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Chris Robinson has always been a heavy record-crate digger, reviving cuts by acts from the Band to Buck Owens in concert during his years with the Black Crowes and listening to vinyl compulsively on the road with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. The singer will mine his record collection with a focus on psychedelia for his new radio show, Chris Robinson's Gurus Galore, to air on Sirius XM's Jam On channel beginning Monday, April 4th, at 5 p.m. ET.
Black Crowes' Rich Robinson: 'The Band Has Broken Up' » Robinson has ramped up work with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood since the Black Crowes completed what they say was their final tour in 2013. His brother Rich wrote a note last year announcing their breakup, with a series of accusations against his brother. "I love my brother and respect his talent, but his present demand that I must give up my equal share of the band, and that our drummer for 28 years and original partner, Steve Gorman, relinquish 100% of his share, reducing him to a salaried employee, is not something I could agree to," Rich Robinson wrote.
Here, Chris Robinson responds to those allegations, and explains why the Crowes will never play again. "It's just gross now," he says. "I think everyone's laid down their cards. If you're a child and you've been hurt and someone took your toy, you have a temper tantrum, you know? You're allowed to just want the money. You're allowed to just want to be in that kind of band where you go out and play your hits and you don't have anything else to say or offer anyone. In the same way, I'm allowed to not want to be a part of that." He also discusses his passion for playing with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and how psychedelic drugs affected his music.
What's it been like to become a radio DJ?
We've taped the first six episodes. The show's called Gurus Galore, which is an extension of when I was living in New York — the last time I was living in New York, a few years ago, must've been eight years ago, when my wife and I had kept her apartment before I made her a permanent Californian. We used to DJ a lot. My friend Michael Klausman, from Other Music, here in New York — we used to DJ a lot of parties, and stuff, and we were called Gurus Galore.
I kind of kept that moniker. I'm an obsessive music fan. I listen to a lot of stuff that's probably not played on the radio too much, as well. The last time I was there a few months ago, I had the opportunity to do, like, a guest DJ thing, and I was like, "Dude, why don't I have my own radio show?" So that's kind of how it got started. And you know, my initial idea was, I really liked the idea of those old, like, FM late-night DJ's, someone that would come on once a week and play you, not just the Who, not just, you know, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Not just the the stuff that you constantly hear on AM or rock radio. Longer tracks, and then for me, like, again, I can get into New Age music. I can play BBC Radiophonic Workshop stuff. But I can also play obscure psych bands. And if I want, I can play Syd Barrett. I can play Skip Spence. I can play Gabor Szabo. I can play, you know, really, he said, "Whatever you want, whatever you feel like that sort of set would be," or whatever. So, super exciting, you know? And for me, you know, if I can be a miniature Johnny Hempseed for psychedelic music, then so be it.
If you had to pick a couple of your favorite psychedelic records, what would they be?
I can't even imagine what life would have been like if I hadn't got The Madcap Laughs in 1986, or whatever. And I would say, probably "Dark Star" from Live/Dead is a quintessential LSD recording. I'm a huge Deadhead and there's millions of better versions, people can argue, but this is a record that came out that was blowing minds, you know?
I would say, too, if I had to put something on the very top of the list though, I would probably say Gong, Daevid Allen's Gong, and their record Angel's Egg is an incredible dose of psychedelic genius. You can also throw anything that George Clinton did from 1970 to about 1978. Parliament/Funkadelic. The one thing about George that's always been important to me, and our music and his influence on me, is he's really one of the only R&B or black artists whose, you know... LSD really changed the game for them.
How do you define psychedelic music?
Well, psychedelic usually for me is music and people and the culture that revolves around the creative process being involved with psychedelic drugs. It's not a haircut; it's not a lot of reverb on your guitar, or whatever. I don't think it's just about the psychedelic, sort of infusion-driven experience, although that's the basis of it. I think that's that's the catalyst for all this other sort of progressive and positive stuff. Again, it's a doorway to enter through, and you leave behind a lot of the same old stuff, a lot of the same old dimensional realities that everyone's involved with. The other thing about real psychedelic music, to me, is a lot of people wanted to make music and create beautiful things. It didn't necessarily have anything to do with being "driven rock stars." Not everyone was going to be Pink Floyd, you know what I mean? It was expression for expression's sake, as opposed to, you know, kind of manipulating who you are and what you have to say.
