Everybody, welcome to the show.
Sheryl Crow.
Hello.
Hi, Sheryl. How are you today?
I'm good. How are you?
Good. Doing well.
You know, you got a lot going on
this week. Both things coming out
on Friday.
It's kind of a funny thing because
after Friday it's going
to feel really strange
because I will have told a lot of
stories that people.
Will not have known about me.
So, you know, we'll see.
If I'm walking down the street on
Saturday, anybody throws a tomato at
me, comes over and hugs me and says,
You're going to be okay.
Not that you've ever necessarily
left the spotlight, but what does
it feel like to now be kind
of shipped really deep back
into the spotlight?
It feels different.
You know, when I was approached
about doing a documentary, I didn't
really want to do it because I felt
like, well, you know, it's kind of
all out there.
And documentaries are
typically done when somebody has
already gone on.
And I felt like, gosh, I've got a
lot more living and a
lot more writing and recording to
do. But, you know, in
reflection, there's 30
or 40 years of real,
you know, real hardcore living.
That is my story.
You know, I was a schoolteacher.
I waited tables and went on the road
with Michael Jackson.
I came back and nobody
signed me to a record deal.
So I went back to waiting tables.
Made my first record when I was
28 or 29 and already
had a fully realized
life and and
and then became well known and,
you know, had to really endure a lot
of sexism in my
business, which is obviously music
and, you know, had some really
hard challenges from cancer
to ageism to I mean, it's just
it's all in there.
And I wanted to be
able to tell the story
of the person and not the celebrity.
Yeah. You mentioned being very
hesitant to
get into this project and get all of
your memories and thoughts
and stories out there, of which
there are many in a 30 year career
that you've had.
I know your manager kind of helped
you push towards doing it as well,
but what what for you
was the pivotal moment where you
wanted to go through with it and
decided, you know what, my story
should be out there?
Well, I mean, honestly, I had some
encouragement from younger artists.
I mean, Brandi Carlile was really
you know, she she was one of the
people that said, you have to do
this. And her story
is is in the documentary.
But she had told me that story
long before about how she was in the
audience at Lilith
and that I
had been an artist that made her
want to do what she's doing.
And for me, there were a lot
of women that I had that
same experience with, from Stevie
Nicks to Carole King,
who sort of.
Not only pave the way, but kind of.
Sort of gave me a ticket out of my
hometown in some ways.
You know, I'm from a tiny town in
the middle of nowhere.
And I poured over those records
and I wanted to be like them.
And I could play by ear and started
getting into all this music and and
I found myself in it.
And I just followed that dream.
You spoke about looking up to a lot
of people. I know you've also looked
up to people like Willie Nelson or
Bonnie Raitt because Bonnie Raitt,
you know, had an entire band full
of men and just her at the front and
the forefront of it all.
So that's really cool to see you
in a similar position as them.
Does it feel weird
that a lot of people in
around the world want to
be now like you as
you wanted to be like them?
It's it's the highest compliment.
You know, I mean, I'm always
really humbled and it's very
emotional as well.
You know, it's
it has meant so much to me
to have the people
that assured me and,
you know, support me
and then to be able to do that for
younger artists is
I mean, that's really what it's all
about is that you hope that you're
writing songs that are
like the ones that meant so much to
you. And
we played Bonnaroo a few years ago.
In fact, it's in the documentary,
and I was really worried
when I saw it, looked out there on
the in the field that no
one was going to come.
Because, you know, I've been around
so long and I think of Bonnaroo
as being for all these young people.
And sure enough, we walked out.
It was just a sea it was packed
and all these young people singing
the lyrics to these songs
that were older than them and just
knowing that a lot
of these songs were the soundtrack
to their lives and
that means a lot, you know?
Yeah, I think being around for so
long, it sounds like a negative, but
I feel like in your case, in a lot
of other cases, it's a real
positive. It's great.
And who wouldn't want to see you on
a festival today?
In my mind.
It's an incredible thing to be a
legacy artist, but at the same time,
it's also like you're
a legacy artists, you know, it means
you you haven't gone away.
And for me, you know, I look
at people like Robert Plant, who I
do feel like is just making some of
his greatest music.
And I feel that way
about writing and recording now.
I feel like I'm so inspired.
I have so much more to do, and it's
kind of liberating knowing that I'm
not trying to get on
very youthful radio with that.
I can still do what I'm doing and
be pumped up about it.
And in this documentary, I kind of
want to dive into the themes a
little more. I think one of the
points that intrigued me the most
was the songwriting.
And in between your most
popular songs and your radio hits.
I feel like there is
a lot of personal storytelling that
you've alluded to through the
lesser known songs.
What are some of those songs that
you think encapsulate you
and encapsulate your life
at any given point?
I'm always really, you know, I've
sort of announced I'm not making
albums anymore,
that I like the immediacy of writing
a song and putting it out,
especially if it has some sort of
social commentary.
But I tell young artists all the
time, make albums and
and know that the songs
that make the radio are not
necessarily going to be your
favorite songs, and they're not
necessarily going to be the songs
that tell the story of who you are,
that it's the deep cuts, it's the
album cuts that you write,
and that invariably somebody will
come up to you in Starbucks and say,
That song told my story
or meant so much to me, and
I have quite a few of those.
You know, I have a song called
Weather Channel that was
written at this sort of deepest,
darkest moment for me.
And I joke around about how it's
just this really.
Sweet song about suicidal
tendencies. But I mean, it's, you
know, everybody has low lows and
it's it's learning how to
navigate those low lows, how to get
out of them.
A song like Redemption Day was so
personal for me.
And then ultimately Johnny
Cash heard it and he recorded it.
And then I got to use this vocal
on threads and create
a new version of it.
And the lyrics still hold meaning
for me. You know, they still
tell the story about
why we go into some countries and
why we don't
to help the people or to protect
them.
So you get those nuggets all
through your career and they
may not be the successful ones, but
they're the ones that you scratch
your head and go, Where did that
come from?
Especially in this documentary, I
feel like there are a lot of awesome
things that happened in your career
that of course, everybody knows
about. But there's another side
of darker things and tougher moments
that you're you've been being more
open about as of late.
What did it feel like to you to kind
of piece everything together from
the very beginning to where you are
right now? And was it a bit
difficult?
It was it was kind of surreal.
I mean, honestly, I
chose a fantastic
director in Amy Scott, whose
documentary about how Ashley I just
loved and I trusted her and I
loved her artistic choices
that she'd done on that documentary.
And I felt like I was in safe hands.
There were probably seven
or eight other documentaries that
landed on the cutting room floor.
I mean, there's a huge world of
experiences out there that didn't
make the cut. And she and her team
were really.
Careful and and also very
intuitive about the story they felt
like was the most important to tell.
And some of those stories were hard
to tell. You know,
I told her in the beginning, I don't
want to make a documentary that's
just a retrospective on all the hits
and all the accolades
and, you know, and
all the awards and all that.
I wanted to tell the story about the
person
and and in the end,
even though it was kind of hard to
go back through a lot of that and
tell those stories because their
stories have never told
it feels good, you know, because
I know that those stories are not
relegated to just my experience.
Women all over the world are in
situations that are uncomfortable,
but at least now they're given an
opportunity to speak their truth
and not be vilified.
And, you know, women all over the
world are getting older and kind of
being disqualified from getting a
seat at the table.
And, you know, a lot of what
I'm going through and have been
through are the stories of a lot of
women.
Good luck with everything
surrounding the movie on Friday,
surrounding the album and the
eventual book.
You're on fire lately, we all love
to see it. Thank you so much.
Thanks for having me on.
I appreciate it.
Bye bye.
Bye.