The Girl In The Picture

06/01/2003 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Dave DiMartino

Sheryl Crow, one of the great women in rock today, recently released her fourth studio album, C'mon C'mon, and if she had any worries about how well it would be received after the four-year silence since her previous LP, The Globe Sessions, such fears were quickly laid to rest when the album's lead single, "Soak Up The Sun," became the feelgood hit of the summer. The album also further established her as a real talent and veteran artist. The former Michael Jackson/Don Henley backup singer--whose failed first recording attempt for A&M was never released and who many once cruelly speculated did not actually write or record the material on her official solo debut, Tuesday Night Music Club--has certainly come a long way. Proof positive is the impressive cast and famous fans and friends who join her on C'mon C'mon, including Henley Emmylou Harris, Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Nicks, Liz Phair, Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, Scott Weiland, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, and uber-producer Mitchell Froom. Clearly this is a woman who commands respect. And with her Kid Rock duet, "Picture," still storming the charts, this Crow is clearly flying high than ever.

When Crow recently met with LAUNCH's executive editor, Dave DiMartino, at the SoHo Grand Hotel in New York to discuss the album, she showed that the respect is mutual, talking very highly of these esteemed colleagues and speaking vocally about artists' rights, as well as demonstrating much affection for her family, friends, and smalltown roots--all big inspirations behind C'mon C'mon. Here's what Sheryl had to say.

LAUNCH: What was your goal when you went into the studio to record C'mon C'mon?

SHERYL: I went into this record and I said, "I want to make a pop record that the kids dig," but instead I made a classic rock record that I like. Um, I really went into the studio this time with the intent of really making a record that really felt like summer. And to me, summer always was more important when it came to music. Music to me really becomes the soundtrack to the major events to your life, and for me, as a kid who just gotten my driver's license, the songs that were on the radio were really important. And when I hear them now, it takes me back to that feeling of optimism, like you have your whole life in front of you. And those were songs that were melodic rock songs--they were songs by Fleetwood Mac and by Joe Walsh and by Steve Miller and the Eagles and, to a certain extent, Led Zeppelin. Just the bands that wrote the big, heroic rock songs. I really wanted to make a record that I would like to own, that I would like to go out and buy in a record store and put on in my car and drive around and feel like summer's here.

LAUNCH: Do you think knowing what you know now, that you could have made a record like this one 10 years ago?

SHERYL: Well, it wasn't my hope to put a record out that was kind of a standard classic rock record, I guess. For me, I'm a singer-songwriter, and I approach songwriting from the standpoint of craftsmanship to a certain extent, and lyrically every album I've made has reflected who I am while I'm making the record. So I don't think this record could have been make 10 years ago, mainly just because of the growth factor, and each song is a look or glimpse into an event or an experience. So I think each album just reflects a period of life.

LAUNCH: The lyrics are very catchy and cheerful this time.

SHERYL: I hope that people think that the record is upbeat. I think that all my songs--even though they might come from a place of pain or whatever, heartbreak--all the songs I've written have a sense of humor and hopefully a twist of redemption. I mean, hopefully even the most broken-heart songs, like "My Favorite Mistake," even have a tongue-in-cheek feel about them. This record, funnily enough, came out of a lot of introspection, and yet it turned out to be a high-testosterone kind of record--and that was my intent, to make a record that was full of a lot of bravado.

LAUNCH: You seem to have this history of working with some of the most influential women in music, from Stevie Nicks to Liz Phair. In working with them, do you find yourself having a lot in common, even though as individuals you all seem to come from very different places musically?

SHERYL: I think that the whole male/female think has really gotten lost on me, 'cause each of the people that are on this record I have a relationship that is not only rooted in music. Emmylou [Harris] is a person that I admire, probably the most on the whole planet, musically, and as a person, and I do a lot of work with her on the Landmine [charity] thing. We're genuinely friends. And with everybody on the record, we're friends and close confidants, and they knew that record for me was a real experience or trial, and they were there for me, kind of for comfort. Liz I've known actually from Lilith Fair, and she was playing basketball the day I was recording "Soak Up The Sun," and I could hear it banging against the wall of the studio; I came out with the intent of biting somebody's head off and it was Liz, and so I just grabbed the ball and said, "Come on, let's go, come in and sing." And Stevie, of course, everyone knows our story. And although all these people are women, I have the same kind of relationship with Don [Henley] as I do with Stevie--you know, in a slightly different way, we're like family. With Don we're like family, and with Stevie we're like family, so the male/female thing to me means less to me than it appears, just at face value.

