Sheryl Crow Discusses Challenges of Writing ‘Feels Like Home’

Sheryl Crow is breaking away from her rock/pop history with her first country music album, ‘Feels Like Home.’

Crow is no stranger to writing music, having penned multiple mega-hits such as ‘If It Makes You Happy’ and ‘All I Wanna Do,’ but the singer tells Country Weekly that writing the songs for ‘Feels Like Home’ opened to door to a new set of difficulties.

“Because I produced myself for most of those [pop] records, I was left to my own devices as far as letting some things slide lyrically,” Crow explains. “There’s none of that in country songwriting where you leave anything up to the imagination. Like any kind of [experimental alternative artist] Beck song, we all love it, but sometimes you have no idea what it’s about. The country format does not operate on that.”

She continues,“It’s very first person. Every line has a point or has meaning, something that’s clear. It was a great challenge for me, and one that I feel like has given me a whole new energy as far as my career goes. I’ve been doing it for 25 years and able to say I’m still excited and my best songwriting is on this record and I’m still learning and I’m still challenged.”

‘Feels Like Home’ was released on Sept. 10. More information and track previews are available at Crow’s website.