DOP magazin pop & off kulture

Treći i posljednji dio čavrljanja s Sheryl Crow povodom njenog posljednjeg studijskog albuma "Wildflower" i vremenu kad je bila s biciklističkim asom Lanceom Armstrongom, završavamo u vedrom tomu

* Do you read your own reviews?

No, I never read my own reviews. I never read, Lance and I have this joke. The only time I ever allow myself to read trashy magazines is when I'm flying. And and it's funny because as soon as I walk in, like he and his team, he'll be like I can't believe you're reading that trash. And the next thing I know, they're all like thumbing through to see Britney and you know. Um, but um, short of that I don't check in at all and I definitely don't want to know what the reviews are, because I found that when I was really invested in that, it made me miserable.

* Lately there have been a lot of murmurs in the industry about you know, the death of rock music. And it seems like someone might be just looking at a balance sheet and comparing revenues with those of blockbuster hip-hop acts. Obviously rock is never going to die. But how is it going to thrive in a culture that wants to devalue it the way it's being devalued right now?

Well, I think the most interesting movements have come out of uh, certain genres of music having to fight their way back in. Like certainly the punk period was the-the-the answer to disco and I'm finding now you know, I'll scour I-Tunes or I'll ask people what they're listening to. And there are a lot of really interesting young bands out there that aren't getting radio play. But I also find that there's great song writing that doesn't get radio play either that's even in the pop genre. Or at least it's singer-songwriter. And you've got you know, young bands who are-who are out there doing really good stuff like The Kills or um, uh, Kings of Leon. Bands that will probably never get on the radio, The White Stripes. Who people know are cool and that are writing good stuff. But I'm not sure tthat you're necessarily going to find the best stuff, or even good stuff on the radio anymore and I think most people know that.

* When you reach for a CD in your collection, do you find yourself gravitating towards newer stuff or your older tried and true favorites?

I find in the last couple of years that I gravitate to old stuff when I'm getting ready to write or um, if I feel like if I'm puttering around the house being in a certain mood or whatever. But in the last couple of years I've found that I think mainly because of I-Tunes, I listen to a lot of varied music. And I think that's probably true of a lot of people, that when you walk into a room full of CD's you-you grab the same couple of CDs or whatever. And with I-Tunes, not to do an advertisement for them. You just have so much more music at your fingertips. And if you put it on random, you wind up hearing stuff that you haven't heard in a while. And so, I do find that I'm buying more new music and I'm playing more new music. And I'm really listening to more new music. Like really actually sitting down and-and getting into it than I used to.

* Let's talk more about the album. A couple more things. Where does the title, where does Wildflower come from?

Wildflower was written, well it was inspired by Lance's kids. He's got three kids and um, they're aged three, and five. Or three and a half and five and a half. He's got twin girls and a little boy. And just being around uh, small children, I think you're really reminded of how when you come into the world, you're. This little being that just gravitates to light. And it's-- That takes everything at face value and that doesn't make judgments and that has um, a lot of innocence until-until the child starts unlearning it or is forced to unlearn. And create a shell and become jaded and cynical like we do as adults. And I still believe that that exists in us, that that's the better part of us. That's the divinity in us and um, this record I think is-is heavily influenced by trying to maintain a peaceful stance in a very chaotic world. Of just trying to stand still when there's just so many distractions, with the Black Berry, the e-mail, cell phones, the news coming in, all these images. Uh, the amount of sex that's around us at all times. Reality TV shows. You can see why so many people have chosen to kind of go to sleep and then there's also a wild population of people that are on a religious search. There's just so many different kinds of movements and I do think that that decision to kind of sleep and not know about it is also a very strong movement.

* When you stripped down the songs that you played for the DVD, how did you choose? Do you choose certain instruments because of the tones that they have and how they relate? Like are there any songs that we recorded that you felt like you know, you chose the Wurlitzer because it felt a certain way over the piano or guitar?

Most songs I think are dictated by the instrument you start playing on. For instance, I would never have written Always On Your Side on the guitar because it has so many chords. And your hands do, for me at least, I play certain rhythms on the piano that I don't ever play on the guitar. And so that dictates ultimately how I'll play it when it gets stripped down. Although, I think the best songs could be played on anything. It's just I'm not a good enough guitar player to play all those chords. Um, and you know, other songs, for instance Lifetimes, which has a keyboard that is a Wurlitzer that's um, not the main instrument of the song. But it kind of brings a flavor to the song.
When we stripped it down, we just felt like the combination of the acoustic and the Wurlitzer was what gave that song a kind of playful feel. And-and a lot of times I think the instrument really does dictate the chemistry of the song.