Sheryl Crow is launching her next album with a song that wasn’t initially intended to be part of it.
The politically minded “Freedom Bus,” which features a guest vocal by Jesse Welles, was among a batch of songs the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and her “musical husband,” guitarist Jeff Trott, wrote during weekly sessions at Crow’s home in Nashville. “We’d get together, eat lunch and bang out a song in two hours,” she says, “fully finished, and do a little demo of it, and then go about our way.” Eventually, Crow adds, “We started reflecting on all the songs we’d written and were like, ‘It feels like some of this stuff should come out” on Pick You Up, due Oct. 9.
But apparently not “Freedom Bus.”
“Initially we were going to do an EP, six songs,” Crow explains. “But I just kept feeling (‘Freedom Bus’) was how I feel right now. I couldn’t shake it. I couldn’t let go of it. I felt like it had to be on there.”
“Freedom Bus” was inspired by an 8th grade class field trip with her son that Crow chaperoned, and the first stop, at Arlington National Cemetery, provided an epiphany. “We had a tour guide who was inspired…and the stories were not only inspiring but humbling,” recalls Crow, a veteran of USO performances overseas. “Everybody is trying to figure out what’s happening now. I don’t know that there’s anybody my age who doesn’t look at it and go, ‘It’s never been like this. It’s never been one side against another like it is now.’
“I do not take freedom lightly, because our freedom has been paid for in the lives of others throughout history, and that is something I wish we could all remember when we are interacting with each other.” The song particularly zeros in on the notion of free speech, which Crow says “has become a weapon” in a highly polarized America.
“My whole feeling is just because you have the freedom of speech, it doesn’t give you permission to be an assh-le,” explains Crow, who sings that sentiment explicitly during the song’s chorus. “You should care about a thoughtful dialogue. You should care about being able to disagree but still shake hands and hope for the best for everyone. We’ve lost that, and I think it does a disservice to those who not only serve in our military, but throughout our history have defended our way of life — and I feel like our way of life is really hanging in the balance. So that’s really what the song is about.”
However, she clarifies, “It’s not a doom and gloom song. It’s a, ‘Hey, step back for a minute and consider that your right to bear arms, your right to gather peacefully, your right to speak your piece is under threat, and we need to find our better selves.’ That sounds like a Hallmark card, but that’s how I feel about it. I can totally disagree with you, but that doesn’t mean I have to insult you or gaslight you, and that seems to have become the norm in our civil discourse.”
Welles, meanwhile, joined the song simply because Crow is a fan. “He was in the studio working with a friend of mine, (producer) Mike Elizondo,” she remembers. “I sent this song to Mike and said, ‘Tell me what you think.’ He said, ‘I’m working with Jesse Welles right now.’ I said, ‘Please play it for him and maybe he’ll sing a verse.’ I love him, and he was perfect on this.”
The rest of Pick You Up — produced by Crow and Trott and recorded at her Old Green Barn home studio — is not as political but is, Crow feels, intensely introspective and takes stock of being a veteran artist. “I tell my kids all the time, ‘You guys don’t realize, I used to be a rock star. I was super cool,'” Crow, who earned four Billboard Hot 100 top 10s, says with a laugh. “Now if I have one beer, I’m partying. You’re into bad dad jokes and you go see afternoon movies and life is good, y’know? I get together with my girlfriends and play mahjong ’cause we’re all worried about winding up with dementia.”
Crow covers that sentiment in the song “I’ve Got Your Number,” while “Heaven Help Us” documents her reaction to the catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires of 2025, during which one of her former homes burned. The others — “Freight Train,” “Perfect,” “Flat Earth” and the title track — also cover personal observations and philosophies couched in the melodic, Americana-flavored arrangements that became her earliest musical trademark.
“It’s a weird time to be an artist considering that not only are you competing with the sexy 18-year-olds but you’re also beginning to contemplate Artificial Intelligence and things like that,” Crow says. “The liberation in that is you’ve got to write music you feel comes from a place of your origin. You don’t watch what you say anymore because you know the likelihood of getting onto radio or big formats is unrealistic.
“When you’re older music comes much less tethered to any parameters. There’s a great freedom, but you also have to know you’re going to make music that maybe 12 people will ever hear, and you have to be OK with that. It has to be about the process and not the outcome.”
Crow has a handful of concerts coming up, including three more dates with Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival Aug. 28-30 in upstate New York and two nights (Sept. 4-5) with the Tedeschi Trucks Band in Bridgeport, Conn. She was also recently named to sing the National Anthem for the Sept. 3 football game at her alma mater, the University of Missouri, kicking off the 100th season of the school’s Memorial Stadium. Crow will also be receiving the prestigious Troubadour Award from BMI during a ceremony on Sept. 14.
Promotional plans for Pick You Up are currently being put in place, while a major tour is expected to be announced for 2027. “I’m always out doing stuff, festivals and things that come up,” Crow says, “but I have been very, very selfish with my time ’cause it was my (older) son’s senior year (of high school). But next year we’re gonna be kicking it in.”
Courtesy Full Coverage PR