The Black Crowes

The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes in 2008
Background information
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Blues-rock, hard rock
Years active	1989–2002, 2005–present
Labels	Silver Arrow
Associated acts	Jimmy Page
Website	www.blackcrowes.com
Members
Chris Robinson Rich Robinson Steve Gorman Adam MacDougall Sven Pipien Luther Dickinson
Past members
Eddie Harsch Jeff Cease Johnny Colt Audley Freed Greg Rzab Andy Hess Marc Ford Bill Dobrow Rob Clores Paul Stacey

The Black Crowes are an American rock and roll band that has sold over 30 million albums.^[1] They were labeled by Melody Maker as "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World".^[2] In 1990, the readers of Rolling Stone voted them 'Best New American Band'.^[3] The band has opened for rock and roll bands such as Heart, Robert Plant, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Dave Matthews Band and The Grateful Dead.^[1] The band is listed at number 92 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".^[4]

History

Formation: 1984–89

The first incarnation of the band began in 1984 as "Mr. Crowe's Garden" in Atlanta, Georgia, a revivalist band dedicated to celebrating and playing 1970s-era blues-rock.^[3] Although the band has had a high turnover rate throughout their history, the driving force behind the band has always been brothers Chris and Rich Robinson. In 1989, the band, who have been heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones, Faces, Buddy Guy, Otis Redding, and Humble Pie, made a demo cassette tape that got them signed with American Recordings (then named Def American).

Height of fame: 1990–95

The band released its first studio album, Shake Your Money Maker, in 1990. On the strength of singles "Hard to Handle", "She Talks to Angels", "Jealous Again", "Twice As Hard", "Sister Luck", and "Seeing Things", their debut album received multi-platinum certification and eventually sold over three million copies.^[5] Their cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" and their acoustic ballad "She Talks to Angels" both broke the Top 30 on the pop charts in 1991 while "Twice As Hard" and "Jealous Again" were moderate hits. The band opened for ZZ Top on a tour sponsored by Miller Beer, from which they were fired in March 1991 after Chris Robinson's verbal tirade aimed at Miller. The band launched its own tour that May and later took part in a Monsters of Rock tour in the Soviet Union, where they opened for Motley Crue and Queensrÿche, among others.^[6]

After replacing guitarist Jeff Cease with Marc Ford from retro-rock power trio Burning Tree, the band released its second album The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion in 1992. The album debuted at number 1 on Billboard's top 200 albums. The effort spawned the singles "Remedy", "Sting Me", "Sometimes Salvation" and "Hotel Illness". "Remedy" and "Thorn in My Pride" both broke the Top 100 in 1992.^[7]

Because of the prevalence of studio musician, and former Allman Brother, Chuck Leavell's piano and organ parts on the first release, the band hired a keyboardist of its own, Eddie Harsch. He became a permanent member of the group beginning on the "High As the Moon" tour.

In 1994 the now six-piece offered up Amorica after scrapping the unreleased album Tall the previous year. Though Amorica failed to produce a hit single, the album still eventually reached "Gold" status, selling over 500,000 copies. The album cover featured a photo showing a woman's pubic hair.^[8][9] As some stores would not carry the album due to the cover, an alternate version was released simultaneously with a solid black background. While on tour to support Amorica, the band opened for the Grateful Dead in Tampa on April 7, 1995, the only time the bands performed together.

Middle era: 1996–2001

Three Snakes and One Charm was released in July 1996, with lead single "Blackberry" receiving radio airplay and video rotation on MTV. The band's support tour included a summer stint with the 1997 Furthur Festival, along with Ratdog, Bruce Hornsby and others. During this period, the band recorded a nearly complete album called Band, which was scrapped.^[10] Guitarist Marc Ford was fired and bassist Johnny Colt subsequently left the group, dissolving the Crowes lineup of the previous three albums. The unreleased tracks from Tall and Band surfaced among tape trading circles and were later officially released on The Lost Crowes (2006).

