Sheryl Crow's fresh, updated spin on classic roots rock made her one of the most popular mainstream rockers of the '90s. Her albums were loose and eclectic on the surface, yet generally tied together with polished, professional songcraft. Crow's sunny, good-time rockers and world-weary ballads were radio staples for much of the '90s, and she was a perennial favourite at Grammy time. Although her songwriting style was firmly anchored to the rock tradition, she wasn't a slave to it -- her free-associative, reference-laden poetry could hardly have been the product of any other era but the '90s. Her production not only kept pace with contemporary trends, but sometimes even pushed the envelope of what sounds could be heard on a classicist rock album, especially her self-titled sophomore effort.