The Black Crowes (or the Crowes) are an American, blues-oriented hard rock jam band that has sold over 20 million albums. They were hailed by Melody Maker as "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World". In 1990, the readers of Rolling Stone named it the 'Best New American Band'. The band has toured with acts such as Aerosmith, Jimmy Page, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Who, AC/DC, The Grateful Dead, and Neil Young. The Crowes are listed at #92 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
History
Formation and early years: 1984-1989
The first incarnation of the Black Crowes began in 1984 as "Mr. Crowes Garden" in Atlanta, Georgia a revivalist band dedicated to celebrating and playing 1970s era blues-rock. Although the Crowes have had many members over the years, the driving force behind the band has always been the brothers Chris & Rich Robinson. In 1989, the rockers, who have been heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rolling Stones, The Faces, The Band, Little Feat, Humble Pie, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Southern rock, made a demo cassette tape that got them signed with American Recordings.At the height of fame: 1990–1995
The Crowes released their 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. The band's 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. The Black Crowes pumped up their sales by opening for ZZ Top on a tour sponsored by Miller Beer, which they were fired from on March 1991 after Chris Robinson sarcastically remarked about commercialism on stage. The Crowes launched their own tour that May and later took part in a Monsters of Rock tour in the Soviet Union.After replacing guitarist Jeff Cease with Marc Ford from retro-rock power trio Burning Tree, the Crowes released their second album The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion in 1992. The record debuted at #1 on Billboard's top 200 albums. The title is a tribute to the shape note anthology of the same name that has been sung annually at The Big Singing in Benton, Kentucky since 1884. The effort spawned the singles "Remedy," "Thorn In My Pride," "Sting Me," "Sometimes Salvation" and "Hotel Illness". 'Remedy' and 'Thorn In My Pride' both broke the Top 100 in 1992.
Because of the prevalence of studio musician Chuck Leavell's piano and organ parts on the first release, the band recruited a keyboardist of their own, Eddie Harsch, to play on the album. He became a permanent member of the group beginning on the "High As the Moon" tour. The spelling of his last name is often listed as "Hawrysch."
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. Whilst commercially unsuccessful, die hard fans still embraced songs like 'Gone' 'A Conspiracy' 'Nonfiction' and specifically 'Wiser Time'. Controversially, the album cover featured a photo showing a woman's pubic hair. 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 Black Crowes played a unique gig in Tampa on April 7th, 1995, opening for the Grateful Dead. This was the one and only time the two bands performed together.
Middle era: 1996-2001
Three Snakes & One Charm was released in 1996, and though another record was recorded in early 1997, after the Deadhead-friendly Furthur tour that summer, Marc Ford was fired, Johnny Colt left the band, and the new album was shelved. (It later surfaced widely in trading circles, and many of its songs have been played live by the band in recent years). Bass player Sven Pipien joined in 1998 and the following year saw the release of the By Your Side again as a five-piece and on a new label, Columbia Records. The album was intended to be a return to their earlier sound. The writing and playing on it is in a decidedly different direction than that which was followed from Amorica to Three Snakes & One Charm and has been generally regarded by critics and some fans as "lackluster." 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.In 1999 the Crowes went on a short tour and recorded the album Live at the Greek' with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Page and the Crowes went on to tour more extensively in 2000, replacing bassist Sven Pipien with Greg Rzab along the way. That same year, singer Chris Robinson married actress Kate Hudson of Almost Famous fame (Hudson is the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn and the stepdaughter of actor Kurt Russell).
In 2001, the band put out their sixth studio effort, Lions, now on the V2 record label as dismal sales of their 5th album, By Your Side resulted in the band being dropped from Columbia. The new album included the singles "Lickin'" and "Soul Singing."
Indefinite hiatus and reunion: 2002-2005
A live album (featuring touring member Andy Hess on bass) pieced together from two sold-out shows performed at Boston's Orpheum Theatre appeared in 2002. around the same time the Crowes announced they would be taking an indefinite hiatus. Some members of the band did reunite to play one song with Gov't Mule at the 2004 Jammy Awards ("Sometimes Salvation"). During this period, Chris Robinson released two albums as Chris Robinson & the New Earth Mud: a self-titled album in 2002 and This Magnificent Distance (2004). Meanwhile, Rich Robinson formed a short-lived band called Hookah Brown before recording his own solo album, Paper (2004).In early 2005, the Robinson brothers with Eddie Harsch reassembled the band, bringing Marc Ford and Sven Pipien back into the fold and introducing Bill Dobrow on drums. In May of 2005, the Black Crowes reunited with original drummer Steve Gorman at the Tabernacle in Atlanta and played a five-night sold out stand at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium. During the summer, the Crowes joined up with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for a summer tour.
Departures, replacements and Warpaint: 2006-present
On March 21 2006, The Black Crowes released their first-ever live concert DVD, entitled " Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog," which features a live performance recorded at the historic Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, CA. There is also bonus material featuring a behind-the-scenes short film.On September 5 2006, on the verge of a fall tour, guitarist Marc Ford quit the band via fax, barely a week after the Crowes parted company with longtime keyboard player Ed Harsch. This development was announced to the public through a statement by the band's management on amorica.org, the band's official message board. Replacing the two departed members were Paul Stacey on guitar and Rob Clores on keyboards. On August 2007, when the band went back to tour, they introduced keyboard player Adam MacDougall, who replaced Rob Clores less than a year after Clores had joined the band. In addition, The Black Crowes invited guitar player Luther Dickinson from North Mississippi Allstars to perform on their upcoming record, entitled Warpaint, and in November, it was announced that Dickinson would also join the band to replace temporary guitarist Paul Stacey.
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 via the Eagle Rock Entertainment label. 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.
On January 7, 2008 the Black Crowes announced that for the first time in their 18-year career, they will perform an album in its entirety. On a special run of “One Night Only” shows beginning March 2 and wrapping March 20, fans will experience Warpaint – the group’s first album of all-new studio material in seven years, due out March 4 – in its entirety onstage, after which the band will perform songs from their catalog and selected surprises. The Black Crowes will launch a world tour March 24 when they headline the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival in Australia. The band will continue its Down Under trek--the first since 1992--through April 5, and conclude with exclusive performances in London, UK at Brixton Academy April 9 and The Amsterdam Music Hall April 11. A major-market multiple-night U.S. tour will begin in May, with cities and venues to be announced in the near future.
In February 2008 the band criticized Maxim magazine for it's review of Warpaint without first hearing it.