LAUNCH: Is it a fair assessment to say that the theme of the new album, lyrically, is busting free, moving forward to experience something new?

SHERYL: There are several themes that run through this record, and definitely one of them is yearning for freedom. I've been really lucky, 'cause I came up through the ranks by really developing as an artist, and so your art kind of changes as you get older by nature of the fact that you're hopefully gaining wisdom and you're starting to watch things with a better overview, and everything might not be quite as heightened when you are younger. And for me, I look at how much we are distracted by just everything--there's so much of everything. There's so much information. There's so much technology. And when I was a kid, there wasn't all of that--there wasn't as many channels on the TV, things were simpler. I mean--not to sound like my dad, who walked to school shoeless in the snow or whatever--it was more simple, 'cause we don't have all the images that we now digest every day and intrinsically catalog and carry around with us in our spirits as much as we do now. And for me, that feeling of freedom, open highways of possibilities, has kind of been lost to materialism and marketing. So that is definitely a theme that is on the record, and for me as a person on a daily basis, kind of. You know, I'm full of consternation about, where are we going from here? How much more can we invite in?

LAUNCH: You've very a vocals crusader for artists' rights. But how do you fight for artists' rights and work with a label? How do you differentiate between the two?

SHERYL: I hate it. I mean, honest to God, I hate how in some way I've had the mantle set on my shoulders as being against the record label. I mean, I love my record label, I have a great relationship with them--I think we're all excited about the future. For me, my objective with the R.A.C. [Recording Artists Coalition] is and was concerned from the inception as not an "us versus them" kind of battle. Unfortunately, we've had some issues where we've stood on the other side of the fence, but that is the nature of business. For me, there was always going to be some issues that we would have to face together. Obviously, downloading, CD burners, these issues, the kind of unimportance of intellectual properties in people's minds, all those things, have to be addressed--not only by the record labels, but the artists. And the artists have really never had any representation on Capitol Hill, because it's not the nature of the artist to join together and make a unified presence anywhere. I mean, those days kind of died in the '60s. So unfortunately, it's very difficult to motivate people to nurture their business, and it is more of a business now, and I would just like to see something fruitful now, as far as CD burners and people's perception of intellectual property. I'd like to be part of the solution and the process, instead of always being pitted against the recording industry.

LAUNCH: We've talked about C'mon C'mon, now let's talk about your past albums. Looking back, what are your thoughts on Tuesday Night Music Club?

SHERYL: I don't really cringe over any of my albums. There are a few demos that I like to put on and listen to for the sheer giggle of it, but for me it's a promising and encouraging representation of growth, and there are some things on that record that I think are instinctually beautiful because of the abandonment that's on the record. And for me, as I've grown as a person and in my art and my musical ability and as a producer, I can see where I've kind of progressed. So you know, I don't hear that record very often, but whenever I hear it, it makes me feel good. It reminds me of that person that I was.

LAUNCH: What about Sheryl Crow?

SHERYL: I've always been oblivious on how things would be perceived. Like when I made that second record, it never occurred to me who would be buying or what would people would be saying, what kind of power it was going to have. For me, it was just an absolute barfing session--I mean, not to be gross, but it really was, it was a total purging. It was for me the reaction to things getting nasty towards the end. A lot speculation as to whether I was an artist and whether I had been even present during the making of my first record, whether it had been written for me. It just was a very reactionary record, and very enjoyable. Not without its trial and tribulation, but really, as a whole, a very enjoyable experience. And then when it came out and people said, "Wow she is a musician," it was funny to me, because I had never had any doubt about it. But you can't go around saying, "Hey, I am a musician! Not only can I write, but I can play an instrument and tap dance!" And you know, it was what it was.

LAUNCH: When people starting turning the spotlight on you, did it affect the way you write music? Did you change the way you went about things as a musician?

