''Threads'' is the eleventh and final
studio album by American singer-songwriter
Sheryl Crow. The album was released on August 30, 2019, by
Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by fo ...
. ''Threads'' is a collaborative album featuring many of Crow's musical friends, heroes and newer artists. Crow has stated that ''Threads'' will possibly be her final album to instead focus on releasing individual tracks. The album reached number 30 on the
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...
albums chart in the US.
Promotion
While promoting her 2018 UK tour, Crow released "Wouldn't Wanna Be Like You" featuring
St. Vincent and revealed that the duets project will possibly be her final album, citing the impossibility of releasing something that could follow up such a gathering of artists. She added that she will continue to write and tour and will potentially release short-form music akin to
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. s.
"Redemption Day" was released as the album's lead single on April 21, 2019. First appearing on Crow's
self-titled second album in 1996, the ''Threads'' version of the song features
Johnny Cash, who had recorded a cover of the song for his 2010 posthumous release ''
American VI: Ain't No Grave''.
On May 22, 2019, "Live Wire", a blues-inspired track featuring
Bonnie Raitt and
Mavis Staples, was released on ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
''. Crow, Raitt and Staples subsequently performed the song on ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...
''.
"Prove You Wrong", a country rock song featuring Crow's long-time friend
Stevie Nicks and rising country star
Maren Morris, was released on June 5, 2019. Crow joined Morris onstage at the 2019
CMT Music Awards
The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...
to perform the song.
On June 14, 2019, Crow released the rock track "Still the Good Old Days" featuring
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...
. She performed the song that night on ''
The Graham Norton Show
''The Graham Norton Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Graham Norton. It was initially broadcast on BBC Two, from 22 February 2007, before moving to BBC One in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton s ...
''.
On June 28, 2019, Crow promoted ''Threads'' by performing "Prove You Wrong" and "Still the Good Old Days" during her set on the Pyramid Stage at the
Glastonbury Festival.
"
Everything Is Broken", a roots rock
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
cover featuring
Jason Isbell
Michael Jason Isbell (; born February 1, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell h ...
was released on July 12, 2019. On September 10, 2019, Crow was joined by Isbell on ''
The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' where the pair performed the track live for the first time.
On August 2, 2019, "Tell Me When It's Over", a bluesy breakup song was released which was co-written and features backing vocals by
Chris Stapleton. On September 20, 2019, Crow and Stapleton performed the song on ''The Tonight Show''.
The funk-infused track "Story of Everything" that includes a rap by
Chuck D, guitar playing by
Gary Clark Jr.
Gary Lee Clark Jr. (born February 15, 1984) is an American musician from Austin, Texas. He is known for his fusion of blues, rock and soul music with elements of hip hop. In 2011, Clark signed with Warner Bros Records and released ''The Brig ...
and vocals by
Andra Day
Andra may refer to:
People
* Andra (singer) (born 1986), Romanian singer
* Andra (musician), Zimbabwean-American musician
* Andra Karpin (born 1979), Estonian footballer
* Andra Neiburga (1957–2019), Latvian writer
* Andra Day (born 1984), Am ...
was released on August 23, 2019, and focuses on the current state of America, in particular, the racial issues that still divide the country.
Commercial performance
''Threads'' debuted on ''Billboard''s
Top Country Albums
Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...
at No. 2 with 15,000
equivalent album units
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
, of which 14,000 are in traditional sales. The album had sold 49,200 pure copies in the United States as of March 2020.
Track listing
The official track listing for the album was announced on June 14, 2019.
Crow wrote or co-wrote all twelve of the album's original tracks, as well as "Redemption Day", which had previously appeared on her 1996 release ''
Sheryl Crow''. Additionally, the album includes four covers.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
2019 albums
Sheryl Crow albums
Big Machine Records albums
Albums produced by Jeff Trott