Sheryl Crow

For decades, songwriters have turned global unrest into some of the most heartfelt and noteworthy music. With her new album, Detours, count Sheryl Crow among them. Here Crow is reunited with producer Bill Bottrell for the first time since her 1993 debut, Tuesday Night Music Club. The reunion is fresh, lively and the result is arguably her most important work to date. Detours takes us from middle America to the Middle East and studies how the ground in between continues to be affected by the war in Iraq. “God Bless This Mess,” “Shine Over Babylon” and “Gasoline” are clear challenges to the decisions made by our current regime, and “Peace Be Upon Us” preaches unity that is still attainable. Crow is also increasingly introspective, with pieces seemingly dedicated to her mother, father, son and ex-boyfriend, Lance Armstrong. Crow shows once again that her strength is her fluid and nimble storytelling, something sorely unrepresented (or altogether absent) in today’s songwriters. As a whole Detours is easily Crow’s most noteworthy and significant contribution of the decade.