University of Missouri grad Sheryl Crow flies home for Roots N Blues festival
Aarik Danielsen
History and legend team to tell us that homecoming was invented at the University of Missouri. Sheryl Crow might just perfect the tradition Sunday night.
The 1984 MU graduate will return to her college town and home state this week, headlining the 2021 edition of Roots N Blues. The three-day festival, which begins in Stephens Lake Park on Friday evening, also features the likes of Brandi Carlile, Mavis Staples, Lennon Stella and Betty Who.
Roots N Blues organizers will mark the occasion by granting Crow a page in the Missouri Roots Songbook, the festival's equivalent to a hall of fame. Crow follows initial inductees Chuck Berry (2018) and John William "Blind" Boone (2019), thus becoming the first woman and the first living artist to be inducted.
More:Listen to artists with Missouri ties at this year’s Roots N Blues festival
The timing is perfect since Roots N Blues 2021 will deliver on a promise to feature female representation in each festival slot.
Crow grew up in Kennett, the seat of Dunklin County in the state's southeastern corner. After finishing a music education degree at MU, she backed Michael Jackson on stage and artists like Don Henley and Kenny Loggins in the studio before enjoying her own breakthrough.
All Crow wants to do is make hits
Her 1994 debut "Tuesday Night Music Club" went multi-platinum and earned Crow the first three of her nine total Grammys, including best new artist and record of the year for "All I Wanna Do."
While informed by rock 'n' roll past, "Tuesday Night Music Club" was something of a forward-looking document, uniting many themes and threads of 1990s music before the decade was half done.
The record ties together alt-country strains from the late '80s and early '90s; foreshadows a strong female presence within folk-rock that would manifest on the charts and in festivals like Lilith Fair; and — on "All I Wanna Do" — offers a downright funny lyrical tone that both celebrates and skewers the laissez-faire, live-for-today approach that marked so much of the decade's rock music.
From there, Crow reeled off a deep, wide run of hits that plot points all along the American music landscape. Among them: "If It Makes You Happy," "Everyday is a Winding Road," "My Favorite Mistake," "Soak Up the Sun," a cover of Cat Stevens' "The First Cut is the Deepest" and the Kid Rock duet "Picture."
Since becoming a household name, Crow has worked with everyone from Stevie Nicks to Counting Crows and recorded with Roots N Blues alums such as Jason Isbell, Maren Morris, Mavis Staples and Gary Clark Jr.
Staying true to her Missouri roots
The Missouri Roots Songbook on the Roots N Blues website honors the wide reach of Crow's career and its continued resemblance to the places she's called home.
"Furthermore, she has used her connections and resources to give back to the world, broaden the scope of her own creativity through collaboration, and ultimately stay true to the values typical of Missourians and the Midwest at large: kindness, dedication and an appreciation for beauty borne not from ostentation or glitz, but simplicity, generosity and truth," the entry reads in part.
More:Where are these Roots N Blues festival alumni now?
Crow will close out this year's Roots N Blues, performing at 7:15 p.m. Sunday on the EquipmentShare Stage. For a full festival schedule, visit https://rootsnbluesfestival.com/.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.