Feels like Home (Sheryl Crow album)

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Feels like Home
Studio album by
Sheryl Crow
ReleasedSeptember 10, 2013 (2013-09-10)
Recorded2012–2013
Studio
GenreCountry
Length44:10
Label
Producer
Sheryl Crow chronology
100 Miles from Memphis
(2010) 		Feels like Home
(2013) 		Be Myself
(2017)
Singles from Feels like Home
  1. "Easy"
    Released: March 12, 2013
  2. "Callin' Me When I'm Lonely"
    Released: October 28, 2013
  3. "Shotgun"
    Released: June 2, 2014

Feels like Home is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, released in the US and Japan on September 10, 2013, in Europe on September 13, and in the UK on January 27, 2014. The album is Crow's debut country music record and also is her first release through Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee and was produced by Crow and Justin Niebank.[1] The album was ranked by Billboard as one of the ten best country albums of 2013.[2]

Background[edit]

In an interview for Billboard magazine in 2008, Crow revealed she was becoming part of the Nashville community (after moving there from Los Angeles in 2006 following a breast cancer diagnosis) and explained that she, among other artists that were “just singer/songwriters”, was gradually gravitating to the country music format due to the fact that there was “no room” between dance-oriented pop, rap and country music. Although she didn’t consider herself an artist from the latter genre, she also added: “I feel like my music kind of stems from this part of the world. There’s a very strong tie to Americana and lyrically to troubadour/country kinds of music, but in the tradition of old country. I couldn’t begin to understand how to make a new country record. I don’t even know what that is now. But I would love to make a straight up old country record, which would probably never get played.”[3]

Having worked with country artists such as Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Brooks & Dunn, Dwight Yoakam and Dixie Chicks, and also released renditions of classic songs from the genre like The Carter Family’s "No Depression in Heaven" (which charted number 55 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart) and Hank Williams’ "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", for which she received a Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy nomination in 2002, Crow has contributed to country music over the years.[4][5]

After releasing her last album through A&M Records in 2010 (Crow was later dropped from the label in 2011), the singer received an invitation to record the Loretta Lynn song "Coal Miner’s Daughter" along with Miranda Lambert and Lynn herself. After the trio’s performance at the CMA Awards, it was Nashville neighbor Brad Paisley the one who gave Crow the suggestion of “coming home” to the format he believed she belonged to. According to Paisley, had Crow’s early efforts been released today, they would belong to country radio.[6]

Crow was convinced, although she did have doubts about the reception her "crossover" would generate. She recalls: “I’ve seen other kind of pop-oriented people come over to the format and kinda try to capitalize on the loyalty of the country fan base, and I’m super-persnickety about it.”, but considering the directions pop/rock and country music had shifted to in the past decade, it seemed like a natural transition for Crow, whose career has already spanned 20 years.[7]

Songwriting[edit]

Writing for the album began with some helpful advice from Brad Paisley. "He’d say 'Let’s just do what you do. Bring your influences with you. Just turn your vocal up and make your stories a little more concise and you’re already there.'", Crow recalls. After a writing session with Paisley and consequently being introduced to Nashville-based songwriter Chris DuBois, the first song, entitled "Waterproof Mascara" was finished.[8] Gradually, Crow was introduced to other Nashville songwriters, including Chris Stapleton, Luke Laird and Natalie Hemby, and along with long-time collaborator Jeff Trott, co-wrote ten of the album’s 12 songs. This experience was a first for the veteran artist, who, after 25 years of songwriting, was an apprentice again. Crow described the process as very focused due to the fact that there was a bigger importance given to writing about subjects and themes she was the closest to. "It was a little bit like stepping on the court with Roger Federer and you're not that good, but I loved the process...I feel like the best material I've ever written is on this record. And I feel like I'm still learning.", Crow stated in an interview for The Toronto Sun.[9]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[11]
American Songwriter[12]
Billboard92/100[13]
Country Standard TimeFavorable[14]
Exclaim!7/10[15]
The Montreal Gazette[16]
New York Daily News[17]
Great American CountryVery favorable[18]
Music Is My Oxygen[19]
The Oakland Press[20]
Rolling Stone[21]
Roughstock[22]
The Daily Telegraph [23]

