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- [Announcer 2] SunDragon supports the art of music.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music) ("Everyday is a Winding Road" by Sheryl Crow) - [Sheryl] Art is what sustains through all of our history.

It is what documents who we are at any given moment.

("Everyday is a Winding Road" by Sheryl Crow) - [Jason] I'm very glad that the that exist like this exist, because you can go see something that a human has done.

("Everyday is a Winding Road" by Sheryl Crow) - For me, art is the great hope.

Can we rock the Met?

- Can we please?

("Everyday is a Winding Road" by Sheryl Crow) This is something that I've been really looking forward to.

I love Sheryl.

I think that we've become very good friends.

- Yeah, we have.

- And I consider-- - I'm gonna say besties.

- Besties, BFs F. - Yeah.

- And I actually, I've said this before, but in Nashville as a songwriter, as a musician, it's not always easy to find someone to aspire to.

And I feel like I would like to be Sheryl Crow when I grow up.

- I love that.

Oh my gosh, I feel the same about you.

- Good, thank you.

- We were just making out backstage.

- We were.

So, your songs, you've connected with people all over the world, and you know, got to a level there where, like, a lotta your songs are just part of my DNA, because I grew up listening to these songs intentionally and accidentally because they were everywhere.

And I wonder, you being a songwriter for all these years and to such success, is there a method that you follow?

If you knew right now that you needed to write a song, what would you do first?

- Well, I think now, for me, being my age, which is glorious, and liberating, I write when I want.

I write when I feel led, and the body of work we're actually getting ready to put out has really been my trying to figure things out.

I know you can relate to that, but for me, as a kid, I grew up in the Midwest, I grew up in a town that was in the middle of nowhere.

I think we had three or four stoplights.

Music for me was my way out.

We played music on the Magnavox.

I studied the album artwork, and I knew who played on everything.

And I envisioned myself doing what James Taylor was doing and what Carole King was doing.

Then, as you get older, you learn how to craft a song, if that's what you feel like you life's work is.

And I think a lotta people can learn crafting.

And I know what you can relate to this.

There are those oddball songs that come along that you cannot figure out where they came from.

You couldn't have dreamed writing it because it's so not what you do.

And that's where I look and go, well, that's what inspiration is There's no way to really define what that is.

For me, that is my closest definition to what spirit is, is when the ego is outta the way and the spirit kicks in or soul, or whatever, and you're kinda given a song.

And that doesn't happen very often, but for me, I sit down with a bass and I sing, and I have something I'm concerned with or I'm thinking about, and it just comes out as a song.

- And that's super interesting to me because I feel like most people write with a guitar or a piano.

But very often, like, you sit down, you write with a bass, and there's something about your chord changes where, they sound like, and this is kinda nerdy, but it sounds like you're making a bigger-- - I've always loved nerds.

- It sounds like you're making a bigger jump than you are.

- Okay, yeah, that makes sense.

- Like, a chord will, like, like a bridge will go from a B minor to a B flat major and then you've got that tone pedaling on the D note.

- Yeah.

- That's something on a guitar you would complicate it more.

- So.

- Naturally.

- Everybody in this room has grown up listening to certain songs, right.

So for me, I grew up listening to a lot of Burt Bacharach because that's what my parents listened to.

I listened to a lotta the Beatles.

Later on, when I was becoming like a cool teenager, I got into the Rolling Stones, and I did some Joni Mitchell and Fleetwood Mac.

A lot of what I wanted to do was so melody driven, but if I could sit down with a guitar or at the piano, which is my main instrument, I would get into my head with, well, this chord goes well with that, and this goes, you know, major minor, like the Beatles.

And then you forget you're writing the melody, which for me the melody is the journey.

You write the screenplay, which are the words, and the melody is the cinematogr And if I'm figuring out what chords I know on the piano and what I'm comfortable playing then it becomes about the chords and less about the melody.

And so at a certain point I kind of gave up doing the same thing over and over, and I decided, you know what, I'm just gonna write ... (guitar music) ♪ Ah na, na na, na ♪ You know, and write based on the melody as opposed to all the cool chords I know and what sounds best coming out of that one.

- Yeah, I love it.

- I know that sounds very analytical, but ... - No, but it is.

Like after you do it that many times, you start analyzing it just by nature.

