Maren Morris was stunned when her hero Sheryl Crow called when she was first breaking into the music industry.
The My Church singer became a huge Sheryl fan because her mother would play her music all the time when Maren was growing up. She was left speechless when Sheryl left her a message after becoming a fan of her first hit.
"She called me five or six years ago," Maren told Rolling Stone. "My song My Church had just come out; I was in between negotiations with a couple of different record labels. I remember getting a phone call, and I didn’t answer it because it was an unknown number. I was at a bar after a write, and I was like, 'Hold on, guys, I have a voicemail'.
"The bottom dropped out of the room. It was Sheryl Crow, saying that she was a fan of My Church and saw a lot of herself in that song."
The two singers have since become friends and Maren is grateful for the support Sheryl has offered her throughout her career.
"We’ve had so many moments together that pepper my career - these ultimate highs. She’s been a huge proponent of my career being legitimized," she smiled. "I can count on one hand the people that have been that for me. Dolly Parton is one of them. Sheryl Crow is the other."
Further gushing about her pal for the annual Women Shaping the Future issue of the magazine, Maren adds, "There’s really no one quite like her. She’s collaborated with so many amazing artists. She’s genre-less. Even to this day, that’s something that I try to hold true to myself: not worrying about the label attached, just putting songs out that you love, that you wrote.
"Every record of hers that came out... carved out my musical brain and sensibilities in the late Nineties. That’s when I really was starting to love singing...
"It’s nice when you meet your hero and they’re all that you hoped they would be and more. That’s what Sheryl is. I will love her always."