Do you remember your first psychedelic experience?
Of course. It was a long time ago. It must've been 1985. I was in Atlanta, with Sven Pipien, who was the bass player in the Black Crowes for many years. We were still teenagers; we had all just moved out of our parents' houses. Yeah, we just took a trip; we were all in Atlanta at a friend's apartment, and it was the first time I felt the warm embrace of the cosmic consciousness. The holy mother took me to her bosom and said, "Everything will be all right." It was a miraculous, beautiful evening, and then we spent the rest of the night at our friend's house, probably just listening to Flying Burrito Brothers records, just getting super kooky. But the one thing I always remembered about it was when I was still attempting to be a student at the time, at Georgia State University, I went down to the campus, and as I was walking along, I kind of noticed how similar the experience was in a way to how I already envisioned the world, the way the light falls on the sidewalks, through an iron fence, or just sitting on the corner and watching people go about their days in my own sort of way. It wasn't frightening or intimidating. It was, "Oh, this is a tool, maybe for the right person at the right time to get through some of the trials and tribulations that we all face." But in a responsible, in a respectful way. Because you're dealing with consciousness.
"We were all in Atlanta at a friend's apartment, and it was the first time I felt the warm embrace of the cosmic consciousness."Do you think those psychedelic experiences helped you become successful, or pointed you in the right direction?
You know, it's funny that you say that, because there's a duality there. My interest in that gave me great insights as a young person who was kind of thrust into rock & roll stardom, which, you know, you step up to the plate and you take a swing. You know, that was the whole point.
But it's funny because those early sort of forays into psychedelic experience and culture definitely gave me the perception and the strength to see, "Oh, these people don't care about my music! These people don't care about me! They care about money and they care about all the other bands that can make money." It's like being the owner of a sports team or something. "You break your leg? Shit for you, huh, kid?" It gave me the vantage point of being able to see some of these illusionary things that happen in entertainment and showbiz, and made me sort of back away from it. On the other hand, it probably upset all the other people, because not everybody else was on the same trip as me. You know what I mean?
And subsequently, as the Nineties sort of progressed and hard drugs became a part of the routine, it seemed like the psychedelics took a seat on the back of the bus until I got that out of my system and started to find myself again. It's funny, though. I found myself true happiness and more complete and more secure the farther I was away from the thing that made me successful, or the people that I came up with. You know what I mean?
Farther away from what?
From the Black Crowes. Or from people I felt probably never had my best interests, or my back. But, you know, 20/20. What happened, happened. I think as we get older, and we have different responsibilities and dynamics in our life. The point is not to make the same mistakes. With the CRB [Chris Robinson Brotherhood], this is our little community. It's still small. I was laughing. We sold out two nights at the Fillmore in December. Some friends said, "Jesus, you have this connection with the audience." I said, "I kind of know the first 18 rows by their first names, in a weird way."
I like that there's no hassle. You can walk to the bus and you kind of know everyone: "Hey, how's it going?" I like that sense of community, that sense that everyone's at a party that no one knows about yet. It's super fun. I really want to nurture that feeling.
I imagine having a smaller audience pushes you to write better material.
That's another philosophical quandary. Success came before anything because I wrote the songs. In the Black Crowes, I wrote those songs as a collaboration with my brother, Rich, who would have a little piece of music that wasn't a song, and I could sit with him and arrange the lyrics and melody and show it to everyone. Which is super cool! That's what I'm still interested in.
But as time goes on, and the rules of money and the rules of ego come into play, it's kind of like being a painter who's not allowed to paint because the gallery owns everything you do, even a little sketch on a napkin. At dinner, someone's going to come by and take it and put it in a vault. But for me, everything was about the writing. I've never stopped. That was an inherent problem for me. Here I am, sitting on all these songs. What am I going to do?