But I don't know, there's something about your songs.

They sound more complicated than they are.

And I love that.

That's a Beatle trick.

- It's because I'm extremely cerebral.

- Yeah, I mean I seen you moonwalk.

You can't lie to me.

- I can moonwalk, baby.

- Sheryl can moonwalk better than anybody alive.

Okay, well, you wanna play one?

You wanna play "Everyday Is a Winding Road"?

- Let's do.

- You wanna do it?

- I will tell you ...

So you write songs and then, for whatever reason, you think that song is okay.

You feel like you could've done better.

That was this song.

I was like, I don't know if it's good enough.

But there was a line in the song that my, the engineer and the guy who mixed it, Tchad Blake, said you have to put this on the record because the line, I feel like a stranger in my own life.

He's like that, for me, is what is so humanizing.

And so I said, okay, I'll put in on the record.

- Good call.

- 20, 30 years later, COVID happens, and I'm playing to a computer.

And I'm literally, like, every time I say I feel like a stranger in my own life, I'm just like, it could not be more true, 30 years later.

- Yeah.

- And that's the beauty, man, of songs, is that they take you on a journey, they remind you of a time, but they also bring you places.

So ... ("Everyday Is Winding Road" by Sheryl Crow) ♪ I hitched a ride with a vending machine repair man ♪ ♪ He said he'd been down this road more than twice ♪ ♪ He was high on intellectualism ♪ ♪ I've never been there, but the brochure looks nice ♪ ♪ Jump in, let's go ♪ ♪ Lay back, enjoy the show ♪ ♪ Everybody gets high, everybody gets low ♪ ♪ These are the days when anything goes ♪ ♪ Every day is a winding road ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Every day is a faded sign ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer to feeling fine ♪ ♪ He's got a daughter he calls Easter ♪ ♪ She was born on a Tuesday night ♪ ♪ I'm just wondering why I feel so all alone ♪ ♪ Why I'm a stranger in my own life ♪ ♪ Jump in, let's go ♪ ♪ Lay back, enjoy the show ♪ ♪ Everybody gets high, everybody gets low ♪ ♪ These are the days when anything goes ♪ ♪ Every day is a winding road ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Every day is a faded sign, oh yeah ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Every day is a winding road ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Every day is a faded sign ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer to feeling fine ♪ Here we go.

(guitar music) ♪ I've been living on a sea of anarchy ♪ ♪ I've been living on coffee and nicotine ♪ ♪ I've been wondering if all the things I've seen ♪ ♪ Were ever real, ever really happening ♪ ♪ Ever really happening ♪ ♪ Every day is a winding road ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Every day is a faded sign, yeah ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Every day is a winding road ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Every day is a faded sign ♪ ♪ I get a little bit closer to feeling fine ♪ ♪ Feeling fine ♪ ♪ Feeling fine ♪ ♪ Feeling fine, here we go ♪ (audience cheering) - That was good, that was good.

- That was good.

(audience applauding) - So we touched on this a little bit, but you know, things change over time and obviously your motivations for writing.

But one thing that is really interesting to me is how, with the exception of Dylan, all of the rest of us basically start by focusing on our internal lives, and then, if you have some luck at learning about yourself and you grow as a person, for the most part, your internal life starts to get a little bit boring as a songwriter after a couple decades of writing songs.

- Once you start making money .. - Yeah, yeah, I didn't wanna say that, but yeah.

- I'm gonna write about how I really don't like this hotel room that's like five-star, yeah.

- It's one thing that I love about you as a songwriter, and as a person because these are intertwined.

You can't really pull t hose apart, is the fact that you seem to be constantly looking for a fight.

- Mm.

- And I love that about you.

And I don't mean looking for-- - And this is why I am not married.

(both laughing) - I have no comment on that part.

But you do, you seem like you're always looking for, who doesn't have a voice?

Who can I help?

Who can I speak for right now?

And I think that's the most beautiful thing an artist can do.

Where does that come from?

Like, initially, what's that spark that makes you think, I need to use the voice that I have to speak for people that don't?

- Yeah, I think, because I grew up with a conservative dad and a liberal mom, that the conversations that took place over our dinner table, after Walter Cronkite ... Now, I grew up when there was only the six o'clock news, or the 11 o'clock news, which I never saw.

