ALBUM REVIEWMore than three decades on from the release of Tuesday Night Music Club, Sheryl Crow is as relevant as ever. Earlier this year, boygenius won a Grammy for their Sheryl-referencing "Not Strong Enough." Olivia Rodrigo helped induct Crow into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, and you can hear the latter's influence in the work of Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee, Haim, Blondshell and Bethany Cosentino, all of whom have covered her songs in concert.
Crow sounds terrific on her 12th studio album, Evolution, which is all the more remarkable since she had previously announced that 2019's Threads would be her last. But songs like "Do It Again" are classic Crow: Route 66 country rock, sonically imbued with the feel of blazing sun and open road and just a little Thelma and Louise righteous outlaw spirit ("Everyone is searching/ For a little peace of mind/ So I brought along some mushrooms/ And I sat with the divine").
"Love Life" melds country, funk and blues—truly, is there a more American formula for Americana?—as Wendy Melvoin's killer guitar summons the ghost of their mutual friend, Prince. No joke, more than half of the five-minute-plus song is Crow & Co. singing "na-na-na-na-na-na" and locking into a slippery Sign O' The Times groove. Melvoin also joins in, as does her old Revolution keyboard partner Lisa Coleman, on a pretty faithful cover of Peter Gabriel's "Digging in the Dirt" that, if anything, amps up the dark, ominous vibe of the original. Gabriel himself is here, too, and Crow has said the song's theme of fearlessly messy self-exploration—and what she has described as a "ridiculous groove driving underneath"—inspired the whole album when she brought it to producer Mike Elizondo, who also worked with her on 2008's Detours. That vulnerability plays out on songs like the ballad "Don't Walk Away," with Crow reaching high and sweet as she sings about couples therapy. Sassy garage rocker "Alarm Clock," meanwhile, is about nothing more than hating to be woken up from a fun dream: "Guy who looks like Chalamet/ Handing me a skinny margarita with a salt rim"). Bill Bottrell, who produced Crow's acclaimed debut, drops in with acoustic guitar for the ballad "Where?" while Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello whips out a flashy guitar solo on the title track. Peppy "Broken Record" won't end up on any Best Of compilation, with its Kidz Bop feel and corny, if well-intentioned, lyrics such as "I think kind is really cool/ When you're a jerk you only look like a tool" and "We were buds/ But now I'm unfriending." But mid-tempo "You Can't Change the Weather" sounds like a satellite transmission from the Tuesday Night Music Club era—and the singer sounds just as youthful as she did in 1993.
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