We'll s-

And I, and I will say, I, uh, I don't...

I know people don't like artists who are political.

I mean, I know that, you know? Um, I'll start crying.

But when I post stuff like that, I post it as a mom, and as an American, and as an inhabitant on an organism that I'll leave behind, and my kids will grapple with.

And then on this other side, I'm a musician, and I have so many people that say, "Will you just shut the fuck up and sing?" And I'm like, "Well, yeah, but just because that's what I do doesn't mean I, I, I don't...

I mean, if you don't, if you can't, if you don't agree with that, then don't, if you, then that, if it taints my music for you, that's okay." You know?

Pick you up.

We'll s-

And I, and I will say, I, I don't ...

I know people don't like artists who are political.

I mean, I know that, you know? Um, I'll start crying.

But when I post stuff like that, I post it as a mom and as an American and as an inhabitant on an organism that I'll leave behind and my kids will grapple with.

And then on this other side, I'm a musician, and I have so many people that say, "Will you just shut the fuck up and sing?" And I'm like, "Well, yeah, but just because that's what I do doesn't mean I, I, I don't ...

" I mean, if you don't, if you can't, if you don't agree with that, then don't, if you, then that, if it taints my music for you, that's okay, you know?

Mm.

This is I Shall Believe from Sheryl Crow's first record, Tuesday Night Music Club.

[singing] Come to me now.

And lay your hands over me.

Even if it's a lie, say it will be all right.

I shall believe.

I'm broken in two.

And I know you're on to me.

This is We Do What We Can off Sheryl Crow's first album, Tuesday Night Music Club.

but so many different, there's so many different ways that they could go.

Yeah.

I think, you know, and I don't know how it is for kids now, but when you're growing up in a small town, and I mean, we weren't even close to an airport.

We were like 120 miles from Memphis.

Music for me and the actual physical copy and the music coming out of the speaker was my way of thinking about getting out.

I mean, that was my way out.

It was like I could go to the local drugstore and sit in the back and drink Cokes out of glass bottles with my friends and look over Cream Magazine and Rolling Stone, and that was, that's how we learned or how we sort of created what we thought were these people that were rock stars, not knowing them, not having like curated social media, all that stuff.

Uh-huh.

What's behind it?

Yeah.

You know, there's something really liberating about being my age now because, you know, when you're a kid and you're newly making it and you're trying to compete with your last success, you're very sort of in your head about, "Well, I shouldn't say this," or, "I shouldn't say that," or, "It needs to be more like this."

What, what's it been like to be a part of that animated series?

You know, the Cars series, that movie, um, I wrote a song for that movie, what, over 20 years ago.

My kids weren't born yet.

Um, I had no idea that it was going to be, it was gonna have the life that it has.

I mean, it's our most streamed song.

Hmm

... about the little things that she did throughout her life that were completely unannounced, no one knew about it, just little things that she did to help people, to pick people up.

And I think all of us are feeling like, what, how can I be more like that? You know, how can I leave the world in a better place? Um, at least for me, with Dolly, every time I was ever around her she was always completely authentic and always rode the high line, you know? She would say funny things and get her point across, but never put anybody down.

Yeah.

You know? It's about, geez, we have so many great, um, privileges in this country: the right to vote, the right to g- to, um, come out into the streets and protest peacefully.

Um, all, all of these things that we enjoy.

Um, but people died for us to have that, and we need to, like, really think about how we treat each other, how we honor that in the way we speak to each other in our dialogue without, you know, putting each other down, gaslighting, being mean.

I think that might be right.

Um, yeah.

We were...

Well, she was doing an event with the athletic club over at Lipscomb Academy, where I went to high school, and graciously she wanted high school students to be a part of the event.

And so she saw my talent show performance, and I was one [laughs] of the students selected, and she played accordion on one of my original songs.

So that's one of my two truths and a lie.

I don't know if you knew that.

Um, but there is something beautiful about it as long as you know, um, authentically who you are and really cherish that.

Yeah

... and there's total divinity in that.

I, if you believe in God or you don't, it's an energy thing.

I call it divini- divinity because it is divine, and it is not explicable.

But then there was this whole other thing, this damage, and how a person can hold all of that.

I can see why he...

I mean, I always say he won't live very long because you can't be able to have that incredible energy, energetic power and be that damaged and have that inform who you are in your living every day normal life.

Um, and then, you know, Vanity Fair.

Give me one.

Um, well, I'll give you two.

So, uh, years and years ago, when I had a four-year-old and a one-year-old, and we were traveling on a tour bus, and Wyatt's taking his first steps in the green room at Ellen DeGeneres, and, um, Levi started out his life at two weeks old in a crib on a tour bus.

I mean, all these things, I start feeling like, am I...

Is this fair to my kids? Is this normal, you know? Um, and so I go to my acupuncturist in New York, really wonderful person.

Um, is very intuitive.

Like, he, you'd never say psychic to him.

And I think that's what God is.

Number two

...

Redemption Day.

Wrote it after I went and played for the troops in Bosnia.

Came home, wound up writing about, asking questions about why do we go into the places that we go into, uh, to create a presence.

When Rwanda was under complete and total genocide, we were in Bosnia defending, you know, our oil.

And then Johnny Cash recorded it, so that was, that's really the one you should check out if you're gonna listen to it.

Yeah, so-

Give me one.

Um, well, I'll give you two.

So, uh, years and years ago, when I had a four-year-old and a one-year-old and we were traveling on a tour bus, and Wyatt's taking his first steps in the green room at Ellen DeGeneres, and, um, Levi started out his life at two weeks old in a crib on a tour bus.

I mean, all these things, I start feeling like, "Am I...

Is this fair to my kids? Is this normal?" You know? Um, and so I go to my acupuncturist in New York, really wonderful person.

Um, is very intuitive.

Like, he, you'd never say psychic to him.

And I think that's what God is.

[laughing]

That is so nice.

I, I will tell you, um, that tour was not like anything I ever experienced, and the whole thing came about at such a strange...

You know, Lollapalooza was happening, and every time...

Like, I can remember calling my agent and saying, "I, can, can I get some women on a bill? Like, I'd love to tour with Aimee Mann." And every time it would be like, "Yeah, people won't buy tickets to see two women on, on a bill," particularly men, men won't.

And around that time, Sarah had this crazy idea, and, uh, she wound up calling me, and I was just, "God, it's just a perfect time for it." All that to say is that what we took out on the stage was, it was defiance, but it was also, like, community.

It was a little bit of a gentle fuck you-

Mm-hmm

Small world.

Um, I asked about it and, uh, you had to be recommended by Bruce Swedien or Quincy Jones, um, or Rod Temperton, and of course I didn't know any of those people.

I think I'd been in town maybe six months when I s- first started getting work.

And, um, I found out where it was and I drove out, it was at a rehearsal space, uh, I wanna say SIR but they, they don't, I don't think they have that in, in L.A. Can't remember what it was called.

Drove there and thought, "Well, what's the worst thing that could happen?" So I went and I knocked on the door and I, they, uh, they let me in.

They a- they asked me what my name was.

I said, "I'm Sheryl Crow.

I rushed that." So that...