How we were supposed to feel wasn't debated by lots of pundits.

Those conversations happened over the dinner table or in the house or in the house with friends, and I heard some very deliberate, heated, but also thoughtful exchanges between my parents about what kind of world they wanted to see their kids inherit.

And when I turned 18, of course, and Ronald Reagan was running for office, they both secretly pulled me aside to see who I would be voting for knowing that they were canceling each other's I think I grew up also with parents, my dad was a very Atticus Finch type attorney and he took on hard cases that were civil rights oriented.

I also grew up during the Civil Rights.

I was 10 years old in 1972, and my high school was going through all kinds of social unrest, so I remember those days, but what was more important to me than even that was that was at radio, these pop songs that were top of the charts from Marvin Gaye to Edwin Starr singing "War," to Buffalo Springfield.

Those were songs that were popular songs on the radio.

And we got away from that.

Now, I find as a mom that has two teenage boys, I think that almost every song sounds like they're talking about sex.

So I'm like the great police of what my kids listen to, which is the very thing you don't wanna be.

But I just found that music, when I was growing up and when I was a songwriter coming up, that I gravitated to songs that had changed me and that's what I wanted to do.

But, I'm the person that learns from, on the other side.

Was like, I know I wasn't thinking about when I wrote it.

I wasn't thinking on my first record about writing about sexual harassment.

I wasn't thinking about, oops, I named that person on the record, until it comes and bites you in the ...

But I think that's what artists do.

Isn't that what artists do?

- And for every time it bites you in the, it picks somebody else up off the ground.

- You hope it does, but I'm even more selfish than that.

Like I'm not thinking about what I'm not thinking about anything other than what's happening right in my, mostly in my, you know where your emotions hang in your throat, there's that giant tear that I can't, unless I can get it out, it lives there, and then later on you put it out and you realize, wow, this was not just me feeling this giant tear, there's a giant population of people who are worried about the same things I'm worried about.

And that's what, I mean that's the glory of the job that we get to do.

- Any kind of good art, good music, good poems, good stories, good paintings, they all remind us, oh, there's this one little weird thing about me that she wasn't supposed to know, but she knew it.

- And how did she know?

- How does she know this secret?

Maybe it's not a secret.

Maybe I'm not alone.

- Yeah, I remember hearing "Fire and Rain," and I literally was sure that James Taylor had written that for me, and I was 11.

And that's the beauty of songwriting.

I will say one thing about having gotten to know Johnny Cash a little bit.

I made a trip to Bosnia in 1996 I went and played for the troops which is a glorious experience.

The young faces you see that are for the rights that we have to be, to be ugly to each other, is crazy.

These young people who are really, literally fighting for the thing this country was based on.

And then you come home and you're like, what are, what are, what are we doing?

But I came home from that trip in Bosnia, and what was on TV was Rwanda.

(soft guitar music) Which, there was a genocide going on there.

And we weren't doing anything.

We weren't there at all.

- We did nothing, no.

- No, and I kept thinking, why are we, why are we one in place and these people are like dying and we're not doing anything?

And so, I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was getting ready to write intentionally the greatest love song you'd ever heard in your life.

(audience laughing) But instead, I could not, I just, I couldn't write it.

Then I sat down and wrote this song, "Redemption Day," that had seven or eight stanzas, which I don't write like that.

- No, yeah.

- That is not, that's Dylan.

- That's Dylan, totally.

- That's Bob Dylan, yeah.

- Can we do it?

Can we play that song?

- Yes.

- I think it's a love song.

I think they're all love songs.

- It is a kind of a love song.

It's my philosophy that we all wind up going to the same place, and that's into the dirt.

And the train's gonna take all of us there.

And so, wherever you believe you go afterwards, I mean, I personally think our spirits go on, we're all going to the same place.

And it's right now that matters.

And what we do and we model to our kids is what really matters the most.

It's all about intention.

I will tell you a quick story about it.

I recorded it in 1996.

Johnny Cash many years later called me and asked me if I would sing at his wife's funeral.

And it was devastating and beautiful.

And then shortly after that he called me and said, I'm not done, I have more in me.

And I've heard this song that you recorded and I wanna record it.

