Growing up in Kennett, Mo., a small town 100 miles from Memphis, formed Sheryl Crow 's musical
taste and view of life. It's also the reason why she's headed 762 miles from Nashville to perform in Rochester .
Crow, a nine-time Grammy Award winner, is touring in support of her latest album, "100 Miles From Memphis," released last summer.
This time around, Crow, who is best known for her lyric-driven songs such as "My Favorite Mistake," "All I Wanna Do" and "If It Makes You Happy," let the music that she grew up on move her.
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"The drive to Memphis is all farmland, and everyone is community-oriented, God-fearing people, connected to the earth," she said in a description of the album. "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."
Her last album, 2008’s "Detours," was pretty political, extremely personal, and more lyric-driven,"
she says, "so it seemed like a great time to do something soulful and sexy and more driven by the music."
The first single, "Summer Day," is a simple, positive pop song that sets the tone for the emotion and music-driven album.
Though the album features a tighter focus on Crow’s voice than ever before, with a few high-profile guest stars, including her old friend Keith Richards' guitar work on "Eye to Eye" and Justin Timberlake's backup vocals on a remake of Trent D’Arby’s "Sign Your Name."
The album's bonus track features Crow singing the Jackson 5’s breakthrough 1970 hit, "I Want You Back" as a homage to Michael Jackson. Crow was a backup vocalist on Jackson's Bad World Tour from 1987 to 1989 and often performed with him on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You."
This summer, Crow will tour with Kid Rock, one of several musicians she's performed with such as The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, John Mellencamp, Michelle Branch and Sting. Crow and Rock previously performed the duet "Picture" and played together at the 2003 Grammy Awards.
In addition to writing songs for her seven studio albums, Crow also co-wrote a cookbook, "If It Makes You Healthy" with chef Chuck White. The book focuses on season-timed recipes such as tofu bruschetta, which is among her favorite things to eat while touring in the spring.
