Sheryl Crow sings her truth

A thriving, 15-year career in the pop-rock world is a triumph.

A thriving career for Sheryl Crow in 2008 is a bona fide feat.

It's been two years since the celebrated singer-songwriter faced down the biggest challenge of her life: Just weeks after the breakdown of her high-profile engagement to cyclist Lance Armstrong, she was met with an out-of-the-blue diagnosis of breast cancer. It was a one-two punch that took Crow out of the public eye for several months, as she underwent surgery and radiation treatment.

That was then. This is now: an adopted baby boy, an album that's been hailed by some as her best yet and a successful concert tour that's scheduled to traverse the globe through year's end.

Crow, 46, doesn't take a lot for granted now. On the road with her is 1-year-old Wyatt, whom she adopted in spring 2007. As she speaks by phone from a tour bus in New York, he romps noisily nearby.

"He helps keeps things more focused," she says. "You stop sweating the small stuff, that's for sure."

It's the big stuff that's been on Crow's mind. Her personal renaissance transformed into a creative burst that culminated with this year's "Detours," an album of textured, smartly crafted pop-Americana that is filled with broad protest themes and naked personal introspection.

That's not unfamiliar territory for Crow. Still, with its pacifist pleas and anti-consumerism diatribes, the album takes that tendency further than she's gone yet.

"I'm finding this extreme sense of urgency to cut to the core, to get to the truth," she says. "It strikes me that there's a real lack of protest songwriters out there."

Crow, who was among the first pop artists to take a visible stand against the Iraq war, scoffs at worries she might turn off portions of her audience, trusting that her fans have given her leeway to speak her mind.

"Not to sound too harsh, but with this record I'm not concerned who I'm going to lose or pick up," she says. "Because everything felt more urgent — the environment, a war based on deception. ... I had to take a leap of faith that a lot of people are feeling the way I'm feeling."

The rest of the year will remain busy for Crow, who plans to perform at fundraisers for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. In addition to a new song, "So Glad We Made It," written and recorded for NBC's Olympics coverage, she's just put the final touches on her first-ever Christmas album, due for release in the fall.