SHERYL: The writing process for me is pretty much always the same--it's a solitary experience, and that [public] part of my existence doesn't find its way into the holy sanctum of creativity. It did a little more on this new record, 'cause I had a lot of people encouraging me to kind of update what I do, and encouraging me to incorporate beats and try to have a more youthful approach to music. And that sort of did get into my brain and made it difficult for me to finish things. But yeah, I have a different kind of relationship to fame and to the world outside which is much more from a rebellious-teenager kind of energy, but musically I'm sure it makes its way in. But it doesn't really affect the way I approach music.

LAUNCH: Tell me about The Globe Sessions.

SHERYL: Well, my experience with The Globe Sessions was not really about pressure of following up the last record--I had so much going on in my personal life, of having been out on the road for what felt like forever and coming home and having my relationship fall apart, and then also being alienated from my friends and family, 'cause I was sort of checked-out for all that time. There was too much personal turmoil going on for me to really care about how people were going to perceive this as an artistic statement. And it was definitely a much more personal record, a much more confessionary, if that's a word. Confessional, yeah. Um, it was the really newest record that I had to address what kind of artistry I wanted to be making in time.

LAUNCH: What about Live From Central Park?

SHERYL: The live record is almost a surreal experience; I haven't even cataloged it in my body because it was such a weird thing to me that that would ever happen. To have such huge personalities on one stage and that you'd be going out live in Central Park, and just the fact that it came together, nobody got hurt. It was just the most exciting, organic kind of thing--there was very little rehearsal. The people that were there were not only my heroes but people that were there for me. It was just the most exciting evening, and when I hear the record and on occasion get to see any footage from it, I'm just totally filled with joy and it totally validates that I'm on the right course in this life.

LAUNCH: As things get more complex for you, do find greater joy in the simple things you do?

SHERYL: I guess perhaps in the collective consciousness everyone is wanting to scale down; there's really a feeling of wanting to get to the nuts and bolts of it, and I don't know if it's specifically related to the September 11 event or if we were already on our way to this point anyway, of kind of questioning how we've gotten to this point and where we're going. And also for me, as I get older, who I was when I was young, a smalltown kid, is really what I go back to--that's the part of my body that yearns for the simpler time, the more meaningful experiences, and I draw from my family and my friends and I feel like that smalltown person. The achievements, the materialistic possessions, have really become to mean less. They mean nothing.

LAUNCH: I understand Chrissie Hynde gave you some advise about being a musician. Can you tell us that story?

SHERYL: Well, right in the middle of making this record...well, actually not in the middle, I had been working on it for a while and was really struggling with trying to get things finished. And that really wasn't the nature of writer's block, it was a reflection of what was going on in my personal life. Chrissie was in New York and came by the studio to visit, and she's been a really dear friend, and I was telling her what was going on. And she said, "What do you want to do?" And I said, "Well, in a perfect world I'd like to walk away and take time off," or whatever. And she said, "Why don't you do that?" And I said, "Well, I feel like I'm going to lose the moment from Live In Central Park and all the work I've done." And she said, "Music is not your life, it's something you do. Your life is your life, and if you walk away from it, you can always come back to music. It will always be a part of you--it isn't your life." And it really resonated with me at that time, 'cause I think I always relied on music to be a giant Band-Aid--it's been my sanctuary, it's given me self-worth, it's for me a reflection of who I am. And I really needed it to be less of a "god," or less important to me, to want to do it. So I got away from it for a lengthy time. By the time I got back to finishing the record, I wanted to be there.

LAUNCH: If you reflect on your career, what does this record do for you? Is it the record that sets you free, that defines who you are as a musician and as a person?

SHERYL: I don't know. My objective for this record is that I want it to go out and have the course it's supposed to have. I want it to go out and do its own work. I think I've made the best record that I could have made at this point in my life ,and I don't know what I'm going to do after this, I really don't--I just know whatever I do will be a source of joy. And I look at my career in hopes that I will kind of have the career that Emmylou has had. Even Stevie, but particularly Emmy, 'cause I've always related to that kind of music, and she's making some of the best records she's ever made now and she's been doing it for as long as she's been doing it. So I feel that I can keep doing what I'm doing and still be vital and be relatable, so that lets me off the hook. It makes me feel that the possibilities are endless.