Personnel: Sheryl Crow (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, piano, Hammond organ, harmonium, keyboards, bass, Wurlitzer, pennyosley, loops); Jeff Trott (vocals, acoustic guitar, guitar, loops); Neil Finn (vocals); Todd Wolfe (electric guitar, guitar); Steve Donnelly (electric guitar, dobro); RSBryan (guitar); Jane Scarpantoni (strings); Mitchell Froom (harmonium, keyboards); Steve Berlin (saxophone); Bob Stewart, Curtis Fowlkes, Dave Douglas, Josh Roseman (horns); Davey Faragher, Dan Rothchild, Tad Wadhams, Anders Rundblad (bass); Wally Ingram (drums, djembe); Brian MacLeod (drums, loops); Pete Thomas, Jim Keltner, Michael Urbano (drums).
Engineers include: Trina Shoemaker, Blair Lamb, Tchad Blake.
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California; Kingsway Studio, New Orleans, Louisiana.
SHERYL CROW won a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.
"If It Makes You Happy" won a 1997 Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
"Everyday Is A Winding Road" was nominated for a 1998 Grammy for Record Of The Year.
Since crashing the gates with 1993's TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB, Sheryl Crow's brand of melodic pop has won her some Grammys and kept her constantly on the road. On the followup album, the one-time background singer retains her sweet delivery laced with gruff edges, while painting her sunny sound with darker shadings. Quirky characters and situations continue to inhabit Crow's songs, whether it's holy rollers and government conspirators ("Maybe Angels") or a homeless evangelist proselytizing outside a supermarket ("Hard To Make A Stand").
While Crow could easily content herself by writing about assorted oddballs, real-life manifests itself assuredly on SHERYL CROW. Her trip to entertain troops in war-torn Bosnia is reflected in the wasted virtues and exploding shells of "Redemption Day." And in "Love Is A Good Thing," she sings pointedly about firearm sales and their consequences.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (10/31/02, p.140) - Ranked # 44 in Rolling Stone's "Women in Rock: The 50 Essential Albums"
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.54) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (10/3/96, pp.69-71) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...SHERYL CROW...finds the singer more forcefully asserting her own voice as an artist and a woman....she operates more like a leader than a club member this time, writing a few songs independently and imbuing all them with a greater sense of who she is....The lyrics seem grittier and more intimate..."
Spin (11/96, p.121) - 8 (out of 10) - "...bigger beats and dirtier guitar/keyboard effects....Nothing extreme, perhaps, but almost psychedelic when joined to big mainstream melodies....It just sounds gorgeous, and current...pop musicians will be learning from it for years to come."
Entertainment Weekly (12/27/96-1/3/97, p.148) - Ranked #7 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "Top 10 Albums And Singles Of 1996."
Entertainment Weekly (9/27/96, pp.76-78) - "...Crow doesn't expose that much of herself on SHERYL CROW--she's an emotional centrist. But at the very least, she's building a bridge to a lasting career." - Rating: A-
Q (12/99, p.90) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The Rolling Stone (10/31/02, p.140) - Ranked # 44 in Rolling Stone's "Women in Rock: The 50 Essential Albums" 1990s."
Q (1/94, p.82) - Included in Q's list of 'The 50 Best Albums Of 1993' - "...a mature, progressive, marvelous new record..."
Q (11/96, p.124) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...radio friendly, not too self-important, light on its feet, sometimes too ready to disclaim any serious intent..."
Village Voice (3/94, p.5) - Ranked #2 in the Village Voice's 1993 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.
Village Voice (2/25/97) - Ranked #26 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
