Olivia Rodrigo Pays Tribute to Sheryl Crow at BMI Troubadour Ceremony: ‘What Inspires Me Most About Her Is Her Heart, Her Kindness’

Sheryl Crow was celebrated by her peers and proteges at the BMI Troubadour Award ceremony in Nashville on Monday (Sept. 14). On a night when Jason Isbell, Melissa Etheridge, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton and Lauren Daigle performed some of Crow’s biggest hits for the audience gathered in the performing rights organization’s Music City office, it was a surprise pop-in from Olivia Rodrigo that grabbed attention.

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The two singers have crossed paths a number of times over the years — including at Crow’s RRHOF induction in 2023 and then in Nashville a year later on Rodrigo’s arena tour — but on Monday night Rodrigo stole the spotlight with a reverent, moving cover of the ballad “Strong Enough” from Crow’s breakthrough 1993 debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club.

“What inspires me the most about her is her heart, her kindness, and her generosity,” Rodrigo, 23, said at the intimate event that also included guests Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, Jesse Welles, Peter Frampton and others, according to Rolling Stone. “This is my favorite song of hers,” she added.

The night opened with Isbell performing “Run, Baby, Run” with the house band, followed by Etheridge’s cover of “If It Makes You Happy” and Church offering up a solo acoustic “Leaving Las Vegas.” Daigle played “Every Day Is a Winding Road” and Stapleton did a run through another Tuesday Night classic, “I Shall Believe.”

Crow is gearing up to release her thirteenth studio album, Pick You Up, on Oct. 9 on her own label, Big Green Barn Productions. She previewed the LP last month with the politically charged “Freedom Bus” featuring Welles, a song she initially wasn’t sure would make the album. “I couldn’t shake it. I couldn’t let go of it. I felt like it had to be on there,” she said of the meditative ballad inspired by an 8th grade class field trip with her son that Crow chaperoned which featured a stop at Arlington National Cemetery.

“We had a tour guide who was inspired … and the stories were not only inspiring but humbling,” said Crow, a veteran of overseas USO performances who poignantly sings, “There ain’t no freedom without history/ And folks who died for you and me/ So don’t be an a–hole, let everyone be” on the chorus.

Rodrigo is still riding high from last month’s inaugural all-women Daisy Chain Fields festival that featured sets from Chappell Roan, Doechii, Mitski, Bikini Kill, The Breeders and others, as well as surprise guests Stevie Nicks, Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette during Rodrigo’s festival-closing headlining set.