“As a mom of two young kids, I see that our kids watch what we do on their behalf and how we shape their future. They’re privy to everything visual, especially now, and there’s no way to shield your child from the roughness of reality. If we could see the world through a child’s eyes, we would make different decisions.”
"Hey everybody it's Sheryl Crow and you're about to hear my new song "Redemption Day" with Johhny Cash."
In 1996 I went to Bosnia to play for the troops. I traveled through Bosnia with 1st Lady Hillary Clinton and when I returned home I was so affected by what I had seen and all that was being covered on tv was the genocide in Rwanda and in my mind I kept moling over the question of why do we go into some countries to defend their people and other countries we stay out of and the results of that ponderence was the song redemption day. I sat down and wrote this song asking these questions and that song came out on the Sheryl Crow record and you know it's hard to know how many people heard it then but I feel like for that moment in time it was very relevant. Cut to 2003 Johnny cash recorded it and felt like it would be the cornerstone of his record. He was adamant about knowing what every lyric meant and he really delivered the song in a way that felt like for him it would be the most important song on his record. And unfortunately a few months later he died. Actually two months later he passed so cut to now and I’m making a record of collaborations and I asked the family if they would give me their blessing in letting me use his vocal. And I feel like the song has finally found its moment. I re-recorded it rearranged it and Johnny and I are both singing the song and I hope he would be proud of what we've done and feel like it has met its moment.
EMBED OFFICIAL VIDEO:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rKg0vz0HIlo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
SHERYL CROW ON “REDEMPTION DAY”
“This song has had a lot of different lives,” says Sheryl Crow about “Redemption Day,” a duet with the late Johnny Cash that’s the initial release from her upcoming album. “It’s led me to some strange and interesting opportunities.”
Crow wrote “Redemption Day” in 1996 after a visit to Bosnia with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. “I’d never been anywhere even close to a war-torn area,” she says. “We visited different military bases, played for the troops, and met with families.” But when she returned home, the news was covering the ongoing genocide in Rwanda.
“It was very confusing,” says Crow. “We had all these resources tied up in Bosnia, and I kept thinking about how and why do we choose where to get involved. Is it desire for control, greed for oil—what is it?” She sat down to write a song (“I was actually hoping to write about breaking up with my boyfriend,” she says), and out came a “diatribe from somewhere in my subconscious,” challenging the motivation and machinery of war. She included the song on 1996’s Grammy-winning, triple-platinum Sheryl Crow album.
In 2003, Sheryl received a call from one of Johnny Cash’s sons-in-law who said that he had played “Redemption Day” for Cash and that the Man in Black wanted to talk to her. “He asked a lot of questions about different lines and what I meant,” says Crow. “He didn’t want to put his voice to the song without being able to believe it heart and soul.”
Cash recorded the song and told Crow that he felt it was the cornerstone of his next album, but his version wasn’t released until 2010’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave album.While on tour in 2014 Crow performed “Redemption Day” as a duet with Cash’s recording, projecting his image onstage—which inspired her to approach his estate with the idea of re-recording the song, adding Cash’s voice to a new arrangement, for her new project.
The video for “Redemption Day,” directed by Shaun Silva, incorporates footage of Cash next to scenes of a young child watching history unfold, in all of its tragedy and triumph.“ As a mom of two young kids,” says Crow, “I see that our kids watch what we do on their behalf and how we shape their future. They’re privy to everything visual, especially now, and there’s no way to shield your child from the roughness of reality. If we could see the world through a child’s eyes, we would make different decisions.”
Incorporating Johnny Cash into this project means more to Crow than just the sound and memory of one of America’s greatest icons. “With what’s happening in our nation now, and how dire things look, to have Johnny’s voice offers some hope,” she says.“Knowing how he felt about the song, I feel pretty certain that he would have some wisdom to impart about what’s happening now and who we are becoming. I hope that wherever he is, he feels proud to be a part of it—I certainly feel his presence in the song.”