Now that [Chris Robinson Brotherhood] have played, you know, Jesus, 600 shows together, three hours a night, that's starting to be a lot of hours of communication. It's about nurturing — I say it even though it's a cliché — the song, the band, the music; that's our garden. If you can make a decision in your life that isn't based solely on financial gain, and if you're surrounded by people who understand that, and understand that this is about the hard work and the love that we put into it, then we've already won. You know what I mean? We were already more successful, in our mind, than any that we've ever been a part of separately.
What was the last Black Crowes tour in 2013 like for you?
For me it was great. I was happy. I got to sing those songs one last time to the people who gave me so much. I would be writing these songs and doing all this on any level, whether it was in my garage to friends or whatever. So for the opportunity to be a part of people's lives and those shows to be important, that never goes without my respect. So that was special. And I've wanted to go, you know what I mean? So I wanted that to be the emphasis. And also I think that summer, touring with the Tedeschi Trucks Band was probably the best touring experience. Great friendships were forged on that.
It also opened my eyes to kind of how dysfunctional — and I don't really want to get into it — how dysfunctional and how disappointed I was with where the Black Crowes ended up. Which hurt. It hurts a person like me who's very altruistic, in those terms. But you know what? No matter all the ugly shit that people try to say about me ... it doesn't matter. I'm getting to do exactly what I want to do. It makes me happy.
We don't sit around and have some douchebag pull up in his Porsche and come to the studio and start telling us that the bass isn't loud enough or that he doesn't like the lyrics or that he doesn't like the edit. The same people that basically killed the music business are the same people who are still trying to control it. We've just removed ourselves from that and we're completely happy to be independent of it.
Do you ever see a scenario of the Black Crowes playing together again?
No, never.
Why not?
It's just gross now. I think everyone's laid down their cards. It's easy to sit back and say, "Oh, well, that guy said that he wanted all my money!" It's not true! That's not how it works and I've said it before. I don't think people should discuss their business. But then again, if you're a child and you've been hurt and someone took your toy, you have a temper tantrum, you know? Like I said, man, you're allowed to just want the money. You're allowed to just want to be in that kind of band where you go out and play your hits and you don't have anything else to say or offer anyone. In the same way I'm allowed to not want to be a part of that!
It doesn't take away from what we did. It just means that I'm not going to spend my life around people who don't like each other or are all there for the same reason. The reason any of this is interesting at all is because we all jumped into the river, the music. That music starts with us as human beings in our earliest, ancient past, and it will take us to our distant future. That will not change. That's where we are.
How long do you plan on doing the radio show?
As long as people listen, or until they fire me.
And how is the next Chris Robinson Brotherhood record sounding?
It's called Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel. It comes out in July. We made the record as a four-piece, because you know, our bass player told us last fall that he wanted to get off the road and he didn't want to tour anymore. Making this record up here in Marin County, and you know, I would rank it as easily one of my favorite sessions, and the coolest studio I've ever worked in. We didn't do any pre-production. When you're on a limited budget, you have to work harder to make it all happen. And we're well aware of that since we started this band. To be in Los Angeles, we've made records at beautiful studios. There's just a completely different mindset. I think it shows itself in the material and the performances and the sonics for the landscape that we've created. I think the depth of the songwriting is there. It has some of my favorite lyrics. It just turned out to a super, super positive and super creative energy up here.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Band drama posts are the theme of the day.
It would have been nice if the interviewer would have pressed the issue about Steve Gorman being asked to give up his share of the band to get CR's take on that being the reason for the breakup.
Of course it could have been one of those interviews with parameters.
It's sad any time I read more about the Crowes demise.
And throw Marc Ford into the mix. Best guitarist they ever had in IMO.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
I have to say I absolutely loved Chris Robinson and New Earth Mud, but just can't seem to get into the Chris Robinson Brotherhood....To be fair, I've only seen them once at Mountain Jam a few years back. Thought they were boring as hell and very lackluster. Just my humble opinion but would certainly give them another chance if given the opportunity to see them.
