Sheryl Crow: “Country Is More Pop Than Pop Was When I Came Up”
When country music purists characterize pop’s intrusion into country as a recent phenomenon, they jeopardize undercutting their entire argument. Pop has always been a part of country, and asserting otherwise is a misrepresentation of history. But when pop country apologists use this same argument to say there’s no reason to be alarmed of how pop the country format has become, they aren’t taking into consideration the reduction of quality in pop over the years, or the degree in which pop has impinged on the roots of country as a per capita measure of the entire genre.
Enter Sheryl Crow, who after years of flirting with country is finally taking the big “gone country” plunge and is making a marathon tour of country radio stations ahead of releasing her first official “country” album Feels Like Home on September 10th. Sheryl—who credits Brad Paisley for finally convincing her to go country—didn’t have to augment her sound much to make the move to the country format, because as much of her pop and rock music has always been somewhat rootsy, country music has veered much more in a pop direction, allowing the two styles to virtually intersect.
“The country format is more pop than pop was when I came up two decades ago,” Sheryl explained to Reuters late last week when being interviewed about her new album, illustrating the degree of country’s move to pop in recent years. Of course Sheryl isn’t saying anything that some country fans haven’t been clamoring about for years, but as someone looking to make their way in the mainstream country world, Sheryl Crow’s perspective and honesty speaks to the degree of change in country music.
When pop or rock artists “go country,” their initial albums tend to be a tinge more country than many of their established pop country counterparts as they attempt to prove their muster in the genre. A similar observation could be made of Darius Rucker when he made the country move. Nothing Sheryl Crow or Darius Rucker have done in country so far can compare in pop caliber to Taylor Swift’s dub step-inspired “I Knew You Were Trouble” or Blake Shelton’s country rap “Boys ‘Round Here” for example. As time goes on, pop artists may not even need to declare their country allegiance to move to the genre, they may simply stand still and be involuntarily engulfed by the ever-present shift of country towards pop, and become country by proxy. Sheryl Crow may be the first example of this phenomenon.
September 2, 2013 @ 9:08 am
So Crow didn’t go country, country came to her? This is merely more demographic carpetbagging from a superstar with lagging sales.
September 2, 2013 @ 9:25 am
According to what Sheryl says, Brad Paisley and other artists have been trying to convince Sheryl to do this for years. I think you could definitely make the case country came to her. Of course it is demographic carpetbagging, but it could be country music doing this just as much as Sheryl.
From the Reuters story above:
PAISLEY’S PERSISTENCE
“He’d say, ‘If your records were to come out now, they would be on country radio,'” Crow said.
She finally succumbed, thanks to a performance she did with Loretta Lynn and Miranda Lambert of Lynn’s autobiographical “Coal Miner’s Daughter” at the 2010 Country Music Association Awards show.
“After that, he (Paisley) came to me and said, ‘Now, will you come home to the format you belong to?'” she recalled.
September 2, 2013 @ 9:52 am
Yes, the distinctive elemts that makes country music SOUND country has been adulterated so much that even Def Leppard could be on country radio. The blander the sound – Crow’s and country format radio – the more pliable it can be across genres.
They deserve each other.
OTOH – Some cross genes with genius – Willie, Ray, Sinatra. That’s not this.
September 2, 2013 @ 9:23 am
Hey, for better or worse, she had pedal steel on her debut album and that was 20 years ago.
I’ve got no problem with her move to country; she probably has a greater understanding & appreciation for country music than most of the wannabes on country radio these days.
September 2, 2013 @ 12:16 pm
Having been a fan of Sheryl since that first album, I’m not surprised she would be drawn to country — she always seemed more like a traditional classic-rocker than a pop innovator, and in the past decade or so, mainstream country has felt like the last bastion of classic rock’s musicianship and sense of melody in a pop/rock landscape dominated by hip-hop, electronics and dance beats. (How much longer that will last, I don’t know; eventually popular country may have devolved into those pop/rock elements to the point where people like Sheryl could very well be lumped into Americana.)
September 2, 2013 @ 9:35 am
15 years ago @ 2:49 into the clip. She’s hardly new to roots.
http://youtu.be/x2tPQL13MlA
September 2, 2013 @ 9:43 am
The Black Crows never “went country” but their last albums had some straight up country tunes and definitly nothing you would hear on a country music station.
September 2, 2013 @ 1:13 pm
Paisley just wants another moon bat liberal like him in the current pop country world.
September 2, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
Perhaps.
At any rate I’ll take a moon bat self-professed liberal who has demonstrated the ability to write and perform some interesting, illustrative songs with unique character profiles and takes on less familiar subjects than a dyed-in-the-wool self-professed “conservative” who writes paint-by-numbers, bombastically-produced mindless ditties about jacked-up trucks, Jack Daniels and hotties in cut-off jeans any day, thank you very much! 😉
September 2, 2013 @ 6:04 pm
I have to say that Paisley has been gradually losing me as a fan. Sad because when I first heard him play on an award show and receive the newcomer award I thought, ‘wow, what a talent, a real country singer.’ I bought several of his albums and just skipped over the bad duets with bad girl singers, but I haven’t had any interest in a long time.
