Crow pleases crowd without pandering

The charms of Sheryl Crow include an amazingly fluid voice she supercharges in an instant, a musician's attitude and abilities instead of star turns, and a natural beauty and charisma that have aged well at nearly 40 years.

The pride of Kennett, Mo., and multi-Grammy winner has everything except the soul mate some of her songs long for.

Crow thoroughly pleased a sold-out audience of 1,200 that included many different ages and a big Kennett contingent at Academic Auditorium Friday night. Joined only by sideman Tim Smith on guitar in this "unplugged" concert, the singer augmented the trip through her hit-filled repertoire with surprises. That is another of her charms. She seems to do nothing by rote, rebels against expectations.

When the cord dropped out of Smith's electric guitar a short way into "My Favorite Mistake," Crow covered with the musical quip "Stop -- In the name of love."

On "A Change (Would Do You Good)" she seemed to be adding backup to her own melody.

Crow likes poetry. One haunting song she sang was inspired by a Walt Whitman poem. She also did two songs by a rock 'n' roll poet, Bob Dylan.

But she writes some herself and sets it to pleasing melodies.

Her version of Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" uncovered the melody his voice sometimes obscures.

Acoustic duet

"All A Wanna Do," the blowsy 1994 hit that announced Crow's arrival to the world, was not quite as much fun as usual as an acoustic duet. But other classic Crow songs, such as "Leaving Las Vegas," benefited from simpler treatment.

"If It Makes You Happy," her answer to the bandmates who became jealous after her first album made her a star, sounded more wistful than angry Friday night.

Though Crow lamented that her schooling -- at the University of Missouri -- was in piano and not guitar, she played solidly and seemed thrilled when she even took some leads. Not many rock performers have the courage to take the stage without the kind of backup the songs receive in the studio.

During the 1 1/2-hour concert, Crow sang two songs from her next recording due in March, an album whose birthing process she likened to having triplets.

Crow kidded about her soulmate eluding her for almost 40 years. "I make the rules up as I go," she sings in "Strong Enough." "Try to love me if you can. Are you strong enough to be my man?"

The concert was a benefit for the Kennett Higher Education Center and the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Southeast.

Thanking the audience at the end of the show, Crow said, "It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my community."

She nestled into a 12-string guitar to encore with the late George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun." It was unexpectedly the perfect ending.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182