Time heals wounds and I was pumped to go see her new direction of music with “100 Miles From Memphis”,  her latest which is a return to the sultry singer’s early love of the music she grew up listening to on drives to the capital of soul and R&B music from Kennett, Mo.  This was a bold move to gut her band of many years, especially guitarist Peter Stroud, and come back with a dynamic and powerful 10-piece with two backup singers and at times two drummers !  SC got away with loading the gig with lots of this new stuff, something I’m normally uncomfortable with.   But one thing that has always drawn me to her was Crow’s persona ON stage live.  I’ll never forget her first gig-at this venue-that she basically stunned the crowd of yuppies with their kidders thinking the breakout hit “All I Wanna Do” was going to carry the evening.  She strolls out looking like a hippy chick from the 70’s bell bottoms and all and a lava lamp dining room set-up!  TORE the joint down and made me a fan.

This night she seemed so at ease and having fun.    Imagine that.  The second song in was a classic live one, “Change”, and this band smoked it. Whether she was running around on high heels as big as her, pounding on a piano and keyboard keys, strumming her guitar, or even playing harmonica, Crow was full of enthusiasm to say the least.   Hell her hottest moments were when she went up high behind the stage and “Go-Go” danced the night away!   Some killer highlights from the new album were “Stop” where she played piano and dedicated it to her 2 sons, “Say What You Want”, “I Want You Back”, and the title cut.

The new stuff was quite bombastic with Crow playing the “pussycat” role to the hilt.  Quite a departure from her past shows where she held a guitar throughout.  The best stuff was still the old stuff like an emotionally done “Are You Strong Enough”, “Every Day is a Winding Road”, scorching “If It Makes You Happy”, “My Favorite Mistake”, and a prancing boogie style of “Soak Up the Sun”.   Overall, SC seemed confident and comfortable stepping out and doing a more demanding vocal style and the girl -fronting-the- band type approach versus being in the band.  At 48 she looks hot, although she might mix in some more food.  Girl is too thin for me.

It was nice to bury the hatchet and enjoy a wonderful night of music provided by Sheryl, and her promising opener Colbie Caillat.  Cute thang has been around since 2007 and is getting some run on the pop scene. Her 2nd album “Breakthrough” has gotten airplay and she definitely is not hard on the eyes.  She pulled off a nice cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and I’ll keep an eye on her down the road……………………..CYA out there soon hopefully!