And the thing that made him beautiful and great was that he needed to know what every line meant in the song in order for him to put his voice behind it.

So, he asked me all these things, he recorded it and then he passed away about two months later so ... ("Redemption Day" by Sheryl Crow ♪ I've wept for those who suffer long ♪ ♪ But how I weep for those who've gone ♪ ♪ Into rooms of grief and questioned wrong ♪ ♪ But keep on killing ♪ ♪ It's in the soul to feel such things ♪ ♪ But weak to watch without speaking ♪ ♪ Oh what mercy sadness brings ♪ ♪ If God be willing ♪ (guitar music) ♪ There is a train that's heading straight ♪ ♪ To heaven's gate, heaven's gate ♪ ♪ And on the way, child and man ♪ ♪ And woman wait, watch and wait ♪ ♪ For redemption day ♪ ♪ A fire rages in the streets ♪ ♪ And swallows everything it meets ♪ ♪ That's just an image often seen ♪ ♪ On television ♪ ♪ Come leaders, come you men of great ♪ ♪ Let us hear you pontificate ♪ ♪ Your many virtues laid to waste ♪ ♪ And we aren't listening ♪ (guitar music) ♪ What do you have for us today?

♪ ♪ Throw us a bone, you men of great ♪ ♪ Oh why we waited till so late?

♪ ♪ Was there no oil to excavate?

♪ ♪ No riches in trade for the fate ♪ ♪ Of every person who died in hate ♪ ♪ Throw us a bone, you men of great ♪ ♪ There is a train that's heading straight ♪ ♪ To heaven's gate, heaven's gate ♪ ♪ And on the way, child and man ♪ ♪ And woman wait, watch and wait ♪ ♪ For redemption day ♪ (guitar music) ♪ It's buried in the countryside ♪ ♪ Exploding in the shells of night ♪ ♪ It's everywhere a baby cries ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom, freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ (intense guitar music) (audience applauding) - That was fun.

I love that song so much.

It's hard to stay private and still be honest.

It's really hard for me.

I'm still figuring out where the line is.

- You a lotta people off.

- You do a lotta people off.

And you wind up yourself off, and people make documentaries and people ask you questions and you're like, I'm gonna tell the truth all the time, because that's the best bet.

And then you're like, I should not have said any of that.

(audience laughing) I feel like you're always telling me the truth with the music that you're making.

But I also feel like there's a part of you that's not for everybody.

And everybody doesn't get to have that part of you and you've kept that intact for this whole time.

- Well, I mean I get a lotta shut up and sing, and I think that's the nature now.

But I also, I mean, I've had long bouts where I didn't go outta my house.

I've had long bouts where I was very just, I mean I've been very open about my mental challenges, which I'm glad we're talking about those things now.

I also had a life before I made it.

I was a schoolteacher.

I waited tables.

I was a backup singer.

I traveled all over the world.

I was not, I turned 30 when my first record came out.

I was a fully formed person, so when fame hit me it was such a bombast, such a shellacking that I couldn't, I didn't know what do do with it.

And what happens is everybody loves you until the second they don't love you, and then they really don't love you anymore.

And I buried myself in music and writing.

But I measured myself by it.

I measured myself by, not just about my productivity but about how well my music was received, and that's a dangerous spot to be, because then you stop writing your heart and you start writing your calculations.

Now that I'm where I'm at in my life.

I've gone through cancer.

I've adopted two beautiful, amazing boys.

I'm watching the world, living with technology that I did not grow up with.

And I'm scared.

I mean I'm terrified, and I find the only place that I can go where I can write my truth, it's not on social media because people don't wanna hear you if you don't agree with them.

For me, it is songwriting.

The AI thing has been so jarring to me, and to try to explain to my kids how do you explain what truth is when truth is, it is a thing that exists.

I mean, I can't even explain it anymore.

To me growing up, the truth was the truth, but now the truth is ... - Subjective in a way.

- Subjective, it is based on an algorithm that is fully interjected into your life based on what you already think.

- That's one thing that struck me here at the Met walking around today and touring, you know, the art and then the guitars that they have here.

I'm very glad that the places that exist like this exist and seem to be foundational to our society, because you can go see something that a human has done.

And that's not gonna be as easy to get to and to put your eyes on in the future.

