Sheryl Crow has released 'Live Wire' featuring blues legends Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples.

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow

Following the re-release of her duet with the late Johnny Cash on 'Redemption Day' for her upcoming collaborations album 'Threads', the country pop superstar has dropped the new track with her ultimate idols.

She gushed: "Mavis Staples means so much more to me than any words I could write about her.

"I feel like, in many ways, she is the Godmother to Bonnie Raitt.

"To say that having both of these soulful women on 'Live Wire' is a treat would be a huge understatement."

'Threads', which is released on August 30, is Crow's ode to the artists who came before her and inspired her career.

She said: "This is where my story begins; in the imagination of a young girl from Missouri who began to feel a part of a beautiful and inspiring universe of art, created by musicians who made me want to leave my small town and embark on something bigger than anything I could possibly imagine.

"As I became a mother, I've explored life through my children and seen the greater impact of our actions and voices.

"This collection is the threads of both my inspirations and younger artists carrying the torch for humanity with their stories."

The nine-time Grammy Award-winning artist originally released 'Redemption Day' with Cash on her self-titled 1996 album.

The track was penned after the 'Soak Up The Sun' hitmaker visited Bosnia with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, where she spent time at the military bases, played for troops and met with families.

Speaking of the trip, she said previously: "I'd never been anywhere even close to a war-torn area. We had all these resources tied up in Bosnia, and I kept thinking about how and why do we choose where to get involved. Is it desire for control, greed for oil - what is it?"

In 2003, one of Cash's sons-in-law played the track for the music icon, who then wanted to speak to her before getting involved in it himself.

She added: "He asked a lot of questions about different lines and what I meant. He didn't want to put his voice to the song without being able to believe it heart and soul."

Cash - who passed away in September 2003 - recorded the song and later released his own version on the posthumous album 'American VI: Ain't No Grave', in 2010.

Crow performed the track on stage as a duet with a recording of Cash in 2014, which inspired her to approach his estate with the idea of re-recording a collaboration of their voices for her new project.

Alongside the new recording, the music video for the song - which couples footage of Cash next to scenes of a young child watching history unfold - was projected around iconic locations in central London last month.


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