September 3, 2013 @ 8:33 am
Since when were Dolly Parton, Allison Krauss, and Carrie Underwood considered “bad girl singers”? Regardless of their style of music and your preferences, I think everyone can acknowledge these three ladies are incredible vocalists.
September 3, 2013 @ 8:40 am
Oh, for Pete’s sake, I didn’t make a list and to each their own. I still appreciate Brad’s considerable talent, but maybe my tastes have changed and he didn’t. Who knows? Underwood’s video with him where it featured her skirt up to her ……. and them both belting out in the middle of some field was not country music. Am tired of this place where it used to be about saving country music and now it’s mostly trying to rationalize how pop is the new country or some such crap. Shouldn’t post in a snarky mood, but oh well.
September 3, 2013 @ 10:50 am
I certainly didn’t mean to sound snippy with you (if that’s how you took it). i just thought your “skipped over the bad duets with bad girl singers” line was really unfair.
i will agree with you, however, that Brads music is becoming increasing awful. but we all digress, this article is about Sheryl Crow.
September 3, 2013 @ 11:13 am
Kevin, I loved the duet with Allison. Sorry to come across as snarky, but I was feeling that way this morning. If you can believe it, a neighbor’s monkey had something to do with it!!! Lol. Seriously. Have a good one. I really wish Brad would get back to his W. Virginia roots and that awesome guitar playing that he does.
Right after that comment you made, I got an email from CD Universe advertising Sheryl Crow’s new CD. In my mind she is a pop singer. Music that becomes too commercialized always feels that way to me.
September 3, 2013 @ 9:31 am
Karen I 100% agree with you on this one. It’s unfortunate but for years Paisley was one of the very few mainstreamers that kept Country dominent in his sound, but It appears that he is giving in to the pathetic reality of Pop/Shitty/Country. It’s really too bad somebody with a fanbase so large just couldn’t keep true to himself and the fans and give into the machine!
September 2, 2013 @ 1:20 pm
The problem is that even as Sheryl Crow appears to understand the current situation, she also contributed to the ”genre-bending” crap of Blake Shelton in the ACM’s last April. When will the country music saviour come? In the time of greatest despair?
September 2, 2013 @ 4:53 pm
None of us have argued her move isn’t without opportunism. That WAS excruciatingly painful to watch. Then again, so is hearing “Picture” with Kid Rock repeatedly as a recurrent on “country” radio! -__-
September 2, 2013 @ 3:16 pm
Taylor Swift’s ‘..Trouble’ is a pop song and wasn’t released to country radio.
September 2, 2013 @ 4:03 pm
Hopefully this is the begining of the end of Swift on country radio. ‘We are never getting back together’ had no place on country radio either.
September 2, 2013 @ 6:51 pm
She let that song go on country radio so that we all knew that “we are never, ever getting back together”. And we thought she only sang about boys.
September 3, 2013 @ 10:20 am
Her song “Red” is #20 on the country charts right now. She’s not done with country radio. She’s sending one song to pop radio and a different one to country.
September 9, 2013 @ 2:49 pm
Hey that reminds me of something. I would like to see Taylor Swift sending all of her country songs to pop radio just for fun. I would like Taylor Swift to send her first song Tim McGraw to pop radio one day. I just want to see any country song that send over to pop radio. So my suggestion is that Taylor Swift should send all her country songs in general to pop radio as special events since only some like Love Story were sent to pop radio. Her pop songs were sent to pop radio only. So I was expecting to see Taylor Swift sending Ours, Sparks Fly, Begin Again and Red to pop radio one day. So Taylor Swift country songs like Picture To Burn for pop radio please. I would also like Sheryl Crow to release her country in general to pop radio just for fun too. Same thing for Carrie Underwood. Country songs in general by either Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, or even Sheryl Crow send over to pop radio could save pop radio one day. That’s just my opinion. 🙂
September 2, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
I like more than just traditional country and like some of her tunes from over the years… That and I would love to give her the Bizness lol
Anyway, I’m sure whatever she ends up recording surely won’t be any worse than the shit Pop country is throwing at us. I doubt I will buy her country album but I’m sure it could have a few decent tunes on it.
As far as Paisley twisting her arm… HE should take his own advice and get way back to the roots of country cuz what he’s doing is so bloody vanilla & boring.
Not that I ever thought he made any awesome roots country music , but he’s clearly on auto pilot to keep making cheesy pop country.
I’d like to see if he has it in him to do better.
September 3, 2013 @ 3:24 pm
I really liked Brad Paisley when he first started, I liked his first two albums “Who Needs Pictures” and “Part 2”. The duet he did with George Jones and friends called “Too Country” was pretty good. But now he’s mostly singing gimmic songs. Kinda like he’s trying to be a Jerry Reed impersonator. But Brad is no Jerry.
