The best country pop and the best blues rock come together tonight, with the veteran Sheryl Crow and the young Jack Broadbent. Two ways of reinterpreting the American musical tradition to bring it closer to the general public, with unquestionable skill and quality.
She is the grand dame of American country pop. The queen of the FMs. A self-made woman, who has managed to sell fifty million records in just over thirty years, surfing over any of the great transformations of the music industry with her credit intact. She herself recently thought it wasn't worth composing any more songs. That she had nothing more to say, after the release of "Threads" (2019). But as she is a thoroughbred artist, one fine day she grabbed the guitar, began to trace new lyrics and melodies, and realized that a new album could sprout from there. She talked it over with producer Mike Elizondo and out came her brand new twelfth album, "Evolution" (2024), conceived just after her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One of the most intimate and confessional works in the career of the author of unquestionable hits that are music history, such as "All I Wanna Do" (1994), "Strong Enough" (1994) or "If It Makes You Happy" (1996).
He's got the blues, as Gary Moore would say. It's in his veins. British Jack Broadbent is only 36 years old, but he plays with the aplomb of the legends of the genre. His father, Mick, was part of that delicious power pop band of the late seventies that were Bram Tchaikovsky, but his thing is something else: "Willin'" by Little Feat, "Hit the road Jack" by Percy Mayfield or "Black Magic Woman" by Fleetwood Mac are some of the versions he plays live, a sign of what his particular totems are. So are his partners in previous tours: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Peter Frampton, Ronnie Wood or Richard Thompson. His surprising technique playing the slide guitar, using an empty flask in a maneuver he calls "hip flask blues", is one of his hallmarks. He has five albums, among which the latest, "Ride" (2022), is a splendid calling card.
