Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Sheryl Crow will return Feb. 5 with her next A&M/Interscope album, “Detours.” The first single, “Shine Over Bayblon,” is at iTunes now. Crow told Billboard.com this summer that the song “is very environmentally conscious, in the tradition of Bob Dylan.”

“I’m really encouraging artists to write about what’s going on, because we seem to be very distracted by some lightweight topics,” she added. I think it’s time to start writing about the reality of what’s around us.”

In additional comments on her Web site, Crow describes the single as “an every way a desperate cry for understanding. Perhaps it is even a battle song in the face of fear.”

“Detours” was recorded at Crow’s Nashville farm and will feature “14 or 15″ of the 24 songs put to tape. The artist’s baby son, Wyatt, makes an appearance on the song “Lullaby for Wyatt,” which will be featured in the upcoming movie “Grace Is Gone.”

“The songs are very inspired by the last three years of events in my life,” Crow said of a time that found her battling breast cancer and splitting with partner Lance Armstrong.

“Detours” is the follow-up to 2005’s “Wildflower,” which debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200.