While performing at the 2023 Sea.Hear.Now Music Festival in New Jersey, Sheryl Crow opened up about her choice to move from Los Angeles to Tennessee. The musician empathized with those in her audience that may be going through tough times. “I know how hard it is for especially young people — and I don’t know if anybody was pained by struggles like I did when I was young — but these are some tricky waters to navigate now,” she shared. “I’ll just tell you that, for me, getting out in nature really saved my life,” she said before playing “Cross Creek Road.” She continued, saying, “So, I moved to Nashville and bought a farm. I sat in the trees and just asked God to give me some answers — and I wound up writing this song.”

Crow decided to pick up and move to Tennessee in 2003 after living in Los Angeles, where she often felt disconnected from her roots. The musician told The New York Times that she bought her farm only two weeks after being diagnosed with breast cancer. “I completely relate to Nashville because I have a lot of friends there who are also in the music business… But not only that, I just relate to the people. I relate to the friendliness and down-homeness. I feel a relaxation that comes over my body that I usually don’t feel when I’m in New York or L.A.,” said Crow to Rolling Stone. “I didn’t feel like I had roots anywhere.”

She adopted her two sons, Wyatt and Levi, in 2007 and 2019, where she notes that Tennessee was an ideal place for her to raise a family. “It’s great to have my kids grow up with the mentality that they live in a community, they owe their good fortune to helping other people, there are no paparazzi there,” she said.