Feels like Home garnered generally positive reception from music critics. At Metacritic the album has a Metascore of a 76 based on seven reviews.[10] At Rolling Stone, Will Hermes felt that "The results are uneven, but never feel forced or faked", so "this set suggests the Opry crowd might want to keep her on speed dial."[21] Stephen Thomas Erlewine at Allmusic stated that the release "feels like standard-issue Crow", and that the album was "show biz panache, how Crow cheerfully adapts to her surroundings and gives the people what she believes they want."[11] At American Songwriter, Jim Beviglia told that "Feels Like Home goes astray only at the times when it seems like it’s too eager to court hard-core country fans", about which he noted that the album has an "appropriate title", and found that "the evidence on the disc suggests that this was a natural progression for Crow’s music rather than a mercenary one."[12] In a positive review, Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe affirmed that the release "feels natural."[24]

At The Oakland Press, Gary Graff highlighted that "The change certainly fits like a proverbial glove for Crow; her own singer-songwriter sensibilities have long embraced the image-rich, storytelling conventions of country music".[20] Jason Schneider of Exclaim! noted that "The image of country music has changed a great deal as well, and while it's easy to say that Feels Like Home is Crow selling out to the new Nashville, even a cursory listen suggests the opposite: that Nashville has conformed to what Crow was doing all along."[15] In addition, Schneider told that "on the surface Feels Like Home is a makeover aimed at the parents of every Taylor Swift fan, but the essence of Crow's sound remains intact, and irresistible."[15] At Roughstock, Matt Bjorke wrote that "If Feels Like Home proves anything it's that she's genuinely making the move to Country and that's all that the gatekeepers at radio and longtime fans of the genre want out of their artists, a commitment to making great music and Feels Like Home is definitely that."[22] Rob Burkhardt at Music Is My Oxygen highlighted that the album "feels like she's come home".[19]

In the UK, the album was Album of the Week on BBC Radio 2 for the week commencing January 25, 2014.[25]

Chart performance[edit]

Feels like Home entered the Billboard 200 chart at number seven, with 37,000 copies sold, as Crow's ninth top ten album in the US. The album also became her first entry on the Top Country Albums chart, debuting at number 3.[26] Internationally, the album underperformed, compared to the singer's previous release, 100 Miles from Memphis, peaking at number 16 in Canada where it spent one week on the chart, number 60 in Switzerland and barely making it to the top 100 in the Netherlands, where it charted at number 92.[27][28] However, in the United Kingdom, the album became Crow's highest charting effort since 2003, debuting at number 16 with sales of 5,500 on the Official UK Chart and becoming the singer's seventh top twenty album.[29]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Shotgun"Sheryl Crow, Chris DuBois, Kelley Lovelace, John Shanks3:13
2."Easy"Crow, DuBois, Jeff Trott4:10
3."Give It to Me" (featuring Vince Gill and Ashley Monroe)Crow, Trott3:57
4."We Oughta Be Drinkin'"Crow, DuBois, Luke Laird3:52
5."Callin' Me When I'm Lonely"Rodney Clawson, Brent Anderson3:25
6."Waterproof Mascara"Crow, DuBois, Brad Paisley3:32
7."Crazy Ain't Original"Crow, Al Anderson, Leslie Satcher3:17
8."Nobody's Business"Crow, DuBois, Lovelace3:34
9."Homesick" (featuring Zac Brown)Crow, Chris Stapleton4:05
10."Homecoming Queen"Brandy Clark, Laird, Shane McAnally3:24
11."Best of Times"Crow, Anderson, Satcher3:19
12."Stay at Home Mother"Crow, Natalie Hemby4:09
Total length:44:02
Deluxe edition bonus tracks (iTunes, Target)[30][31]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."This Is You (That Was Then)"Crow, Jon Randall, Jessi Alexander3:49
14."You're Asking the Wrong Person"Crow, DuBois, Lee Thomas Miller3:32