- And it really is, it is the thing that catalogs our evolution all the way back to hieroglyphics.

I got to play the oldest piano that was ever made today.

And it's humbling.

All of these instruments will be here well after we're gone, and I want people to live their lives that way, knowing that every little kind of juju you leave on somebody or on your instrument does live on.

I have guitars ...

I have a guitar that I've owned since my first paycheck.

1964 Country and Western.

I call it the moneymaker because anything I ever made any money on, I wrote on that guitar.

- You got that with your first paycheck?

- I got that with my first paycheck.

- Genius.

- So this whole body of work came from my being flummoxed by what are we gonna do with this technological advancement called AI?

When really art and soul and spirit, that's the thing that AI can't capture is empathy or compassion or you know, but we also have to find that in ourselves at some point.

- Yeah, right.

We gotta dig it up.

You have a song, you have a song that ... - Yeah, I have a song actually called "Evolution."

And, I said I'd never make another record.

- Did you lie?

I hope you lied.

- I lied.

- She lied.

- Like a freaking dog, no.

- You lied to me.

You told me.

- I lied.

I did, well, I didn't know.

I call this a playlist.

It's all coming out on the same day, with artwork.

- Yeah, it's a mix tape.

- It's an old-fashioned mix tape.

- You're dropping a mix tape.

- But they're songs that no one's ever heard.

- You're gonna hand it out in SoHo when people walk by.

- Yes, yes, and you'll be able to buy the T-shirt for it, of course.

It does have a thousand chords.

- Okay.

(guitar music) ♪ Turned on the radio and there it was ♪ ♪ A song that sounded like something I wrote ♪ ♪ The voice and melody were hauntingly ♪ ♪ So familiar that I thought it was a joke ♪ ♪ Is it beyond intelligence?

♪ ♪ As if the soul need not exist ♪ ♪ Evolution ever changing ♪ ♪ Lost in space and time ♪ ♪ Maybe there's a grand solution ♪ ♪ Somewhere we will find ♪ ♪ Lost in the heart of humankind ♪ ♪ I held my baby as the sun came up ♪ ♪ And I watched him as he opened up his eyes ♪ ♪ What will I tell him when he's old enough ♪ ♪ To want the answers to all the questions why?

♪ ♪ Yes, we are brilliant, we are kind ♪ ♪ But sometimes we lose our minds ♪ ♪ Evolution ever changing ♪ ♪ Lost in space and time ♪ ♪ Maybe there's a grand solution ♪ ♪ Somewhere we will find ♪ ♪ Deep in the heart of humankind ♪ ♪ We can create, we can destroy ♪ ♪ We can feel pain, we can feel joy ♪ ♪ We can plant seeds and watch them grow ♪ ♪ We can feel love 'cause it's written in the human chord ♪ (upbeat guitar music) ♪ Where are we headed in this paradise?

♪ ♪ We are passengers and there's no one at the wheel ♪ ♪ No matter how well you can outdo me ♪ ♪ There is one thing you will never do and it's feel ♪ ♪ Evolution ever changing ♪ ♪ Lost in space and time ♪ ♪ Maybe there's a grand solution ♪ ♪ Somewhere we will find ♪ ♪ Evolution ever changing ♪ ♪ Lost in space and time ♪ ♪ Maybe there's a grand solution ♪ ♪ Somewhere we will find ♪ (upbeat guitar music) (audience applauding and cheering) - Thank you.

It's always hard to play new songs.

- What are some guitars that you once had that you don't have anymore that you regret, losing or getting rid of?

- I have to be honest.

I'm just shy of being a hoarder.

I have aisles.

That's the reason I'm not a hoarder.

I've not gotten rid of very many guitars.

I've bought guitars with love and like ...

I have felt, like for me, it drives my kids crazy.

I buy things because I feel like they have a history about them.

So the guitars I've bought, I've felt like when they have laid against somebody's chest and they have been played with love or angst or anger or joy or whatever has gone into it, that it's in that, it's in the body of it.

I have a 1959 Telecaster that has been my go-to guitar.

Wrote "If It Makes You Happy" with Jeff Trott on that guitar.

That guitar actually was one that was given to me by somebody who showed up at a gig, and I had a reissue of it.