War Eagle I couldn't agree with you more. I love the Black Crowes and miss them terribly. And the fact that they will be no more because Chris Robinson is a money grubbing phony is beyond sad. Yet another idol with clay feet ... I personally believe that somewhere down the line the CRB will be exposed as nothing more than an instrument of Chris' enormous ego. They've already had some turn over. It's a shame because I like Casal. Actually like him much better in Hard Working Americans. It's funny someone mentioned Steve Gorman. I just picked up the Trigger Hippy CD. It is hands down the best solo effort by a former Crowe. I recommend it to everyone. I guess this band is defunct. There isn't any justice. I also hope that maybe Rich could parlay this stint in Bad Company to working on a project with Paul Rodgers. Now that could be something ... Say they call Jimmy Page???
And throw Marc Ford into the mix. Best guitarist they ever had in IMO.
Agreed. He was their Mick Taylor.
Listened to an interview with Marc Ford a couple of weeks ago. I never knew that he was just on salary with the band, never made a partner in the band. He seemed ok with it. However, apparently all of the other guitarists Ford, Luther Dickinson, Audley Freed and Jackie Greene were never official members, just employees of the band.
So were Derek Trucks, Otiel and Marc ... the point being??? Marc Ford played on some of the iconic Crowe records, but the others were/are great players and made some great records with the Crowes. Lions and Croweology being two. Also I'd call Luther their Mick Taylor because his playing blossomed into something reminiscent of Taylor's best work with the Stones. Although Jackie Green and Paul Stacy didn't get to record with the Crowes, they too are great players and contributed to the mystique. Say what you want about the Crowes but all the former members are still working in music with maybe Sven and Eddie being the exceptions. Jeff Cease the original guitarist is playing with the Eric Church Band and doing well.
I saw the Crowes @ The Fillmore in San Francisco in December 2008, part of a run of four or five shows there. That was a show that I'll never forget and I have a soundboard copy of it that I bought on their website. Rich Robinson and Luther Dickinson on guitars. SMOKING HOT! Singer Chris put on a great performance that night.
Always loved this video from 2013 of the Crowes w/ TTB.
It's funny someone mentioned Steve Gorman. I just picked up the Trigger Hippy CD. It is hands down the best solo effort by a former Crowe. I recommend it to everyone. I guess this band is defunct.
Love the Trigger Hippy album - saw them a couple of years ago. I just checked their website and Jackie Greene left the band but they have Guthrie Trapp. I'd pay to see them.
http://triggerhippy.net/
Looking on the bright side, I like what Rich is doing, a lot. I've seen him with his band and also solo acoustic. Looking forward to catching him this summer.
I saw CRB last summer and liked them too.
If there is no more Black Crowes at least there still is a lot of good music being made.
Stormy check the dates on the updates on the Trigger Hippy website ... Summer 2015. That's why I said they appear defunct. Steve put together a great group. Obviously they have their own gigs. Hopefully they may just be on hiatus. I like Rich's solo stuff too and I caught him and his band. They were great. Unfortunately it wasn't well attended. There is a segment of the jam band scene that Chris is trying to appeal to. I guess he's trying to be second coming of the Dead. And CAPITALIZE on that market.
At least Rich is probably making some okay money doing the Bad Company tour filling in for Mick Ralphs.
So were Derek Trucks, Otiel and Marc ... the point being???
That I always assumed Marc Ford was a member of the band and it surprised me a little to learn that he was just an employee. I guess that was my point and I thought it was an interesting nugget worth sharing. Didn't have much of one beyond that other than pointing out that many of the people who have played with the band never were official members.
From what Steve Gorman has said Trigger Hippy will move on without Jackie Greene and I think at one point the were working on a follow up album. I think Audley Freed was originally in the band and was replaced by Greene, maybe they can get him back?
When Luther was in the Crowes, I never understood why he didn't have a mic in front of him for background vocals. I don't know why that jumped out at me, but for some reason I felt it to be odd that a fairly well known singer didn't even sing back up.
As far as Rich goes, he also has a new solo album coming out in May and just re-released all of his back catalog. His album "The Ceaseless Sight" is well worth checking out.
They all have done some really good solo stuff, but combined they were one of my all time favorites.
Chris isn't an atheist alpha. He worships himself ... and money evidently. 😉
When Luther was in the Crowes, I never understood why he didn't have a mic in front of him for background vocals. I don't know why that jumped out at me, but for some reason I felt it to be odd that a fairly well known singer didn't even sing back up.
