American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow has described her “incredible” links to Wales, revealing that her mother’s side of the family was from the country.
Speaking to Bronwen Lewis on BBC Radio Wales, the nine-time Grammy winner recalled visiting Wales for the first time with her parents in about 1990 while touring as a backing singer for Michael Jackson.
Crow, best known for hits including All I Wanna Do and If It Makes You Happy, said she did not know where exactly in Wales her family came from, but expressed a desire to research her heritage further.
“I need to do one of those DNA things,” she said.
Crow also discussed the legacy of country music legend Dolly Parton – whose family tree has been traced to Machynlleth in Powys.
Lewis, also a singer-songwriter, shared with Crow that she collaborated on a Welsh language version of the song Jolene with Parton and Parton’s niece, Jada Star.
The song was released on 9 October after Parton’s death on 25 August 2026.
Crow said she would love to have her songs translated into Welsh, and called Parton a “wonderful person” and “a singer no-one could compete with”.
She said Parton’s death had made her reflect on her contribution to the world: “For me, when she passed away, for the next two to three weeks I walked around feeling like am I doing enough to serve humanity?
“Am I doing enough to lift up people in my community?
“Because she was not only masterful at it, but selfless about it.”
Crow highlighted Parton’s Imagination Library, her literacy programme that sends one free book a month to children from birth to age five, as an example of this philanthropy.