And this guy came up to me at Austin, the Back Yard, and said, I want you to have this guitar.

It is the real version of the reissue you're playing.

It was my grandmother's, and it's been under her bed and she hasn't played it in years and years and she passed away of breast cancer.

And he gave me that guitar.

So there, there are, a little bit like children, like your children choose you, you don't get the wrong kids.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And that guitar found its way to me.

And I said I recently realized that I was diagnosed with breast cancer exactly 22 years after, to the day, of getting that guitar, from a woman who died of breast cancer.

And that guitar has brought me .

I mean, it bought my house.

- Yeah, that's the one.

That's the one.

Is that your favorite guitar you've ever had?

- That one and the Country and Western are.

And then I've got a bunch of basses.

But I gravitate back to my old M85.

I know that doesn't mean anything to y'all, but ... - It does.

They all know exactly what kinda bass that is.

- Y'all know this, right (plays bass)?

- I love it when you play the bass.

Can we do one where you play the bass?

- Yeah, do you wanna do "My Favorite Mistake"?

- Can we do that?

- Yeah.

- This is like my favorite, was this Wendy that played this guitar part?

- Yeah, Wendy and Lisa.

Wendy and Lisa played with Prince, and Wendy Melvoin played.

- The coolest part.

- She's funky, man.

- [Sheryl] One, two, go ahead.

(guitar music) ♪ Ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ I woke up and called this morning ♪ ♪ The tone of your voice was a warning ♪ ♪ You don't care for me anymore ♪ ♪ I made up the bed we sleep in ♪ ♪ I looked at the clock when you creeped in ♪ ♪ It's 6:00 AM and I'm alone ♪ ♪ Did you know when you go ♪ ♪ It's the perfect ending to the bad day ♪ ♪ I've gotten used to spending ♪ ♪ When you go, all I know is you're my favorite mistake ♪ (guitar music) ♪ My friends are sorry for me ♪ ♪ They watch you pretend to adore me ♪ ♪ Oh, but I am not a fool to this game ♪ ♪ And here comes your secret lover ♪ ♪ She'll be unlike any other ♪ ♪ Until your guilt goes up in flames ♪ ♪ Did you know when you go ♪ ♪ It's the perfect ending to the bad day ♪ ♪ I've gotten used to spending ♪ ♪ When you go, all I know is you're my favorite mistake ♪ ♪ You're my favorite mistake ♪ ♪ Maybe nothing lasts forever ♪ ♪ Even when you stay together ♪ ♪ I don't need forever after, ♪ ♪ It's your laughter won't let me go ♪ ♪ So I'm holding on this way ♪ (guitar music) ♪ Did you know?

♪ ♪ Could you tell you were the only one that I ever loved?

♪ ♪ Everything's so wrong ♪ ♪ Did you see me walking by?

♪ ♪ Did it ever make you cry?

♪ ♪ You're my favorite mistake ♪ ♪ You're my favorite mistake ♪ ♪ You're my favorite mistake ♪ (guitar music) (audience applauding and cheering) - [Jason] What a song, what a song (laughs).

What a song.

- It's a lot of this.

- Yeah, playing the bass and singing at the same time's not easy, is it?

I can't do it.

- I do love it, though.

- I love it when you do it.

And that song is deceptive because the chorus is so happy and such a major key song.

- I know, it's one of those I'm gonna go kill myself right after I eat this banana cream pie.

(audience laughing) - I used to think, what, what hap, wait a minute.

(Sheryl laughing) Then I heard the verses real close, and I was like uh-oh.

Somebody's not being nice at all.

- Who is she writing about?

- Yeah, right.

I'm not gonna ask you that.

I would never.

- I've been asked it.

He's not in this room.

(audience laughing) Or is he?

- (laughs) He might be.

I don't know.

If he's in one of those suits of armor.

Anyway, so we need to talk about where we are and what we're doing while we're at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Somewhere like this, how does this make you feel as a creative person?

Because it really, I don't know if I ...

I don't like to say inspires.

It inspires for me to see somebody else working, but to see the finished product, it motivates.

For me, I see it and I think, oh, this person got there so I can at least get to where I need to get.

How does it make you feel to be surrounded by this kind of work?

- I come to a place like this, and it shows me how old we are.

