Sheryl Crow

A former session singer and cover-band queen, Sheryl Crow was already sharp and seasoned when her freewheeling ’94 smash “All I Wanna Do” shot her to the top of the pop-rock heap. Soon, she was scoring hit after platinum hit by deploying spiced-honey vocals, laid-back rock appeal and a subtle touch of country on everything from the sunny searcher “Everyday Is a Winding Road,” to the to the fit-for-love questionnaire “Strong Enough.” The latter end of the century’s first decade found her a cancer survivor and a new mom — transitions that brought out a profound sense of history and introspection, which Crow has translated into the sweet Southern groove of the Stax-scented “Summer Day” and the bluesy, late-night mourner “Sideways.”

Keep the Sheryl Crow coming in Next Steps.

On “Anything but Down,” Sheryl Crow gives world-weary voice to anyone who’s holding on to that last shred of righteous romantic dignity, a testament to the kind of inner strength that threads through Crow’s music whether she’s rockin’ a consumer-culture put-down on “Motivation,” or offering some soothing spiritual advice on “Light in Your Eyes.” It’s a tenderly tough core that anchors a plea as naked and sultry as “Sign Your Name” (aided and abetted by Justin Timberlake), and gives take-charge authority and bone-deep authenticity to her GRAMMY-winning cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”

Head deep into Sheryl Crow’s catalog in Deep Cuts.

Let us take you deep into the world of Sheryl Crow, where the best in her overlooked album tracks (check out her lovely, loving “Lullaby for Wyatt”) live side by side with a spot-on, from-the-heart cover of “I Want You Back (for Michael With Love),” her tribute to Michael Jackson, who saw the star in Crow and hired her as a back-up singer way back when. There are twice-as-nice duets — a wee-hours version of “Need Your Love So Bad” with legend B.B. King — and stand-alone one-offs like a yodelicious “Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” and the homespun Carter Family spiritual “No Depression In Heaven.”

She’s a pop-rock priestess with bona-fide chops, a flair for songcraft that’s both tight and loose, and a voice like fine-weave silk soaked in hot sauce. She’s Sheryl Suzanne Crow, whose massive attack on the charts in the early ’90s seemed like it came out of nowhere. Fact is, Crow had years of experience when her debut single, “Leaving Las Vegas,” crept onto the airwaves. Fast-forward only a few months, and she had the world by the tail — a grip she’s maintained on the strength of smashes like the summer-fun proclamation “Soak Up the Sun” and the hot hit of sound advice “A Change Would Do You Good,” and by exploring the far reaches of her sound, from the pop-rock pleader “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” to the countrified tumble of “C’Mon C’Mon.” They’re essential Sheryl Crow, for one Essential playlist.