All she wants to do ...

... is hang out, stay balanced and make music, Sheryl Crow says

May 2, 1999

BY BRIAN McCOLLUM FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER

In rock 'n' roll, as in junior high, where you sit on the bus means a great deal.

Sheryl Crow has a really great deal: After years of hanging in the back, where all the cool kids lurk, she's moved to the front.

And that's not simply a matter of hunting down the softest seat as she and her new band trek across the country six weeks into their U.S. tour. There's a metaphor in there somewhere -- a basic philosophical distinction, Crow says, that's found between the rear and front lounges of a tour bus.

"Usually the back lounge has been designated for the pot smokers," she says with a laugh. "This band is a little bit different that way. We've all passed through that stage of our life. Now it's just lots of cutting up and hanging out, really."

It's a move rich with implications. Five years after breaking onto the national scene with the whimsical dolce vita of "All I Wanna Do," Sheryl Crow seems to have found a healthy groove. She rests a lot. She tries to eat well. She "might have a glass of wine or a beer -- that's the extent of my rocking and rolling these days."

"I'm a little older and hopefully a little wiser now," says Crow, who turned 37 in February. "Much of what goes on around me is less heated and less important -- there was a time when every single thing in my life seemed to have heightened value. I think I have a better perspective now."

And that's led to a refreshingly satisfying comfort level, on stage and off. By lying low for much of 1998 -- and moving to New York after a busted romance prodded her to leave LA -- Crow says she's enjoying her career, and her life, now more than ever.

Still, in spite of -- or maybe because of -- multiple Grammy awards and millions of albums sold, Crow is notoriously press-shy. In a voice touched with just a dab of Southern honey, she speaks in comfortable but measured tones, her words chosen carefully, her sentences structured with a precision you don't always expect from a rock star. Maybe it's her Missouri roots, her school-teacher past.

Or maybe it's her own media experience -- feeling burned when former band members began sniping about her talents; when an old, unreleased record of light pop was unveiled by snickering bootleggers; when an ex-boyfriend died of autoerotic asphyxiation.

Pinning down the real Sheryl Crow can be a tricky task. Even for Sheryl Crow. "I think it would be almost impossible for me to go out and really define who I am, when so much of my life and the way I conduct myself is up for scrutiny, debate and, finally, analysis," she says. "If I get my hair cut, there are going to be 1,900 different articles on Web sites, in newspapers, in magazines, analyzing what's going on in my personal life. It becomes crazy."

On her second album, Crow spoke through a wall of characters, constructing sharply sculpted images that blurred fictional narrative with reality. Her protagonists were loaded on speed and bloated on hallucinations. They ached and hoped.

"That album was really reactionary to what was going on around me, and those characters were people I kind of hid behind," she says of the self-produced record that spawned the hits "If It Makes You Happy" and "Everyday is a Winding Road."

"You know, the song 'Sweet Rosalyn' -- about the stripper -- that was so metaphorical for what was going on around me. I was, every day, basically being stripped in the press. I was really not popular at the time I was making that album. A lot of jokes were being written about me, and that's how I felt. So there was great safety in creating characters who could speak on my behalf."

Two years later, "The Globe Sessions" found Crow more relaxed, less defensive -- and eager to stretch her playing skills, a versatility she brings to the stage, where she plays acoustic and electric guitar, bass and piano.

"I had quite a lot of time away from the vehicle that is 'Sheryl Crow,' " she says, "and my own voice came through."

An ever-changing image

But don't think Crow is ready to let you figure out too much: "I don't think you can define who you really are on a minute-to-minute basis."

Indeed, Crow's public image has mutated over the years, from the earthy pop gal of "Tuesday Night Music Club" (1993) to the gritty rocker of "Sheryl Crow" (1996) to the introspective poet of last autumn's "The Globe Sessions."

Maybe it's just us -- or that trashy Stones-style rock she's adopted -- but didn't Crow's image get a little rougher around the edges these last couple of years? You know, that whole not-the-kind-of-girl-you-take-home thing?

"I consider myself, actually, to be not too terribly gritty," she says. "I'm a realist, but I don't think I'm a rough-and-tumble character. I think part of that is that I'm a female who's had a lot of success, and the success has revolved around my being involved in most facets of my career. Because of that, I get labeled as being very tough."

So which songs sum her up best? "A song like 'If It Makes You Happy' is a great path that I try to live by -- to not miss the things around me because I'm looking for something that might be better," Crow says. "Spiritually, a song like 'I Shall Believe' is pretty on the mark as far as how I see the world spiritually, and how I see my life in relation to a higher being.... 'Strong Enough' has been very autobiographical."

She figures her best creative moments remain ahead of her. The right place on the tour bus isn't the only comfy spot Sheryl Crow has found.

"There are so many possibilities, being a musician, being somebody who plays a lot of instruments, being a songwriter, being a producer of sorts," she says. "There are so many avenues you can go down that sometimes you feel like there's not enough time to do all the things you want to do and have a life.

"Now I'm trying to at least conduct my life with a little more balance. But I like my job, and that's why I work hard at it."

BRIAN McCOLLUM can be reached at 1-313-223-4450 or via E-mail at [email protected]

HER NEW BAND

Sheryl Crow will sport a new look onstage Saturday night at the Palace.

And we're not talking about her short hair.

Flanking the rocker on her latest cross-country tour is a new set of players -- a six-piece band described by some as her top backing unit yet.

It follows the departure last year of longtime players Todd Wolfe and Scott Bryan, who now have their own deal with Crow's label, Interscope/Geffen/A&M, to record as Mojo'Son.

New to the lineup: guitarist Peter Stroud, organist Mike Rowe, cellist Matt Brubeck and violinist Lorenza Ponce, who join drummer Jim Bogios and bassist Tim Smith.

Fans who caught the group Wednesday in Toledo, Ohio, saw a tight, crisp group that delivered an extra punch to songs like "All I Wanna Do" and "There Goes the Neighborhood."

"They're versatile," Crow says. "Having string players out has really opened up things for us texturally, and our keyboard player is really experimental. He brings a lot to the songs that aren't even on the albums.

"We've had the opportunity to really expand on some things."

It also allows Crow to tackle the diverse material from last fall's "The Globe Sessions," her most widely ranging sonic effort yet.