It shows me that people gave their hearts, their soul, their time, and their desire and also their need to document who they were at any given moment in our evolution.

For me, art is the great hope.

It is the great hope that will sustain us through all kinds of intellectual property fighting with AI.

Art as it lives and breathes, where it comes from an artist is what sustains us through all of our history.

It is what documents who we are at any given moment.

And that's what gives me hope.

So when I'm in a place like this I know my days are numbered, but my art will live on and your art will live on.

And whatever you leave behind you, if it is art, if it's a painting, if it's a book, if it's a poem, whatever it is, it touches and it changes the molecules and it resonates, it vibrates at a higher level.

And that's why we all react.

That's why we all feel something.

I don't know anything else that does that.

- Well let me ask you, I have to ask you this.

You are a woman.

- I am.

- And you're in the music business.

- Yes.

- And this is, from what I can gather, sometimes a difficult situation to be in.

- Yes.

- And I imagine that you've probably seen a lot and had to deal with a whole lot and still somehow you managed to stay on the right side of the point of diminishing returns as a woman in the music business.

How do you keep your eyes on the prize and think, I know it's not fair, it's not gonna be fair probably in my lifetime, but I still have to keep being me and doing my job?

- You have to have hope.

You can't give in to every bad thing that's happened to you.

I'm a huge fan and believer in the power of meditation.

I do mindfulness meditation.

That helps me to let go of a lot of stuff.

I'm human, I definitely have ruminated over a lot of my history, but at a certain point in order to live a happy and joyful life you let go of what has made you the way you are and you celebrate that.

You embrace that and you say, I would not be the person that I am had I not gone through that terrible experience.

And those terrible experiences become a part of the fabric of who you become.

And for me, there's glory in that.

There's wisdom in that.

And there's great release in that.

And being a mom now, I'm an older mom and I'm learning how to be alive and be aware and see things for the first time with different eyes.

And how to embrace an innocence that can really, you can really lose it fast when you become cynical.

So that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

- I think it's helped you t o pave the way and hold the door open for a lotta people.

- And I honestly think, and I'm sure you guys are like this, we're all kinda frogs in pots in our scenarios.

- When is the water too hot?

When do you jump?

- You don't even know that the water's starting to boil because we have no reference to what it's like to not be going through what we're going through at any given moment.

So, for me, I had very great parents who raised me with a good, solid, Puritan work ethic, and a, it's just as easy to be nice to people as it is to be an to people, and that kind of thing.

That's kinda my motive operandi, - I have played guitar and sang on "Strong Enough" for many different women in my life.

I've never done it with you.

Can we do it?

- I think it takes a real man to sing "Strong Enough to Be My Man."

- Really, you think so?

Well, maybe that's what I am.

I don't know.

I just think it's a great song.

("Strong Enough" by Sheryl Crow) - I'll tell you guys, I've been engaged three times.

I've never gotten married, so I still have all my money.

(audience laughing) I also like to say I have loved some wonderful men, and I've loved some other people (Jason laughing) ("Strong Enough" by Sheryl Crow) ♪ God, I feel like hell tonight ♪ ♪ Tears of rage, I cannot lie ♪ ♪ I'd be the last to help you understand ♪ ♪ Are you strong enough to be my man?

♪ ♪ My man ♪ (guitar music) ♪ Nothing's true and nothing's right ♪ ♪ So let me be alone tonight ♪ ♪ 'Cause you can't change the way I am ♪ ♪ Are you strong enough to be my man?

♪ ♪ Lie to me ♪ ♪ I promise I'll believe ♪ ♪ Lie to me ♪ ♪ But please don't leave ♪ ♪ Don't leave ♪ (guitar music) ♪ I have a face I cannot show ♪ ♪ I make the rules up as I go ♪ ♪ Just try and love me if you can ♪ ♪ Are you strong enough to be my man?

♪ ♪ Oh, my man ♪ ♪ Are you strong enough to be my man?

♪ ♪ Are you strong enough to be my man?

♪ ♪ Are you strong enough to be my man?

♪ ♪ Are you strong enough to be my man ♪ ♪ When I've shown you that I just don't care ♪ ♪ When I'm throwing punches in the air ♪ ♪ When I'm broken down and I can't stand ♪ ♪ Would you be man enough to be my man?

