modern as Sheryl Crow.” SL
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