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Website: www.blackcrowes.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/theblackcrowes

At the time of their 1990 debut, the kind of rock & roll the Black Crowes specialize in was out of style. Only Guns N’ Roses came close to approximating a vintage Stones-style raunch, but they were too angry and jagged to pull it off completely. The Black Crowes replicated that Stonesy swagger and Faces boogie perfectly. Vocalist Chris Robinson appropriated the sound and style of vintage Rod Stewart while guitarist Rich Robinson fused Keith Richards‘ lean attack with Ron Wood‘s messy rhythmic sense. At their best, the Black Crowes echo classic rock without slavishly imitating their influences.

The Robinson brothers originally formed the Black Crowes in Georgia in 1984. By the time of their 1990 debut, Shake Your Money Maker, the group comprised Chris Robinson (vocals), Rich Robinson (guitar), Johnny Colt (bass), Jeff Cease (guitar), and Steve Gorman (drums). “Jealous Again,” the first single from Shake Your Money Maker, was a moderate hit but it was the band’s cover of Otis Redding‘s “Hard to Handle” that made the group a multi-platinum success. “Hard to Handle” climbed its way into the Top 40, propelling the album into the Top Ten. The acoustic ballad “She Talks to Angels” became the band’s second Top 40 hit in the spring of 1991. Shake Your Money Maker would eventually sell over three million copies.

The Black Crowes delivered their second album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, in the spring of 1992. It entered the charts at number one, but it didn’t have as many hit singles as the debut; none of the singles cracked the Top 40 and only “Remedy” and “Thorn in My Pride” made the Top 100. Nevertheless, the band established itself as a popular concert attraction that summer, selling out theaters across America. During 1992, the band added keyboardist Eddie Harsch as a permanent member. The Black Crowes’ third album, Amorica, arrived in late 1994. Amorica debuted in the Top Ten, but none of the singles from the album made the charts; even though the record went gold, it slipped off the charts in early 1995.

Three Snakes and One Charm, the group’s fourth album, was released in July 1996. The album entered the charts at number 15, but it quickly slipped out of the Top 50. Nevertheless, the album received the best reviews of any Crowes album since The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. Guitarist Marc Ford was fired from the Black Crowes in August 1997; two years later, the group returned with By Your Side. In mid-2000, the band collaborated with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page on the double-disc Live at the Greek, an eclectic mix of newly recorded Zeppelin covers and additional classic blues cuts. Greatest Hits 1990-1999: A Tribute to a Work in Progress, a 16-track best-of compilation, was also released in mid-2000.

The Don Was-produced Lions appeared in spring 2001, and a summer tour with Oasis — the Tour of Brotherly Love — followed in June. But all was apparently not well with the group, and in January 2002, the band announced that it was on hiatus. Drummer Steve Gorman was fired, and Chris Robinson announced his intentions for a solo career.

In 2005, however, the Black Crowes reunited for a show at San Francisco’s Fillmore, a concert that was released in both CD and DVD form in 2006 as Freak ‘N’ Roll… Into the Fog. That same year also saw the release of The Lost Crowes, which contained two previously unreleased albums, 1993′s Tall (parts of which were seen in Amorica and other places) and the 1997 never-before-heard Band. Following a series of lineup changes, the retooled band then hit the road for a proper tour before setting to work on their first studio effort in seven years. Joined by newcomer Luther Dickinson, guitarist and co-founder of the North Mississippi Allstars, the Black Crowes combined the rootsy appeal of their early work with a newfound political awareness on 2008′s Warpaint.

The band then 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. 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. Also that year, The Black Crowes filed a lawsuit against country singer Gretchen Wilson, claiming that she infringed upon their copyright for the song “Jealous Again.”^[17]

In April 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.^[18] The band released its eighth studio album, Before the Frost…Until the Freeze, later that year. A CD purchase of the album is accompanied with a download code to receive the album’s companion release, …Until the Freeze.^[19] 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 Helms Studio in Woodstock, and presents a combination of new material and a few new cover songs recorded live in front of an audience. Continuing the trend set with the previous album Warpaint the Crowes incorporated more of their country and bluegrass roots in these recordings as well as venturing into new avenues such as disco in the song I Ain’t Hidin’. A DVD of these sessions, including some interview and backstage segments, was released named Cabin Fever.

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 Goodnight to the Bad Guys” tour, which featured two 90-minute sets at the majority of shows: one acoustic and one electric. After the tour, the band went on another “indefinite” hiatus.^[20]

On November 26, 2010 The Black Crowes released a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 10″ vinyl picture disc w/download card called, Say Goodnight to The Bad Guys/Remedy^[21] (acoustic live) for independent record stores.

After ending the US tour at the Fillmore West in December the Crowes are playing 9 Goodnight to the Bad Guys shows in Europe in July 2011. These include festivals in Italy, Spain, Holland & Belgium. As well as a few headlining shows where, comparable to the US tour, they will play a 90 min acoustic + 90 min electric set, these are their two shows in London and their last two shows of the tour that will see them return to Amsterdams poptemple Paradiso.

Source:  Wikipedia