The band regrouped, adding Sven Pipien on bass prior to its next recording sessions. By Your Side was released in January 1999; the album stripped away the more adventurous sounds of Amorica and Three Snakes and One Charm in favor of leaner, soul-influenced songs ready for radio. The album's more mainstream approach spawned singles in "Kickin' My Heart Around", "Only a Fool", and "Go Faster". Guitarist Audley Freed, formerly of Cry of Love, joined prior to the recording of By Your Side but was not included in the recording sessions. Initial reception seemed promising for the album, as "Kickin' My Heart Around" reached number 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.^[11] The Crowes spent much of 1999 touring in support of the album, but ultimately By Your Side sold fewer than 300,000 copies.

In October 1999, the band was joined by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page for two pairs of shows in New York and Los Angeles, yielding a live release, Live at the Greek on TVT Records. Due to contractual issues with Columbia, Live at the Greek does not feature any of the band's songs performed with Page. The collaboration led to a more extensive tour with Page and The Who in summer 2000, during which Pipien was replaced by Greg Rzab. Following the tour, singer Chris Robinson married actress Kate Hudson on December 31, 2000,^[12] before heading back to the studio for the band's sixth studio album.

In May 2001, the band released Lions on Virgin mogul Richard Branson's V2 record label. Singles "Lickin'" and "Soul Singing" had a solid presence on rock radio and Lions peaked at number 20 on the charts.^[13] The band launched its support of the album with the month-long Tour of Brotherly Love with Oasis and Spacehog in May and June 2001. Prior to the tour's two Los Angeles gigs, The Black Crowes were inducted into the Guitar Center Rockwalk, a walk of fame honoring notable musical acts and artists. Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher and Slash were on hand for the ceremony.^[14]

Throughout the rest of 2001, the band embarked on the "Listen Massive" headlining tour in support of Lions, which spanned Europe and Japan before concluding with 36 US shows. The band effectively dissolved in January 2002 with the departure of drummer Steve Gorman and an announcement that the band was "taking a hiatus."^[15]

Hiatus and reunion: 2002–05

The Black Crowes performing live at the Hammerstein Ballroom, 2005

Following the band's announcement, singer Chris Robinson revealed his plans for a solo project, a deal with Redline Entertainment that resulted in two albums, New Earth Mud in 2002 and This Magnificent Distance in 2004. Both albums were supported by tours with two different bands, the last of which included former Crowes guitarist Audley Freed. A live album (featuring touring bassist Andy Hess) pieced together from two 2001 shows performed at Boston's Orpheum Theatre was released in August 2002. In 2004, some members of the band did reunite to play "Sometimes Salvation" with Gov't Mule at the 2004 Jammy Awards. Meanwhile, Rich Robinson formed a short-lived band called Hookah Brown before releasing his own solo album, Paper, in 2004. Rich toured in support of Paper with his own three-piece band including Big Sugar guitarist Gordie Johnson on bass and Bill Dobrow on drums.

In early 2005, the Robinson brothers with Eddie Harsch reassembled the band, bringing Marc Ford and Sven Pipien back into the fold and – in the absence of founding member Steve Gorman – recruited Bill Dobrow, from Rich's solo band, on drums. Dobrow's seat at the drums was short-lived, however, as he, too, was fired when Gorman rejoined the band during a four-night stand at The Tabernacle in Atlanta. The reinvigorated band continued to tour throughout 2005, including a summer tour opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and five sold-out nights at The Fillmore in San Francisco. The second show at The Fillmore was filmed in high definition and recorded for an HDNet special called Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog, released later in 2006 on DVD, Blu-Ray and on audio CD.

Changing lineup and renewed success: 2006–present

In fall 2006, the band fired Eddie Harsch and saw the departure of guitarist Marc Ford, who quit via fax on the verge of a fall tour. Replacing Harsch and Ford were Rob Clores and Paul Stacey, respectively. In August 2007, the band introduced keyboard player Adam MacDougall, who replaced Clores after less than a year on tour. In addition, the band invited guitar player Luther Dickinson from North Mississippi Allstars to perform on their upcoming record, entitled Warpaint. Dickinson officially replaced Stacey as guitarist in November 2007.

