Rodney Crowell

Born and raised in Texas, two-time GRAMMY-winner Rodney Crowell arrived in Nashville in the early 1970s, coming to prominence first as a writer before establishing himself as a critically acclaimed solo artist in his own right. With 15 number one hits under his belt and tracks recorded by everyone from Emmylou Harris and Johnny Cash to Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, it would be difficult to overstate Crowell’s impact on roots music over the past five decades. In 2003, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame; in 2006 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting from the Americana Music Association; in 2017, he was honored with ASCAP’s prestigious Founder’s Award; and in 2019, he was presented with the Academy of Country Music’s Poet’s Award. In addition to his prolific output as an artist and producer, Crowell also found time to become a celebrated author, too, publishing a memoir and a lyrical retrospective to widespread praise. Along the way, NPR declared him the “literarily inclined elder statesman of the Americana scene,” while Rolling Stone hailed him as a “country music trailblazer,” and the New York Times proclaimed that his songwriting “gets better and sharper with age.

Produced by Jeff Tweedy, Crowell’s brilliant new album, The Chicago Sessions, is as incisive, engaging, and vital as ever, touching on everything from love and mortality to race and religion as it balances careful craftsmanship with joyful liberation at every turn.