September 2, 2013 @ 4:30 pm
When it comes to all singer/songwriter personalities who emerged commercially from the late 80’s and early 90’s onward, Sheryl Crow strikes me as one I’ve most seen likely to fit in with the current “country” radio climate.
I honestly have no issue with her official wading into this format. Musically I’d say she’s always had more of a roots leaning than a “country” one, but lyrically a lot of her songs (many of them co-written with Jeff Trott) are in sync with the genre in that they are rich in storytelling, character development and have a vivid sense of realism that is more akin to the country genre than the rock genre.
With Lenny Kravitz, Aaron Lewis, Jessica Simpson, Lionel Ritchie, Steve Harwell (lead singer of Smash Mouth), Uncle Kracker and Jaron Lowestein of Jaron and the Long Road to Love just to name a handful, their movement to the country format sounds entirely calculated because of their washed-up status as former hit-makers on Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Top 40 radio to varying degrees. With Sheryl Crow, however, her emigration is much more credible. Granted her album sales have been steadily declining since she released her Greatest Hits collection nearly a decade ago and she obviously sees the opportunism in an attempted Country career, but at least she has some credibility on her side.
Say what you will about Darius Rucker too: whose solo career on the country radio format to date has been awash with complete mediocrity. As much as his attempt screams a cry for relevance again after a decade of irrelevance, at least Rucker, too, is in sync with the increasingly pop landscape of “country” radio. I swear you can transport most given Hootie & The Blowfish and Sister Hazel songs from their heyday into “country” radio circa 2009 onward, and it would effortlessly blend in alongside the likes of Keith Urban, Randy Houser and Jake Owen. Opportunistic? Damn sure. But at least their signature sounds fit the context of the current format.
September 2, 2013 @ 6:10 pm
I was so happy when radio quit playing Hootie & the blowsticks….they sucked.
And now this Effer shows up singing country music… But of course !!!
September 3, 2013 @ 6:01 am
Oh, whatever! Blah, blah, I’ve always been country, yeah, yeah! How about this for an idea: stick the bloody album out there and let the public decide!
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September 3, 2013 @ 2:05 pm
why do country music fans get so irritated when someone that isn’t “country” makes a country album?
what’s the big deal?
be flattered.
also, the Byrds (first folk rock band) did a country album “sweetheart of the rodeo” in the early seventies, with clarence white, who was a bluegrass player from Kentucky, and sneaky pete, on steel guitar.
and it’s a fantastic album. and it probably started what’s now called alt country, along with former band member Chris Hillman who went country in the Flying Burrito brothers.
If you want to carry this logic through, you would have told conway twitty to butt out, cause he started out as a rocker.
Charlie Rich did some time as a jazz singer. Before he was country.
Sinatra fans don’t bitch when Willie Nelson does an album of standards.
so what’s the big deal?
September 4, 2013 @ 1:41 am
I’ve got no problem with anyone making a country album: it’s all the “Oh, I’ve always been a country singer at heart really” bollocks I can’t stand.
September 3, 2013 @ 6:53 pm
What’s the big deal???
Well, many of the names you mentioned above are excellent artists & Hall of Famers.
Hardly see anything of the sort transitioning to country.
September 3, 2013 @ 9:36 pm
shes been hankering to go country ever since she did that shit song ‘picture’ with kid rock. she saw the $$$ possibilities
September 3, 2013 @ 10:52 pm
Country ain’t country no more….for sure!!
September 4, 2013 @ 5:04 am
Even my local rag got it right calling Taylor Swift pop music
http://mobile.inforum.com/page/article/id/411040
September 9, 2013 @ 4:31 pm
I’ve read it and I was like, dude, Red is not the first full pop album. Country songs, Begin Again and Red are in the album too. People didn’t pay attention to Taylor Swift’s country songs like Tim McGraw. Taylor Swift should make the first full album when Taylor Swift begins making the 5th album. Plus, Red has a country billboard chart, not a pop billboard chart. Only the pop singles like 22 has a pop billboard chart. That’s why Taylor Swift pop listeners listen to country songs too like Sparks Fly. People don’t pay attention to Taylor Swift’s song selection very well. Good thing I did since I want people pay attention to Taylor Swift songs in general (country or pop). Do you understand? Thank you.
September 9, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
Aww. Did I strike a nerve? The crowd that listens to her music is of the same demographic as the ones who think sugarland is country. And for your information some of us did pay attention to her earlier stuff. It was all over the second when she recorded you belong with me. Plain and simple. Just because she isn’t on the pop charts very high, doesn’t mean she isn’t pop, it just means she’s finally figuring out the formula every other pop sensation has used in the last 20 years.
It’s been nice playing with you. So do you understand?
September 4, 2013 @ 7:24 am
Trigger, if you have a chance to interview her about the new album you might want to reconsider shaking her hand given her penchant for one square of toilet paper.
September 5, 2013 @ 11:20 am
Here’s a thought: Remember when Sheryl Crow’s label wouldn’t allow “Picture” be released as a single and it was re-recorded with Allison Moorer for release to radio? Maybe Allison can just re-record all of Sheryl Crow’s songs and release them to country radio.