On Sheryl Crow’s new album, 100 Miles from Memphis, she infuses her already signature roots-pop sound with a dash of vintage soul from the disc’s titular city, breathing a fresh but historic air into her sound. She even has Memphis’s other Golden Boy, Justin Timberlake, swing by for the single “Sign Your Name,” as well as Citizen Cope covering his own “Sideways” and Eric Clapton sideman Doyle Bramhall II lending a slow hand on “Summer Days.” Crow’s close friend and Rolling Stone Keith Richards stops by to play guitar on “Eye To Eye,” a dancehall number that wouldn’t sound too out of place on the Stones’ own island experiment Black & Blue. Finally, the former Michael Jackson back-up singer pays homage to her old boss with a cover of the Jackson 5’s hit “I Want You Back,” included as a bonus track.
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2010.