Album Review: Sheryl Crow, Pick You Up

For much of her career, Sheryl Crow has been one of those artists who past, at times, feels impossible to escape. The hits from Tuesday Night Music Club and Sheryl Crow have long been part of the pop-rock canon, but the singer has always been keen to prove that, just because you have a legacy, doesn’t mean you need to retreat into it.

Her 12th album is a compact, seven-song collection about firmly about the present: the chaos surrounding us, the need for human connection, and the stubborn possibility of hope. On opener ‘Freight Train’, she lies awake at night with thoughts of loneliness swirling around, before accepting that difficult times eventually pass. Over a smooth rhythm, she sings, “Close your eyes and listen for the sound / Of people singing for miles around”.

Equally impressive is ‘Flat Earth’, where Crow grows weary at the constant barrage of climate change-denying BS: “Mother Earth has been patient / But now she’s had enough”. On closer ‘Freedom Bus,’ meanwhile, the singer considers the meaning of freedom, and how we might disagree without losing sight of one another: “There ain’t a freedom without history / And folks who died for you and me / So don’t be an asshole, let everyone be”.

Pick You Up finds a veteran songwriter taking stock of the world, and asking what music can still do within it, to powerful effect.

7.5/10