RODNEY CROWELL

It was during the mid-1980s that Rodney Crowell emerged as a prominent force in country’s new traditionalist movement, even as his musical foundations and broader aspirations reached well past those boundaries. Blending the outlook of the Texas singer/songwriter scene with an approach that respected country’s heritage while delivering a rock-infused drive, Crowell initially built his reputation through songwriting and session work, including a three-year stint alongside Emmylou Harris & the Hot Band where he contributed several compositions to her repertoire. He also helmed multiple well-regarded projects for Rosanne Cash during their marriage, which lasted from 1979 to 1992, and supplied successful material to Crystal Gayle, Bob Seger, and Highway 101 before achieving mainstream success with the 1988 release Diamonds & Dirt. Later efforts such as 1992’s Life Is Messy and 2001’s The Houston Kid revealed a turn toward more introspective themes, and after moving to independent labels he continued to earn praise from both listeners and reviewers through thoughtful recordings including 2014’s Tarpaper Sky, 2021’s Triage, and 2023’s The Chicago Sessions.

Born in Houston, Texas, on August 7, 1950, Crowell grew up surrounded by music and assembled his debut group, the Arbitrators, while still in high school. He relocated to Nashville in 1972 intent on pursuing music professionally and soon formed close ties with fellow Texas natives Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. His initial opportunity arose during a lounge engagement when Jerry Reed overheard one of his acoustic performances; impressed by Crowell’s original “You Can’t Keep Me Here in Tennessee,” Reed and his manager promptly signed the songwriter to a publishing deal and recorded the track just two days later. Crowell shifted to Los Angeles in 1975 to play guitar with Emmylou Harris & the Hot Band, quickly becoming one of her chief collaborators and supplying such early signature pieces as “Til I Gain Control Again,” “Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This,” “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight,” and “Bluebird Wine.” Departing the ensemble in 1977, he launched his own outfit, the Cherry Bombs, and issued his debut album, Ain’t Living Long Like This, the following year; despite his growing acclaim as a writer, his first modest chart entries—“Elvira” and “(Now and Then, There’s) A Fool Such as I”—were both interpretations of existing material.

Crowell also began producing selections for Rosanne Cash’s American debut Right or Wrong in 1978, and the pair wed around the time of its 1979 release. While preparing his own 1980 follow-up But What Will the Neighbors Think and shaping Cash’s commercial breakthrough Seven Year Ache, he attained his first number-one composition when the Oak Ridge Boys took “Leavin’ Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” to the top of the charts in 1980. Additional notable cuts included Crystal Gayle’s 1983 chart-topper “Til I Gain Control Again,” Bob Seger’s 1982 Top Five pop single “Shame on the Moon,” the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1984 number one “Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper’s Dream),” and Highway 101’s 1987 hit “Somewhere Tonight.”

Crowell himself scored a Top 40 pop crossover with 1980’s “Ashes by Now,” while the subsequent “Stars on the Water” appealed to both pop and country audiences. His self-titled third album arrived in 1981 without comparable sales, and after a fourth project was shelved he concentrated on writing and production, most notably guiding Cash’s 1987 landmark King’s Record Shop. Encouraged by Cash, he resumed performing in 1986 with the diverse Street Language, recorded with Memphis soul figure Booker T. Jones. Commercial breakthrough followed in 1988 via Diamonds & Dirt, whose five consecutive number-one singles comprised the duet “It’s Such a Small World” with Cash, “I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried,” Guy Clark co-write “She’s Crazy for Leavin’,” “After All This Time,” and “Above and Beyond.” Keys to the Highway likewise performed strongly.

Following his 1991 divorce from Cash, both artists explored the end of their marriage through candid recordings; Crowell’s 1992 album Life Is Messy featured contributions from Steve Winwood and Linda Ronstadt. He moved to MCA for 1994’s Let the Picture Paint Itself and issued Jewel of the South the next year. In 1997 he assembled the Cicadas with longtime associates Steuart Smith, Michael Rhodes, and Vince Santoro. Crowell wed singer Claudia Church in 1998 and penned her 1999 country-chart debut “What’s the Matter with You Baby.” Returning to his own catalog after a lengthy absence, he released The Houston Kid in 2001 and sustained the personal narrative thread with 2003’s Fate’s Right Hand, 2005’s The Outsider, and 2008’s Sex and Gasoline. The 2012 collaboration Kin paired him with memoirist and poet Mary Karr; produced by Joe Henry, the set featured Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Rosanne Cash, Chely Wright, and Emmylou Harris among its guests on songs jointly authored by Crowell and Karr.

Crowell revisited his history with Harris, producer Brian Ahern, and additional Hot Band alumni on 2013’s Nonesuch album Old Yellow Moon, then reunited with Harris for 2015’s The Traveling Kind. Solo work resumed with April 2014’s Tarpaper Sky on New West. The primarily acoustic and reflective Close Ties appeared in March 2017, again via New West. Acoustic Classics followed in 2018, presenting many of Crowell’s best-known compositions in stripped-down arrangements, while Christmas Everywhere arrived that November with an assortment of original holiday material. The subsequent year brought Texas, a homage to his home state featuring guest appearances by Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Billy Gibbons, and Ringo Starr; issued on his own RC1 Records imprint, it preceded 2021’s contemplative Triage, which examined questions of mortality alongside the era’s widespread turmoil.

During the 2020 Cayamo Cruise, Crowell encountered Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, an admirer of each other’s work. Tweedy proposed a session at Wilco’s Chicago studio, the Loft, and ultimately produced the resulting recordings. Released in 2023 as The Chicago Sessions, the project united three members of Crowell’s band—guitarist Jedd Hughes, keyboardist Catherine Marx, and bassist Zachariah Hickman—with local drummers John Perrine and Spencer Tweedy, the latter Jeff’s son.