Shortly before announcing her engagement to champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, Sheryl Crow is sitting in a production studio talking about her new CD, "Wildflower," and the relationship between life and art.

"Everything that happens to you influences your writing," Crow says. "And if you're really true and open, a lot of what you're going through gets exposed.

"Then you have to go out and talk about it. It does make for a tenuous situation."

Two weeks later, the singer/ songwriter seems less pensive as she calls to relay details of how Armstrong proposed. The couple was wrapping up a vacation in Sun Valley, Idaho. "We drove up to this little town called Stanley and went out on a fishing boat. There we were in the middle of this unbelievably clear lake, and we promptly ran out of gas. Then Lance became really romantic, and he said, 'I have something to ask you, and I'm really nervous.' "

Moments later, the serial Tour de France winner popped the question, and the multiple Grammy Award winner said yes. "Then we both got really emotional. And then we picked up the oars and rowed back to shore, which is kind of a metaphor for what being a couple is like, I think. It's about teamwork, you know?"

Those who have followed Crow's career may be surprised to hear the singer, 43, who will be a first-time bride — Armstrong, 34, has three children from a previous marriage — discuss private matters with such giddy candor.

"I've always been reticent to advertise my personal life for the sake of celebrity," she says. "But there was no hiding my relationship with Lance because he's extremely high-profile. In the last couple of years, he's been more high-profile than I have."

For Crow, one of the most distinctive and prolific artists of the past decade, being a celebrity girlfriend for the better part of two years has proven something of a double-edged sword. "I've received a lot of criticism from women who have asked why I would give everything up to follow a man," she says.

"But it was a great gift to give myself, to invest in my life, in all the things I wanted to do outside music. I learned how to ride a bike, got to see all of Europe."

She also kept working. Crow had planned to take a breather after releasing a greatest-hits collection in late 2003.

"I saw that as an opportunity to say, 'OK, now I'm closing a chapter.' I can step back from my career a little bit and begin to figure out how to begin the second phase. I was in a new place and a new relationship, which creates vulnerability and requires you to face who you are. And I had a lot of alone time where I could just sit with myself and write about what someone my age is thinking about."

Crow eventually wound up with 36 new songs and a plan to record a double CD.

"My intention was to have one record that was all art songs without any conscious aim to have a hit single. The other would be made up of 10 or 11 3 1/2-minute pop songs in the flavor of The Beatles. But somewhere in the process, I realized that the pop record would likely overshadow the other one.

"So I decided that instead of just giving people what they want, maybe I would try to give them something they could use."

Thus the seeds were planted for "Wildflower," which just arrived in stores. It's a collection of intimate, lyrical songs dressed in lean, rootsy arrangements. Neil Young's 1972 release "Harvest" and George Harrison's 1970 album "All Things Must Pass" "were my parameters," Crow says.

On "Wildflower," Crow's dusky-sweet singing often is set in slightly higher keys, further enhancing the tender, keening qualities of her songs. She points to the gently glowing title track as "dealing most strongly with the recurring theme of the album, which is that the more chaotic times are, the more we have to reach within to find the more innocent part of ourselves."

That theme was greatly affected, she says, by the time she has spent with Armstrong's son, Luke, who will be 6 in October, and his twin daughters, Isabelle and Grace, who turn 4 in November. "Being around children that small, you see how naturally they gravitate to the light. They're not cynical yet. It takes many years to unlearn that kind of innocence."