SHERYL CROW: 100 Miles from Memphis, but Finally Home
SHERYL CROW: 100 Miles from Memphis, but Finally Home
by Will Jordan
She’s a nine-time Grammy Award winner and has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, but Sheryl Crow is still a small town girl at heart.
Her latest album, “100 Miles from Memphis,” harkens to her rural Kennett, Mo. roots and is a “statement of purpose, both musical and emotional,” according to the singer. It also marks a long-awaited return to the sounds that drew the superstar to making music in the first place.
“The drive to Memphis is all farmland, and everyone is community-oriented, God-fearing people, connected to the earth,” Crow says. “The music that came out of that part of the world is a part of who I am, and it’s the biggest inspiration for what I do and why I do it.”
Crow resides in a small community in Williamson County and enjoys living the “country life,” along with writing songs about it. She moved to the Franklin area five years ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I wanted to be closer to family, and they all live within three hours from here,” she says. “It’s a very embracing place.”
Crow admits she also enjoys the “slower pace here” and the fact that she can go to local restaurants, the Farmer’s Market and other places with her children, without being mobbed by the paparazzi.
“It’s a lot less celebrity driven and I hope – knock on wood – that it sustains its anonymity,” she says.
The Family Dinner
When she heads out on the road, she is still “always excited and a little bit nervous, because it requires a lot of acclimating.” But when she returns from touring, she sheds her superstar status and steps back into her role as a single mother of two. Crow has two adopted boys – Wyatt (4) and Levi (2).
“It’s important to me that we sit down and have dinner together as a family every night,” she says. “This is a very important family experience for me.”
Crow says her mother was always an adventurous cook.
“In the ’60s [in Missouri] we had very little ethnic food in my hometown…we had two or three Jewish restaurants and no Latin or Italian places,” she says. “Mom was always reading cookbooks and even bought a wok, making recipes with peanuts. We also had a taco night. It was a big deal back then and I ate everything that was put in front of me.”
Crow says her family would always sit down and eat dinner together and that’s something she wants to instill in her boys.
“It’s all about the family experience,” she says.
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