Border Lord - Commentary

This is the Sheryl Crow Threads album release special, and back at

The beginning, Sheryl mentioned that it was a song she recorded with

Kris Kristofferson that really

Sparked the idea for this entire album

We're actually about to play that song

It's called Border Lord, and I would love for you to tell people

The story of how you ended up recording this song with Kris

Kristofferson and how it ultimately

Led to your entire new album Threads

Border Lord is the first song that I recorded for this

Record, and the record was really just kind of an idea

And I had worked with Kris, and he really

Is the inspiration for this whole record

Kris Kristofferson I've known for many, many, many years

And have had the good fortune of collaborating with him

I grew up listening to his music, but I also...

When I became a young songwriter, I just really pored over his music

I mean, he's one of the great storytellers

He and Willie Nelson both are the great storytellers in music, I feel

Bob Dylan

I mean, they're a handful of people I think have really

Been like the John Steinbecks and the Mark Twains of music

And Kris, his wife asked me if I would go in- to the

Studio with him and record some of his material for

Posterity because he didn't own any of his masters

So we went and we were recording a lot of his material, and he could

Talk about unbelievable experiences from way back when he was

Recording these things, but he wasn't

Able to remember 10 minutes ago

And this is what happens when you have Alzheimer's or, in his

Case, maybe Lyme's disease that was afflicting his memory

And I came home from that experience from Austin feeling like these

Are the moments that you just don't want to ever take for granted

And I called his wife and said, "When he's in Nashville, would he

Come record with me, and would he do

Couple of his songs?" And so he did

He came into Nashville and we spent the afternoon

Recording a couple of songs, and Border Lord was

One of them, and it was one that I wanted to record

And it just really brought home to me how important the

Relationships that you have in your life, how important they are

And familial, or friendship, or musically, or in every other way

And he's been an important person to me, and he's also a

Reminder of how important it is to hold the people dear that

You love and that you've had your life experiences with

So he's really the inspiration for the whole album

He was what made me want to call up the Stevie Nickses and the Keith

Richards and all these people that I've loved and

Known and that I've grown with through the years in

My 25 years of doing this, or 30 years of doing it

And I've wanted to sort of pay homage to on this record

And also, even the young people, of wanting to sort of say to them

"You have the future, and you are carrying on the tradition of

The great Kris Kristofferson." Well, thank God for Kris

Kristofferson for inspiring Sheryl to make this incredible new album

It's called Threads, and this is Sheryl with Kris

It's Border Lord on Big Machine Radio