Sheryl Crow - Kennett native to play Southeast benefit

KENNETT, Mo.

Years after the 1994 hit "All I Wanna Do" began Sheryl Crow's rise to stardom, she returned home to Kennett about this time of year and sang a solo in the Christmas Eve Cantata put on by the Presbyterian church she grew up in. Hometown friends say Crow, who has sung alongside Pavarotti and by then was accustomed to performing before tens of thousands of people at a time, was nervous because she didn't have a chance to rehearse.

Brian Mitchell, who took Crow to the senior prom 21 years ago, isn't surprised. "That was the first time she came back as a star. I'm sure that performance would have been the most important to her because of the expectations," he said.

Sheryl Crow will present an "unplugged" concert Dec. 14 at Academic Auditorium, a benefit for the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and the Kennett Area Higher Education Center.

There remain 270 of the 1,200 seats in Academic Auditorium to be sold.

With a population of about 12,000, Kennett is not much larger than when Crow was growing up here in the 1960s and 1970s. Not much has changed. Cotton and soybeans are still Kennett's major moneymakers. Crow's brother, Steven, a contractor, still lives in Kennett. Her father, Wendell, still practices law and plays the trumpet here. Her mother, Bernice, still gives piano lessons and sings beautiful solos in church programs.

Until Sheryl Crow, the most famous person from Kennett was Fred Laswell, who wrote and drew the "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith" comic strip for 60 years. He was born in Kennett in 1916 and died this year. Associated Press photojournalist Sally Stapleton is admired, but Sheryl Crow is a household name.

Locals don't make a fuss about her. No bus tours drive past Sheryl Crow's girlhood home and no street is named in her honor.

Most everyone who grew up in Kennett meets at Bill's Bar-B-Q when they return for a visit. Crow is no exception. "She has a seat she always takes," says waitress Celena Horton, pointing to a table near the kitchen door. Horton's husband, Ed, is the grandson of the original Bill.

The small restaurant is decorated with ceramic likenesses of pigs, pig plaques and a pig clock. No one ever gives Crow the star treatment or bothers her when she comes in, Horton says. They don't even have an autographed picture of her on the wall. "But that's a good idea," she says.

Reporters writing stories about her come by Kennett occasionally. One journalist is writing her biography. The townspeople give them the same story: Sheryl Crow was a good girl, and she never puts on airs. "It's hard to dig up dirt when you've got such a nice person," says Daryl Wilcoxson, who went to high school with Crow.

Unapologetic do-gooder

Crow is an unapologetic do-gooder. This week she performed with Stevie Nicks and Don Henley at a Phoenix arena show benefiting cardiovascular research. At another concert this week in New York City, she'll play with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle to raise money for the campaign against landmines.

Her philanthropy comes home as well in the form of benefit concerts in Kennett and Cape Girardeau, usually benefiting educational causes.

When Crow comes to Kennett to visit her parents and hometown friends, she sometimes brings old friend Mary Jo Byrd performance clothes she is ready to discard. Byrd sells the clothes at her shop, the Bank of Antiques, with proceeds going to the Delta Children's Home. The institution cares for children who are being placed with foster families.

Vickie And Daryl Wilcoxson both went to Kennett High School with Crow. She is a secretary to the counselors at the school; he owns a furniture store and is assistant director of the high school choir.

They say Crow inspired their 19-year-old daughter, Ashley, to study music at Belmont College in Nashville, Tenn. She wants to be a pop or contemporary Christian singer.

Ashley bought Sheryl's red leather pants at the Bank of Antiques to give to a friend who is a Sheryl Crow fanatic. The girl's mother is having a display case made for the pants.

Growing up, Crow's eldest sister, Kathy, was known for her gorgeous voice. She works for the music publishing company BMI in Nashville. Second sister Karen, now a teacher's aide at Blanchard Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, was renowned for her beauty. Sheryl wore glasses, but she had some of what her sisters had and something else -- a songwriting talent and ambition.

Mitchell, a pharmacist in Kennett, squired Crow to various functions when they were in high school together. It wasn't a romantic relationship, he says, though friends insist he's had a crush on her since junior high school.

'Forward looking'

"There was something about her that said, I am interested in far more than just dating, going out and certainly getting married and settling down," he says. "She was always forward looking. There was absolutely no effort to be in a relationship or worry about that."

She made her dress the year he took her to her senior prom. "She was extremely proud of that fact, and nobody knew it," he said. "It was the prettiest dress on the prettiest girl there."

Now Crow is dressed by designer Tommy Hilfiger.

Katy Andersson, a counselor at Central High School in Cape Girardeau, grew up next door to the Crow family. "I love to tell my students I'm the same age as Sheryl Crow," she laughs.

They were members of a group of five girls who ran around together. They often took spring vacation trips to Florida. She has no tales of wild times in Florida.

A little jealous

Crow ran track and played tennis, was a drum major, a cheerleader, a beauty queen and a member of the National Honor Society.

"She was almost too good," Andersson says. "We were all jealous of her. She was always the one who stood out a little bit."

When Crow came back to Kennett for the class of 1980s' 10-year reunion, she was just beginning to have some musical success after moving to Los Angeles. She mentioned knowing former Eagles member Don Henley.

One of the first inklings of the fame to come was an appearance as a Catholic schoolgirl on the ill-fated TV show "Cop Rock." Lots of friends went to St. Louis to see her sing backup on Michael Jackson's tour, but the concert was canceled when Jackson became ill.

"But we got to party with her anyway," Byrd recalled.

Crow returned for her 20-year high school reunion a multiple Grammy winner.

If Crow was a good girl growing up, her first hit was about having fun on an afternoon beer buzz. Other songs come out of adult feelings about adult relationships. She has grown up.

Likes to help

The consensus in her hometown is that she has changed from the high school girl they knew but not in the way that might be expected of someone who gets so much attention. "She's gone the other way," says Daryl Wilcoxson. "She goes out of her way to help people. When she comes home she's not out looking for attention."

Byrd said she often comes in her store and spends lots of money. At one time she collected green sandwich glass. Now she has moved on to pottery, antique baby dolls and lace.

"She likes pretty, old things," Byrd said.

One of the items she gave away to be sold to benefit the Delta Children's Home was a signed dress she made in high school home-economics class.

"We're proud that we know her," says Byrd. "We're proud she's from Kennett."

Mitchell, who still keeps in touch with her through e-mail, says, "We're all from Sheryl Crow's hometown now. That's something."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182