I never got this either, I assumed they would let him sing back-up or maybe even lead on a song. I assume it was a good pay day for luther, but felt his talent was being somewhat wasted with the crowes.
When Luther was in the Crowes, I never understood why he didn't have a mic in front of him for background vocals. I don't know why that jumped out at me, but for some reason I felt it to be odd that a fairly well known singer didn't even sing back up.
I love North Mississippi All-Stars. That said, I'd have to say that Luther's vocals are the weakest link in the band. Looks like the Robinson brothers agree with me.
Yes this seems to be similar to the Allman Brothers. All that is left is "me and the two drummers" according to a recent Gregg Allman interview. Gave me the impression that it's not worth doing a reunion tour with just the singer/keyboard player and two drummers.
But what seems to stand out in comparison to the Crows and the ABB is the dysfunction. I said earlier, I thought that ended with the Betts fax in 2000 but according to recent Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes interviews, it was still the case to a degree and they were and had been, ready to move on.
And it is correct that Derek, Warren, Mac, Otiel and earlier Jack Pearson and Allen Woody were employees of the ABB and only Gregg, Dickey, Butch and Jaimoe were the owners/partners.
it seems Jaimoe was the the one who tried to get along with everybody. Gregg and Dickey were close but had an up and down relationship with snubs and arguments and no speaking to each other kinda relationship like many marriages I've been around. Love each other, get along very well at times then have spats and resentments and feuding and no speaking to each other even on stage.
Butch apparently never liked Dickey at all. Dickey was already in the band when Butch joined and it was Duane's call. Butch disliked not getting a writing credit on Liz Reed but Duane backed Dickey's position that the brothers arranged the song and only Dickey wrote it. Butch later admitted in an interview that Gregg's material was the same and it was Oakley who wrote the famous intro to Whipping Post. Gregg doesn't use that intro when he plays it in his solo band. I think he said he likes to play it closer to the way it was written.
I guess I have to agree that songs are widely arranged differently than the actual blueprint writing of the original. Listen to the 1000 different versions of Blue Moon for example from Julie London to Jo Stafford to Frank Sinatra to the Marcells. Different tempos, cords, beat etc. just the same lyrics. And the same writing credit on the label.
On the other hand, if a song is developed for a specific band by that band and that version is suppose to be the original version and Oakley or Trucks contributed to the end product, then maybe they should get a credit which could translate to a lot of money in publishing rights.
Gregg let Kim Payne have 05% of the money from publishing on Midnight Rider for just one line of the lyrics. It is so confusing to me how this stuff shakes out.
Standback from Eat A Peach was an instrumental which evolved from a bass line Oakley came up with then Gregg got it and wrote lyrics to it and he and Berry ended up sharing the publishing on that one as it was seen as Berry's music and Gregg's words and arrangement.
On "End of the Line" Allen Woody wrote much of that including some of the lyrics. Another guy helped Woody advance the thing further and he got a credit. Then Warren wrote some new cords for parts of it and some changes. Finally Woody gave the song to Gregg who re-arranged it and cut it down to a neater and more compact package and Gregg then got a credit on that too so the publishing was shared by four men. Goes both ways it seems.
Warren said he wrote some cord changes for "Nobody Knows" but only Dickey got the credit on that one. On other songs from Shades of Two Worlds Dickey shared the credit with Warren. I don't get it. I think Dickey decided if he would share a publishing credit with another musician. And on Nobody Knows he said no.
The only thing that seems clear is that Butch didn't turn on Dickey to get him out of the band until he found out that Gregg was leaving because of Dickey. Then he made the call to Gregg. Gregg said "Let me sleep on it" and Gregg went along the next day and they got in touch with Jaimoe who originally would only agree to a temporary suspension for the summer.
I don't know if the ABB should do a reunion tour. And I would imagine it is more likely Dickey would join Gregg on stage at a Gregg solo show than Dickey play on a stage with Butch in an ABB reunion tour and maybe Butch wouldn't want to be on stage with Dickey ever again.
And it seems Dickey may be done with playing anyway. I'm not even sure Dickey can play now. The years and his lifestyle have taken they toll. Heck it is probably amazing he and Gregg are still living.
