Sheryl Crow - The First Cut Is The Deepest

What this video is

Released in 2003 as the lead single from Crow's first career retrospective, this video arrived at a moment when adult alternative radio was consolidating around a handful of bankable female artists. Crow's cover of the Cat Stevens classic — itself inspired by Rod Stewart's 1977 version — self-consciously invoked classic rock heritage while positioning her as an authenticity-first artist in the era of post-grunge…

Why it matters

Represents a pivotal moment in early-2000s adult contemporary video production: the use of cinematic natural landscape to grant pop-rock songs an aura of timeless authenticity. The desert Americana aesthetic deployed here was a defining visual grammar of the era, bridging rock heritage and…

The director

Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958, Vinita, Oklahoma) is an American film and music video director who attended UC Santa Barbara in the 1970s. Inspired by David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes,' he became one of the most prolific directors in the medium, helming…