Earlier this month, the Black Crowes released “Happiness Bastards,” garnering some of the most positive reviews in the extended career of the Atlanta-born classic rock band. Not bad for their first studio album release since 2009. The lengthy hiatus, as they worked on their own projects, clearly helped famously acrimonious brothers Chris and Rich Robinson mend their personal and musical differences.
The musicians’ turbulent timeline began in the local clubs of Atlanta and Athens in 1984 as Mr. Crowe’s Garden. The Robinsons ultimately ditched their college rock leanings to embrace a harder, blues-rock sound as the Black Crowes. They kicked off their recording career in 1990 with the well-received “Shake Your Moneymaker,” which the duo revisited with an extensive tour in 2021.
All the usual outlets praised the decidedly retro feel of the new collection, on the band’s own Silver Arrow Records, with Rolling Stone musing, “Whether ‘Happiness Bastards’ works because the Robinsons are reanimating the past, or merely reenacting it, what matters is they’re rocking now.”
On Facebook, Drivin N Cryin leader Kevn Kinney, an old friend and supporter of the band, raved about “Happiness Bastards” in a stream-of-consciousness, Atlanta-centric travelogue, proclaiming, “I think this is the best Black Crowes record. End of story.”
As the current version of the band, featuring the Robinsons with long-time bassist Sven Pipien, prep a long tour that brings them to the Fox Theatre on April 3, Rich Robinson spoke with the AJC by phone.
Credit: Ross Halfin
Credit: Ross Halfin
Q: What did you think of Kevn Kinney’s review? It seemed like the most heartfelt and accurate take on the new album so far.
A: It was so sweet. Every place he mentioned in that review were places we all grew up around. And it all came to him while listening to this record. I really feel that our past is all over the album, not just in the Atlanta landmarks but also on the road to Athens.
Q: Both scenes had a big impact on the Crowes’ sound and stance, right?
A: Atlanta was home but Athens was close, so we were directly influenced by both cities. I mean, we knew a lot of the Atlanta bands first, but I remember hearing R.E.M. when I was a kid. I heard “Radio Free Europe” on 96 Rock and it grabbed me the first time I heard it, just like when I first heard Nick Drake or “Tumbling Dice.” It grabbed ahold of me and that was it.
Q: Unlike some of the more jam-based stuff in the middle period of the Crowes catalog, this one seems to play off of earlier strengths. Was it a conscious effort to forgo the familiar blues-rock jams this time around?
A: Well, sometimes you have to go out on a limb to come back. We were constantly pushing ourselves, trying for different things, all along. We never let our ‘success’ hold us back, in a sense, and instead of obsessing over trying to maintain it, we obsessed over writing better songs and basically taking them somewhere else.
Q: Safe to say that that’s the thread running through your entire discography?
A: That’s right. Chris and I innately wanted to make “Southern Harmony” (1992) a live rock ‘n’ roll album. We went in, made it in eight days, done. We didn’t want to comb over it and over-consider: “Well, this needs a chorus. Where’s the ‘Hard to Handle?’ Where’s the ‘She Talks To Angels?’” And we went in and for six months and made “Amorica” (1994), and we really tried and focused on that studio vibe for “Three Snakes” (1996), too. It all took a step ahead as we went forward.
Q: Do you think you had to take a break from each other to come back and make what is basically the perfect bookend to “Shake Your Moneymaker?”
A: Once we split — and Chris described it as “Going out into the wilderness” — I went out and did my own thing. I did things I’d never done. I played with Bad Company, did the Hendrix thing (”Experience Hendrix” tour, 2014), did solo records, produced other people. Chris and I kind of went out separately and came back to this point in time. Playing “Moneymaker” every night on an extended tour [in 2022] and looking at it not only individually as the songs but how the songs became a piece unto itself, we saw how everything works together. I really think it brought us to this place. We innately just kinda knew we were on the same page again for this album.
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Q: It bristles with the ghosts of those classic Atlanta clubs such as the Metroplex and 688.
A: (Laughs) Yeah, it really does! The first band I saw was Corrosion of Conformity at the Metroplex when I was a kid. There was a visceral element to it that really kind of grabbed us because we loved songwriting, even at that age. That’s when we got into bands like the Cramps and X, which aren’t as hardcore and there’s more sophistication in their writing.
Q: At this early point, do you have any favorite songs from the new album?
A: A lot of times, playing the songs live will shift how I feel about them, so we’ll see. It’s interesting how these songs bloom, so to speak, once you start playing them. Right now, I love playing “Rats and Clowns” and “Cross Your Fingers.” “Flesh Wound” is almost like an ode to X, again an influence on us as we were growing up.
I just feel like another interesting thing about the whole record, when Chris sings, he’s going to sound like Chris no matter what. I play and I write like me. It’s going to sound like me when I write it. The two of us together make that sound. We can explore some elements that may be a little different, but in the end, it still sounds like the Black Crowes and that’s what I still love about what we do.
Q: Even when you’re in a country-soul groove, it has a recognizable sound. Some people might think having Lainey Wilson on “Wilted Rose” is a little out of left field, but her voice works well with the material.
A: She and her voice are one. She’s singing straight from her gut, right from her soul. When we thought about having her sing on something, that one came up. She took it to a different level. I always loved it when I wrote it but when you have her voice on top, it just sounds amazing.
Q: Even though your homes are scattered all over the place, does it still feel like a homecoming to play an Atlanta gig at this point?
A: Absolutely. Every time we play Atlanta, it feels like that, but for this show — especially at the Fox — it will. It’s going to be cool to get back in there and do some of these songs that remind us of home.
CONCERT PREVIEW
The Black Crowes
The Black Lips open. 8 p.m. April 3 at the Fox Theatre. $53.50-$601.50, 660 Peachtree St. NE, 855-285-8499, www.foxtheatre.org
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