That net worth site which tracks famous people has Dickey listed at 40 million so he can stay retired if he chooses. The first time I was there Dickey was 40 million and Gregg was 12 million. Now Gregg is up to 23 million so he had gained ground since the fax and Dickey has stayed the same. I know Dickey's beautiful home and estate in Florida was payed for when he got the fax so his home was never in danger. And he owned his own touring bus which the ABB used. It became the smoking bus in the late 90s because Dickey was on it and he smoked and the other bus was non smoking. They tried to ban smoking on stage but Dickey didn't listen. Dickey Betts is not going to be in a band where people, including Gregg Allman, tells him what to do period! Jeff Beck is that way and so was Jerry Garcia. Even Duane Allman had to handle Dickey Betts with care. Check with any of the guys around back then and see that is right.
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger can buy and sell both Gregg and Dickey as both of those Stones members are listed at over 300 million net worth. But I like the brothers better. I'm in this for the money:-)
Chris Robinson represents, and has since he decided that he wanted to be a "rock star", EVERYTHING that is WRONG about rock and roll.
It absolutely amazes me when people (some on this board) say he is the "greatest singer in rock"...and some have implied the greatest EVER.
Huh? Whatever happened to, say,....GREGG ALLMAN? To name just ONE.
Yeah, if you love the sound of a screeching, braying JACKASS riding along on the coattails of his admittedly talented brother, who has ALWAYS been the genius behind the band. Without Rich, Chris would still be singing in bad Classic Rock tribute/cover bands playing in garden spots like Fargo, ND for gas money to get to their next gig (nothing against Fargo...)
This guy is just unbelievable. He has fired or screwed (or both) almost EVERY SINGLE EX - MEMBER of the Black Crowes, all in service to his incredibly MASSIVE ego, which by now must be bigger than the Grand Canyon.....by now he must be visible from space.
His 15 minutes are FINALLY over.
Good riddance.
I remember when the Eagles announced their "When Hell Freezes over Tour" ... Tempers will eventually cool and egos will deflate over time to a size that's conducive to conversation. Might be another decade or more but when money calls they'll come back. Even if they don't I'll be interested to see where they go from here the same way Allman band members are doing. It's a shame Marc Ford doesn't play with anyone these days. He had so much soul - I would love to see him back in the mix with a band that rocked.
I remember when the Eagles announced their "When Hell Freezes over Tour" ... Tempers will eventually cool and egos will deflate over time to a size that's conducive to conversation. Might be another decade or more but when money calls they'll come back. Even if they don't I'll be interested to see where they go from here the same way Allman band members are doing. It's a shame Marc Ford doesn't play with anyone these days. He had so much soul - I would love to see him back in the mix with a band that rocked.
It's doubtful that Marc Ford or any of the other excellent musicians who Chris and Rich fired will ever come back to play music with them. But it's not any secret that Chris is a total diva and dick when it comes to how he treats other musicians in the crowes or just in general.
The song by gov’t mule “Mr. High and Mighty†was written about Chris.
James Brown said it best, when referring to Chris Robinson… “Talking loud and sayin’ nothing.â€
[Edited on 4/10/2016 by alpha]
GREAT post. Bravo.
Interesting. My view is totally opposite. It has always seemed to me that Rich wanted to keep doing the hits and did not like the jamming, extended improv elements. While Chris disliked having to play these same hits the same way to so-called fans that stayed on their phones just to post that they were at the Black Crowes show.
The only Crowes i listen to is when Marc Ford was with them, and i remember reading an interview with Rich where he complained that the last tour with Ford they became too much like a jam band. That was the first time i realized the guitarist was the one that didn't like the elements of the Crowes that i liked. I always assumed that Chris, being the singer, was the one that steered them to the more concise (aiming at radio) rock songs. Still strikes me as strange. Then look at their solo output...
The two times i've seen the Crowes i was really underwhelmed. The last time wasn't too bad, but noting special. The first time was terrible.
I've seen CRB 4 times and they have been outstanding. I'd actually be sad if he stopped and went back to the Crowes because i like CRB so much better --including their CD's.