A live album entitled Live at the Roxy, culled from the 2006 Brothers of a Feather performances (featuring Chris and Rich Robinson performing mostly acoustic sets) was released on July 10, 2007. The album featured performances of old and new Black Crowes material mixed with covers, taken from a three-night run at The Roxy in Los Angeles in early 2006.

The band released "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution" as a lead single for the upcoming album release. Warpaint hit retail and online stores on March 4, 2008, released independently on the band's own Silver Arrow label via Megaforce Records. Warpaint was critically-acclaimed and the album landed at number 5 on its Billboard chart, the band's best debut since The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion topped the charts.^[16] The band launched an international tour March 24 when they played the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Australia. The band continued its Australia and New Zealand tour — the first since 1992 — through April 5, before departing for a European trek in spring. A major-market, multiple-night U.S. tour began in May and concluded in December with another five-night stand at The Fillmore in San Francisco.

On March 31, 2008, the band launched a live show download website, liveblackcrowes.com. Featuring current and archived performances from the band's vast archive, the site offers mp3, FLAC and CD versions of performances. As an incentive to join, the band offered a free two-disc mp3 download, culled from the band's 2008 club tour, to the first 10,000 visitors to register on the site.

On April 28, 2009, the band released a two-disc live album entitled Warpaint Live. The first disc consists of the Warpaint album played in its entirety, while the second disc is made up of catalog classics and cover selections. The entire performance contained on the set was recorded on March 20, 2008, at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. A DVD of the same performance was released on June 30, 2009.^[17]

On August 31, 2009, the band released its eighth studio album, Before the Frost...Until the Freeze A CD purchase of the album is accompanied with a download code to receive the album's companion release, ...Until the Freeze. The download portion is available in mp3 and FLAC formats.^[18] The vinyl version is a double album that includes all of the songs but in a different running order. These albums resulted from five days of recording at Levon Helm Studios, and present new material recorded live.

On April 21, 2010, the band announced an August 3 release date for the double, all acoustic album Croweology, as well as tour dates for the "Say Good Night to the Bad Guys Tour," which will feature two 90-minute sets at the majority of shows: one acoustic and one electric. Another hiatus will follow the tour.^[19] To coincide with the release of Croweology, The Black Crowes began a 29-part webisode series, "20 Years of Tall Tales," via their official website. Releasing a segment a day throughout the month of August 2010, the webisodes feature Chris Robinson dicussing and reflecting on key points in the band's history. ^[20]

Lawsuit

On July 30, 2008, The Black Crowes filed a lawsuit against country singer Gretchen Wilson, claiming that she infringed upon their copyright for the song "Jealous Again."^[21] The suit also includes claims against Sony BMG, her label, J Money Music, her publisher, and TNT, who is using the song in promotional commercials. They claim that Wilson copied the Crowes hit when she recorded "Work Hard, Play Harder." Neither artist nor a spokesperson for Wilson commented on the suit, but Black Crowes' manager Pete Angelus said, "We find the musical verses of Wilson's song to be such an obvious example of copyright infringement that I expect all parties to reach a relatively quick resolution to avoid litigation."^[22]

Discography

Tours

• Shake Your Money Maker Tour (1990–91)
• High As the Moon Tour (1992)
• Amorica or Bust Tour (1994–95)
• Three Snakes and One Charm Tour (1996–97)
• Furthur Festival (Headlining Band) (Summer 1997)
• By Your Side Tour (1998–99)
• Excess All Areas Tour (with Jimmy Page) (1999–2000)
• Tour of Brotherly Love(mid 2001)
• Listen Massive Tour (late 2001)
• All Join Hands Tour (2005–06)
• Brothers of a Feather Tour (2006)
• Summer Tour (2006)
• Fall Tour (2006)
• Untitled Tour (2007)
• Warpaint "One Night Only" Mini-Tour (early 2008)
• Euphoria or Bust Tour (2008)
• Stuck inside Utopia Tour (2009)
• Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys Tour (2010)

Members (since 1989)

References

External links

• Official Website
• "The Black Crowes: The Party Continues for the Bad Boys of Rock" by NY Rock