![]() And so the disc starts with the personal-turns-political “God Bless This Mess”, recorded low-fi with just guitar and voice. With Bottrell back as producer, Crow is given latitude to vary her sound dramatically on different songs. Her songs don’t just sound “classic” - 15 years into a hugely consistent career that word defines the artist herself. ![]() Sheryl Crow is a major talent with just her guitars and her voice. Forget the romances with Armstrong and Eric Clapton. It is now clearer than ever that Sheryl Crow owns a versatile talent that is in the game for the long haul. As on that debut disc, there is a rich array of rock and pop-styled tunes that are written with craft, arranged with a loose perfection, and sung with a perfect sense of gorgeous authenticity. The producer of Tuesday Night Music Club, Bill Bottrell, is back. The brand-new Sheryl Crow album is called Detours, but it is hardly a strange left turn. She’d found a way to play the middle ground - neither too gritty nor too slick. But this was the mark of Crow, wasn’t it? She was neither a roots rocker nor a pop songstress. ![]() It was difficult, at times, to decide if Crow - even at age 43 trading on her striking beauty - was being tarted-up for the youth market. Wildflower (2005) found Crow as tabloid fodder - engaged to cyclist Lance Armstrong and then fighting breast cancer - and still she sounded like the only pop diva of substance in a world of freeze-dried American Idols and dance-pop plasticity. If C’mon, C’mon (2002) seemed to tail off in originality, then it still produced hits (“Soak Up the Sun”) and showed a determined professionalism. At the same time, Crow’s voice settled in as a pop-rock marvel: pretty and rough, expressive but also capable of reaching for a radio-ready climax. Crow’s lyrics were laced with surprising cultural references, and her melodies managed to echo “classic rock” without seeming like a retread. The Globe Sessions (1998) was a more stripped down effort but still contained what had plainly become Crow’s best attribute: classic, hooky songwriting. The follow-up Sheryl Crow (1996) rocked harder and darker, yet it also sounded more contemporary, with a plenty of weird blips and loops to scuff up the surface. In subsequent records, Crow simply deepened her rock credibility. That song felt light and loose and new, but it also seemed instantly classic, with the stamp of the ’70s singer-songwriter tradition on its forehead. This was obvious when she first emerged as a Ricki Lee Jonesy former Michael Jackson back-up singer with the radio hit “All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun”. She has combined craft, surface, and substance to become a hitmaker who seems both old and new. In that time, Sheryl Crow has forged something even more rare than “mere” success. Artists who release relevant music over than span of time are few, particularly in the last 15 years. In pop music, 15 years is a lifetime-plus.
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