Personnel[edit]

Charts[edit]

Album[edit]

Chart (2013/2014) Peak
position
Australian Country Albums Chart (ARIA)[33] 14
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[34] 101
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[34] 90
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[35] 16
Dutch Albums Chart[27] 92
French Albums Chart[36] 145
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[37] 4
Irish Albums Chart[38] 47
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[39] 63
Scottish Albums Chart[40] 12
Swiss Albums Chart[41] 60
UK Albums Chart (OCC)[42] 16
UK Download Chart (OCC)[43] 30
UK Country Albums Chart (OCC)[44] 1
US Billboard 200[45] 7
US Digital Albums (Billboard)[46] 10
US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[47] 3
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[48] 19

Singles[edit]

Year Single Peak chart positions
US Country US Country Airplay US CAN Country
[49]
2013 "Easy" 21 17 72 49
"Callin' Me When I'm Lonely" 37 26 — —
2014 "Shotgun" — 51 — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Year-end charts[edit]

Chart (2013) Position
US Country Albums (Billboard)[50] 51

References[edit]

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  2. ^ "10 Best Country Albums of 2013: 615 Picks". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  3. ^ Tucker, Ken. "The Billboard Q&A: Sheryl Crow". Itemvn. Archived from the original on May 22, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  4. ^ "Sheryl Crow – Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  5. ^ Orr, Jay. "O Brother, Williams Tribute Corner Country Grammy Nods". CMT. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  6. ^ Ghianni, Tim (29 August 2013). "Sheryl Crow finds new 'home' in country music's Nashville". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  7. ^ Schmitt, Brad. "Sheryl Crow Says She Doesn't Take Country Fans For Granted". Country Weekly. Archived from the original on September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  8. ^ Dauphin, Chuck. "Sheryl Crow Takes Country By Storm". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 17, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  9. ^ Stevenson, Jane. "Sheryl Crow Takes Country By Storm". The Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  10. ^ a b Metacritic (September 9, 2013). "Critic Reviews for Feels Like Home". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  11. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Feels Like Home – Sheryl Crow review". Allmusic. Archived from the original on September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  12. ^ a b Beviglia, Jim (September 4, 2013). "Sheryl Crow: Feels Like Home". American Songwriter. Archived from the original on September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  13. ^ Dauphin, Chuck (September 9, 2013). "Sheryl Crow, 'Feels Like Home': Track-By-Track Review". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 11, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  14. ^ Jeffrey B. Remz. [1] Archived 2015-01-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ a b c Schneider, Jason (September 6, 2013). "Sheryl Crow: Feels Like Home". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on September 9, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  16. ^ LePage, Mark J. (September 9, 2013). "New Album Review: Sheryl Crow, Feels Like Home (Warners)". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on September 11, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  17. ^ Farber, Jim (September 10, 2013). "Music reviews: 'Feels Like Home,' 'Hesitation Marks'". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  18. ^ Daryl Addison. [2] Archived 2015-01-07 at archive.today.
  19. ^ a b Burkhardt, Rob (September 10, 2013). "Sheryl Crow Dives Headlong Into Country with "Feels Like Home"". Music Is My Oxygen. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  20. ^ a b Graff, Gary (September 9, 2013). "Listening Room: Urban's "Fuse," Crow's "Feels Like Home" walk the same country lane". The Oakland Press. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  21. ^ a b Hermes, Will (September 10, 2013). "Sheryl Crow, 'Feels Like Home'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 13, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
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  23. ^ Brown, Helen (January 30, 2014) The Daily Telegraph. [3] Archived 2016-09-17 at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ^ Rodman, Sarah (September 10, 2013). "ALBUM REVIEW: Sheryl Crow, 'Feels Like Home'". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
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  31. ^ "Sheryl Crow – Feels Like Home (Bonus Tracks) – Only at Target". Archived from the original on September 11, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  32. ^ "10 things to know about Sheryl Crow's 'Feels Like Home'". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
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