Joseph Hudak
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Sheryl Crow onstage with Kris Kristofferson in 2003. KMazur/WireImage/Getty Artists love to talk about gratitude when giving interviews: they’re grateful for the opportunity to make music, for the fans, for just being. But Sheryl Crow didn’t have to say all that in a new interview with Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast — she exhibited it.
Looking back on the legends she’s worked with and known, from Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan to Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, Crow was overcome by emotion. Even the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member herself said she finds it hard to believe all she’s done. High-school-aged Crow, who was devouring California country-rock in the Seventies, would be amazed.
“When I was that age, I had my whole life in front of me. Music was the cinematography. That music made me think everything was possible. Now when I reflect, I stood in the room with Bob, and Johnny Cash, and Eric Clapton, all together — and they knew my name,” she says, starting to cry.
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“That is a direct reflection of infinite possibility,” she continues through tears. “And I think we get away from that. We pray for things, and we envision things, but it can be bigger. Whatever it is you put your love and your energy into, it will come back to you some way or the other. For me, it’s come back to me in so many different ways… and it makes me want to not throw it away. I want to be a help.”
To that end, the politically and culturally vocal songwriter looks to those who came before her as inspiration.
“I want to be better for the world because of what I’ve seen and who I’ve been around. And these people, the Kris Kristoffersons of the world, they were good, loving people who stood up for things that weren’t popular. Johnny Cash stood up against the Vietnam War and stood up for Native Americans, and country music wouldn’t play him. Willie too,” Crow says. “I don’t think it’s an accident that I got to be around them. I don’t take it lightly. I look back, and I go, ‘Have I done enough to help other people?’”
