"At this point in my career, I love the idea of having the immediacy of writing songs and just putting them out," singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow recently told Billboard. As an experienced musician, Crow wants to keep adjusting with the times, and she told radio host Kyle Meredith that releasing full length records is a "dying art form."
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After releasing ten albums with major labels such as A&W and Warner Bros., Crow searched for a different way to release her latest single, "Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" with Annie Clark of St. Vincent. The song came out via Stem, a new platform formed in 2015 that gives artists monthly payments and provides a clear overview of how their music is performing.
Since Crow sees albums as outdated and has experimented with new ways of releasing music, she has said that her upcoming 2019 record will very likely be her last full length album. And judging from the lineup of musicians she'll collaborate with for the project, it might be impossible to top anyway.
Crow is working with Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards, Don Henley and Joe Walsh. She's even posthumously using Johnny Cash's vocals to form her final album. "Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" is the first single off of the upcoming record, but details on what the other incredible collaborations contain have yet to be released.
This will mark the second time the voices of Johnny Cash and Sheryl Crow have crossed paths on a final record. Cash recorded a cover of Crow's 1996 track "Redemption Days" just three months before his death in 2003, released on American VI: Ain't No Grave in 2010. Cash spoke to Crow about the song at length and transformed the politically charged lyrics into a personal reflection.