♪ ♪ Lie to me ♪ ♪ I promise I'll believe ♪ ♪ Lie to me ♪ ♪ But please, don't leave ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) - If you're gonna give some guidance to some singers and songwriters nowadays, I know it's a strange world.

I feel like, you know, I've kinda gotten grandfathered in at the tail end of people buying albums and, you know, T-shirts and tickets and all these, and I feel very fortunate, but what do you tell them other than just write a thousand songs until you know what you like and then keep going?

What do you tell them?

- It's a weird thing.

I don't know what to say anymore.

I mean, I've ...

I was around when people bought records.

I was the last generation of people that bought records.

Knowing how many people bought your records mattered because it made you feel people's love and commitment to your artistry, right?

Now, with the attention span being only six seconds we don't get paid unless somebody listens to one of our songs for longer than 30 seconds.

I mean, that is, that's crazy.

- Yeah.

- So I just tell kids that if you wanna be famous, there's a thousand ways to do it.

If you wanna be a great artist, if you wanna be around for a long time, it takes a lotta hard work.

It takes hearing no a lot.

And it takes manifesting, I mean, really seeing yourself doing this for the long haul and not taking and not veering away from that.

And, if it means waiting tables in the meantime, I mean you'll do a lotta things to get to do what you love.

And I believe in the power of manifestation.

I'm not the greatest singer, I'm not the greatest player and I'm not the greatest songwriter.

I know a lotta people that should've made it, but I stuck with it.

I do believe that wherever you put your energy, it does come back to you.

And so that's what I tell young kids.

If you wanna be famous, get on TikTok.

If you wanna be a great songwriter, then get to work.

- Yeah.

Yeah, thank you, Sheryl.

This has been so wonderful.

Sheryl Crow, everybody.

- Thanks for having me.

- Sheryl Crow.

(audience cheering and applauding) - You guys, thank you for coming.

This is so great.

And what a gorgeous ...

I mean, gorgeous surroundings to play in and ugh, so amazing.

- Can we do one more?

Can we do "If It Makes You Happy - Can we rock the Met?

- Can we please?

- Can we rock the Met, you guys?

(audience cheering and applauding) ("If It Makes You Happy" by Sheryl Crow) (guitar music) ♪ I've been long, long way from here ♪ ♪ I put on a poncho, played for mosquitoes ♪ ♪ And drank 'til I was thirsty again ♪ ♪ I went searching through thrift store jungles ♪ ♪ Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo ♪ ♪ And Benny Goodman's corset and pen ♪ ♪ Well okay, I made this up ♪ ♪ I promised you I'd never give up ♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ It can't be that bad ♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ Then why the hell are you so sad?

♪ (guitar music) ♪ You get down, ♪ ♪ Real low down ♪ ♪ You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train ♪ ♪ Who hasn't been there before?

♪ ♪ I come around ♪ ♪ Around the hard way ♪ ♪ I bring you comics in bed, scrape the mold off the bread ♪ ♪ And serve you French toast again ♪ ♪ Well okay, I made this up ♪ ♪ I'm not the kind of girl you'd take home ♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ It can't be that bad ♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ Then why the hell are you so sad?

♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ It can't be that bad ♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ Then why the hell are you so sad?

♪ (guitar music) ♪ We've been far ♪ ♪ Far away from here ♪ ♪ We put on a poncho, played for mosquitoes ♪ ♪ And everywhere in between ♪ ♪ Well okay, we get along ♪ ♪ So what if right now everything's wrong?

♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ It can't be that bad ♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ Then why the hell are you so sad?

♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ It can't be that bad ♪ ♪ If it makes you happy ♪ ♪ Then why the hell are you so sad?

♪ (guitar music) ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ (guitar music) (audience applauding and cheering) - Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Crow.

- Jason Isbell!

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you, Sheryl.

- Thank y'all.

("My Favorite Mistake" by Sheryl Crow) ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ I woke up and called this morning ♪ ♪ The tone of your voice was a warning ♪ ♪ You don't care for me anymore ♪ ♪ Did you see me walking by?

♪ ♪ Did it ever make you cry?

♪ ♪ You're my favorite mistake ♪ ♪ You're my favorite mistake ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

(gentle music) (gentle music) - [Announcer 2] SunDragon supports the art of music.