Sheryl Crow’s Manager Scooter Weintraub On Making It To The Rock Hall

It’s been said that to become an icon, you have to create something that nobody else is doing. Sheryl Crow resurrected and updated the “girl with a guitar” archetype at a moment in time that made her 1993 debut studio album, Tuesday Night Music Club, not only a smash hit and triple Grammy-winner, but an inspiration for women artists who followed.

More than that, Crow set the table for women like Alanis Morissette, Ani DiFranco, Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey and more.

Crow could have remained 20 feet from stardom as a backup singer for the likes of Michael Jackson, Don Henley and Prince in the ’80s. And she could have remained behind the scenes as a songwriter penning hits for Celine Dion, Tina Turner and Wynonna Judd.

Scooter Weintraub of W Management has been Crow’s manager from the earliest days and says getting a foot in the door on her own terms was tough.

“There really were no new singer/songwriter females wielding guitars at the time,” Weintraub explains. “Then came Alanis Morissette, Joan Osborne, Jewel. Sheryl opened a path for a lot of people to follow. People like Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Maren Morris, Phoebe Bridgers, Brandi Carlile – who will induct Sheryl – and so many have cited her as an influence. It’s been a long, interesting journey.”

Crow has continued her success deep into the 2000s with Platinum albums C’mon, C’mon (2002) and Wildflower (2005) and Gold certified Detours (2008). Her latest album is 2019’s Threads.

She continues touring, though it’s at her own pace instead of that of the relentless road warrior. Over years, she’s reported more than 1.28 million tickets sold and career gross of more than $62 million to Pollstar. And she’s still very much in demand: she was one of the top-billed performers at Eric Clapton’s Sept. 23-24 Crosscroads Guitar Festival in Los Angeles.

Now based in Nashville, Crow has collaborated with some of the biggest names in rock and country music – Keith Richards, Prince, Johnny Cash, and Loretta Lynn to name a few. Her musical generosity is legendary, and she’s cited as a mentor by many women, not just the established stars but newly emerging artists, too.

“I think that’s the reward,” Weintraub says. “When you have a milestone like the Hall of Fame, you kind of look back and reflect. At the very beginning it was a precarious and kind of a little bit unsupported place. And then people started to catch on really quickly.

“It ties in with the impact and influence a person like Sheryl has had on others, and others have had on her. That’s, to me, one of the best things about music and the Hall of Fame does recognize that and always speaks to that. I think it’s a criteria if they are caring for a lineage and then passing it forward to other artists who come after.”