Sheryl Crow’s new album Live From The Ryman gives us More

BY KARYN A. POKLETAR

After a career that’s spanned over 30 years, Sheryl Crow has evolved from an elementary school music teacher to an internationally recognized artist of rock-pop-blues and country music fame. Live From The Ryman And More circles back on the “If It Makes You Happy“ singers career with a stellar guest list added for our listening pleasure.

Over the decades Crow and her band have been nominated for and won multiple awards starting with her first and most successful album to date, 1993’s Tuesday Night Music Club that sold more than ten million copies around the globe and garnered the international superstar a Grammy for Best New Artist. The single “All I Wanna Do,” and radio-ready hits such as “Strong Enough,” and “Can’t Cry Anymore” brought more commercial success to Crow, and spent 100 weeks on Billboard 200 at the top chart position of number five.

Her second album, Sheryl Crow, hit top ten (spending over a year riding the charts), debuting at number six, certified 7x platinum, with such instant hits as “A Change Would Do You Good.” Not all musicians are great vocalists, but Crow, who was born in a town of 10,000 (Kennet, Missouri) about 20 miles from the Mississippi River, is both. With six pianos in the house, her mom giving music lessons and dad playing trumpet, how could her parents have known, despite a household of immersive musicality, their daughter would write “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) for the James Bond franchise film of the same name and receive 32 Grammy nominations?

©DANIEL GLUSKOTER

The musician, despite her small town roots, has had quite an elite, hob-nob of experiences. She’s shot hoops with Prince and Eric Clapton was her boyfriend. She’s sang operatic soprano with Pavarotti and her first major gig was as a backing vocalist for Michael Jackson’s Bad Tour in 1987. She’s dealt with breast cancer, a broken engagement to Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong and lives with a benign, inoperable brain tumor. Touring for almost two years with Jackson gave the singer-songwriter a crash course on how the music industry, concerts for 75,000 fans per venue and superstardom work. Crow has also acted, with parts on NCIS, One Tree Hill and 30 Rock. Additionally, every studio album she’s made has charted in the top ten.

Okay. Everyone lift your hands in the air like antennae’s exalting the heavenly host! Hype-igniting enthusiasm aside, this album is built of prowess, grandeur and the excitement only a live show can impart. The 27-track, two and a half hour leviathan, Live From the Ryman and More was mostly recorded in 2019 at Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium. The “More” part of the album title alludes to recordings added at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles and Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.

©DANIEL GLUSKOTER

Music at its best is enjoyed live. Crow and her musical guests are throwing a big party, while adding to a much needed sense of communal spirit, which is inevitable on a collaborative album. On the opening cut, she circles back to her 2002 release “Steve McQueen.” The guitar is retributive, as Crow gets autobiographical in a rock and roll rhythm: “Well I went to bed in Memphis//And I woke up in Hollywood.” Crow spent over 22 years in Los Angeles, but things have changed for the Missouri native. A shift in values, demography and lifestyle. She’s a mom now, making her home in Nashville with her two adopted sons where she can record in the studio built above the barn that boards her ten horses, while still being near her kids.

Noteworthy arrangements on this collection are deployed to craft the epic music spanning Crow’s career. Guest stars include Jason Isbell on “Everything is Broken,” Brandi Carlile on a haunting, lovely cover of George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness,” and Lucius on a handful of tracks. The iconic Stevie Nicks, along with Maren Morris, collaborate on 2019’s “Prove You Wrong.” Also, Emmylou Harris sanctifies on “Nobody’s Perfect.”

Instead of gimmickry or a blatent “sex sells” type of a PR approach over her career, the songstress has instead used her actual musicianship, talent and skill to maintain relevancy. This is a really good live album. It’s difficult to remember what attending a concert feels like and this release is a blissful reminder. If there is any shtick Crow has mantled, its been a hippy-esque adaptation which actually pairs well, synergistically, with the spirit of the album.

This release is beautiful in its range and density. Thank you, Sheryl, Live From The Ryman And More is indeed the soundtrack for a much needed party.

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