Sheryl Crow talks about her latest and last LP before her 6th show at Fraze Pavilion next week

Sheryl Crow stunned fans in April when she announced her forthcoming Big Machine release, “Threads,” coming out on Aug. 30, will be her last.

The Missouri native, making her sixth appearance at Fraze Pavilion in Kettering on Wednesday, July 10, recently discussed going out with a bang with an album boasting a who’s who of collaborators, from Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Johnny Cash to Chuck D, Keith Richards and St. Vincent.

Is “Threads” really your final LP? 

That’s the plan. Obviously, you can never say never, but I feel really good about this being my last album. First and foremost, this album would be hard to follow up. It such a great log of all of the people that have inspired me throughout my years of making music.

Was it difficult scheduling so many A-list artists? 

We weren’t really on any kind of time schedule. In fact, I didn’t start out with the goal to make a record that would be the last and was highly collaborative. It started out with my recording with Kris Kristofferson, who has been a friend for years. As a great songwriter, he has been a huge influence for me. Having that experience made me want to create more of those experiences so we went along, grabbing things here and there when we could. After about three-and-a-half years we felt like we were done.”

“Threads” has 17 tracks, more than 70 minutes of music. Why not release two separate albums? 

We thought about that but, now, with music the way it is, unless you buy it on vinyl, it’s kind of esoteric. People stream music, they make playlists, but they don’t really listen to records anymore in its entirety, as a body of work. That’s one of the reasons this is going to be my last album. It’s a little counter to me to make a record, which is why I feel good about continuing to make music but just not waiting for an album to be completed before I put something out.

I realize “Threads” isn’t out yet but how will you present music moving forward? 

I don’t know what the plan is. My real role in everything is to be a musician. I’m not so much on the social media tip. I know that’s how things mostly operate now, but we just go out and play. The best promotion we can ever do for ourselves is to play the music. Our plan is to just keep playing and as they roll things out, we’ll do some TV and whatever else presents itself.

>>RELATED: What Sheryl Crow loves most about performing at Fraze

Tickets for the July 10 show are $65 for plaza and orchestra seating, and $45 for the lawn and terrace.

Tickets can be purchased at the Fraze FanFare, fraze.comwww.etix.com or 1-800-514-3849. Prices increase by $5 the day of the show.

WANT TO GO?

Who: Sheryl Crow with special guest Yola

Where: Fraze Pavilion, 695 Lincoln Park Blvd., Kettering

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 10

Cost: $45 lawn & terrace, $65 side orchestra in advance. Ticket prices increase $5 day of show

More info: 937-296-3300 or www.fraze.com

Artist info: www.sherylcrow.com

Credit: Ron Alvey

Credit: Ron Alvey

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