Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham says reports that Sheryl Crow was going to hook up with the legendary rock group for their upcoming 2009 tour are false -- although there were some early discussions about it.
"There was some element of truth to that but it was completely hypothetical," Buckingham said this week.
He says the genesis for the idea was the previous Fleetwood Mac album, 2003's Say You Will, and 2004 tour, were both without singer-keyboardist Christine McVie.
"I was out there being a guy on stage, which is what I do. I think it made (singer) Stevie (Nicks) feel that the context of femaleness on stage had somehow been diminished in her mind and I think she felt less comfortable on stage because of that," Buckingham said.
"So I think there was just a moment where she was looking for a (female) counterpart again and so this idea of Sheryl was floated by (Stevie) and probably (drummer) Mick (Fleetwood), who was probably thinking of it more in terms of the business side. And I said, 'Hey, whatever, that's fine with me.' So it was thrown around. I know Sheryl was made aware of it. Nothing was ever decided, it was a hypothetical (idea)."
Buckingham says two months later, Crow was releasing a solo album and started mentioning to the press that she was joining Fleetwood Mac.
"Which didn't sit well with any of us really, because even if it had been decided it was not the appropriate time. It was premature, it wasn't hers to announce. It should have been done in a different way, but it was not even a real thing," he said.
Needless to say, phone calls were made.
"So that led to some not very good conversations, as I understand, which I was not a part of, and I guess the whole thing just went away.
"(Crow is) not a part of it. But all of that was actually a catalyst to Stevie and me having some very good conversations which have been long overdue and acknowledging that there's a way to do this that doesn't have to be about bringing in a surrogate Christine.
"Because in my mind if you're starting by bringing in someone like Sheryl to do Christine's songs, it starts to get a little loungey."
