It started with a McDonald’s jingle. Then dancing and singing on tour with Michael Jackson. Ultimately over fifty million albums sold. Nine Grammy Awards (32 nominations). The relationship with Lance Armstrong. Breast cancer. Sheryl Crowe has lived a lot in her 60 years. Sheryl, Showtime’s 2022 film, delivers what you hope for in a documentary: to learn more about the subject’s life, revel in the well-known high points, commiserate with the disappointments and challenges, and come away with an added appreciation for the artist’s accomplishments.
Sheryl Crow is impressive. She writes, sings, produces, and plays multiple instruments on her 11 albums. She can’t be corralled into one genre. She’s a little bit of everything: rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. I always thought she was alright, but never really got into her. Maybe I couldn’t fully embrace her collage of styles as a whole. After seeing her concert clips in the movie, I’m sure attending a live performance would have made me more of a fan. What a line-up of hit songs: “All I Wanna Do,” “Leaving Las Vegas,” “Strong Enough,” ” If It Makes You Happy,” “My Favorite Mistake,” Bond theme song “Tomorrow Never Dies,” cover of “The First Cut is the Deepest,” and “Soak Up the Sun.” (I have only one CD of hers. As a gift for donating to the local college radio station, I could pick out any CD from their bin. There wasn’t a lot to choose from and I selected The Globe Sessions. After watching the doc, I played it for the first time in years, and hey, pretty good!)
Her on-camera interviews are genuine, informative, and inspiring. Crow’s mimicking of a brief phone conversation with Bob Dylan is hilarious. Name a rock or country star of the 1990s or 2000s and she’s played with them. Some provide notable interviews, including Keith Richards, Joe Walsh, Brandi Carlisle, and Emmylou Harris. One of my favorite actresses, Laura Dern, turns out to be best friends with Sheryl. And her sound engineer Trina Shoemaker is simply one-of-a-kind.
Sheryl portrays a positive woman in control of her life and career, but it wasn’t always fun in the sun. Darkness came after David Letterman asked her about “Leaving Las Vegas” in 1994 and the breast cancer ordeal in 2006. Her second album was boycotted by Walmart (the place many people purchased their music in 1996), one of several instances when she held to her beliefs in the face of corporate or societal pressure. Her relationship with Lance Armstrong, although seemingly all consuming, is just briefly discussed. I can see why. He doesn’t add to her story, in fact he takes away from it. Sheryl Crow drove to her own destiny in a male-dominated musical world. She was a key performer and supporter of the all-women Lilith Fair tours, the three in the late ’90s and the 2010 revival. While she never married, she always wanted to be a mother and adopted a son in 2007 and another in 2010. After her 2019 all-star album Threads (with Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Sting, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, and Keith Richards) wraps the movie, you marvel at a woman who achieved all her goals. Not many of us can say that.
D² Rating ◼◼◼◩☐
Trivia: Who accompanied Sheryl Crow on the re-recording of “Always on Your Side,” giving an added boost to her 1998 Wildflower album? The song was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals category.
Answer: Sting