Sheryl Crow

Before her own breakthrough, Crow worked as a musician and backing singer. Tuesday Night Music Club appeared in 1993, emerging from a collaborative Los Angeles setting that included producer Bill Bottrell. All I Wanna Do eventually brought the album to a large audience, while Leaving Las Vegas, Strong Enough and Can't Cry Anymore revealed different emotional temperatures around the same loose, responsive instrumental sound.

The album's appeal was partly in the feeling of musicians leaving room for one another. A bass line, a guitar figure or a small vocal response could establish a scene without making the production sound crowded. Crow's delivery could be wry, bruised or matter-of-fact, giving the songs a character beyond the immediate attractiveness of the choruses.

The self-titled second album arrived in 1996, with If It Makes You Happy, Everyday Is a Winding Road and A Change Would Do You Good. Crow took a more central production role, and the record's rougher textures gave the writing a stronger edge. The title of a song could suggest reassurance while the performance made that reassurance sound hard won.

The Globe Sessions followed in 1998, including My Favorite Mistake and There Goes the Neighborhood. The playing and arrangements continued to make room for older rock and soul vocabularies without treating them as a fixed period style. Across these records, Crow's musicianship is audible in the relationship between the parts: songs built around a singer, but with enough individual movement in the band to make the recording itself a conversation.