Crow finds her songs, inspiration from the heart
By: Nancy Dunham
Special to The Examiner
July 2, 2009
If you goSheryl Crow
Where: Filene Center, Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts, Vienna
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Info: $30 to $48; 877-965-3872; wolf-trap.org
When you think of the "girls of Laurel Canyon " -- the free spirited folk/rock singers that included Joni Mitchell, Cass Elliott and Carole King -- Sheryl Crow immediately comes to mind.
Of course Crow wasn't born until 1962, just about the time these women and other musicians gathered in that California canyon to revolutionize music. Too bad, because her music in recent years including her recently released album "Detours" would surely give her a prime place among those musical greats.
The music was inspired "by how I feel things are going in the world and what's happened to me the last couple years," she said in a press announcement.
As almost everyone with an Internet connection likely realizes, that's a lot. An ardent supporter of Democratic initiatives, an anti-war activist, environmentalist and humanitarian, the nine-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter has had her own personal stories play a huge role in recent news. A well-publicized engagement and break up with seven-time Tour de Force champion Lance Armstrong, the adoption of son Wyatt, and a public bout with breast cancer are just some of the topics covered.
Much like the girls of Laurel Canyon, Crow puts her calls for action to song most notably in songs on last years release "Detour." Consider "Peace Be Upon Us," about the war in Iraq and the ravaged New Orleans of Hurricane Katrina discussed in "Love Is Free."
While the original band of canyon musicians started at the bottom and worked their way up to full-fledged fame, Crow was already on world tours when she launched her solo career.
After graduating from college and working a short time as an elementary school music teacher, she was tapped to sing and dance with the late Michael Jackson during his 1987 to 1989 world tour for the album "Bad."
Dressed in high heels, short skirts and plentiful cosmetics, the Crow in footage of that tour looks a world apart from the long-hair-and-blue-jean-clad songstress who plays today. Although Jackson's ballads and high-energy pop songs are a world apart from her music, Crow called MTV shortly after Jackson's death to weigh in on his legacy.
"I can't speak highly enough about what I got to witness every single night for nearly two years, which was the brilliance of someone who was truly innovative," Crow said. "Before 1984, no one had ever seen moves like that."
That's an especially interesting comment considering that since the Laurel Canyon contingent ended in the 1970s, few singer/songwriters have presented purer, more heartfelt folk/country/rock than Crow whose 1993 debut the seven-times Platinum "Tuesday Night Music Club" won three Grammy Awards and a host of other honors.
Insiders said Crow is working on a new album which fans will no doubt hear snippets of at her upcoming show. Why the hunger for new music when Crow has such a rich catalogue?
Perhaps Crow best explained it herself in a past interview with "Cycling News."
"With bike racing and probably all sports, the participants are heroes that really give us examples of what we aspire to be like. And I think in music, the actual music has a similar effect -- it commands how we feel, dictates what we experience in our feelings," she said.
