Chris Robinson. Hailing from Georgia, Chris Robinson grew up with the Faces and the Rolling Stones as mentors. With the swagger of Rod Stewart, his band, The Black Crowes, burst onto the scene in 1989 with their debut, “Shake Your Money Maker”. The record was a breath of fresh air as grunge was taking over the airwaves. The stripped down music on the record yielded such classics as “Twice As Hard,” “She Talks to Angels,” “Jealous Again” and the Otis Redding classic, “Hard to Handle.” Robinson’s stage presence was quickly compared to Mick Jagger as he strutted like a rooster. With brother Rich on guitar, the band had a bluesy feel which also drew comparisons to the Stones.
As they emerged on the scene in their paisley-printed tunics and born-again hippie attire, people didn’t know what to make of them at first – as they defiantly claimed to save rock’n’roll. Shake Your Money Maker went on to sell more than 5 million copies, reaching triple platinum status and earning the group the Best New American Band distinction by Rolling Stone readers.
While it seemed like they came out of left field, the success of the Crowes was anything but instant. Chris and Rich Robinson initially formed the band in 1984 while in high school in Marietta, Georgia and went by the unfortunately named Mr Crowe’s Garden.
The brothers went through three drummers and half a dozen bass players between their ’84 debut as Mr Crowe’s and the summer ’89 sessions for Shake Your Money Maker. While they initially dabbled in 60’s psychedelic pop and classic southern rock, they gradually turned to the 70s-era blues-rock that would define the group’s eight studio albums.
Cut to the summer of ’89. With a new sound and new lineup in lead guitarist Jeff Cease, bassist Johnny Colt and drummer Steve Gorman, the band headed into the studio to start sessions on Money Maker. George Drakoulias, a former A&R rep for A&M Records turned producer for Def Jam, not only produced the record but also was responsible for scouting them in the first place and securing the record deal. Having studied at the Mick Jagger school of strutting, Robinson made for quite an charismatic frontman and Drakoulias saw potential.
The Crowes were always conspicuous crate diggers and ardent students of music history. They even named Shake Your Money Maker after a song by legendary blues guitarist Elmore James. One doesn’t have to listen hard to pick up the breadcrumb trail of influences ranging from 60s and 70s groups like Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, to Faces . In fact, they even recruited Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell to play piano and organ on most of Shake Your Money Maker‘s tracks.
Picking up where their predecessors left off, the Crowes were equally adept at blending rock, soul, country and gospel into something that felt new and electric. With swagger to spare, the very first track opens the album as a declaration and a promise to rock ‘Twice As Hard’.
From the screeching sounds of a car crash on ‘Thick N’ Thin’ to Rich Robinson’s wondrous dexterity on ‘Struttin Blues’, the whole album has that lighting in a bottle feeling and the raw energy of a live band who can’t be contained. But the real success of the album relied upon a pair of No.1 mainstream rock singles, ‘She Talks to Angels’ and ‘Hard To Handle’, which reached number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and No.26 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The album isn’t all boogie rock and hard rock riffs, there are some quieter moments with the weary and wistful ‘Sister Luck’ and ‘Seeing Things’ which both show off the brothers’ lyricism and Chris Robinson’s whiskey worn vocals. Several of the songs on the album, including ‘Could I’ve Been So Blind’ and the surprisingly affecting ballad ‘She Talks to Angels’, come from the band’s original incarnation when they were just teens.
Unaffected by the critics, Robinson forged on as the band released their sophomore effort, “The Southern Harmony” and Musical Companion, which hit the number one spot on the American charts and spawned the hits “Sting Me” and “Remedy.” The band’s next release, Amorica, was quick to please critics, but with the grunge movement in full swing, the record only sold 500,000 copies. While the group would release three more records, their popularity was in question, and they disbanded in 2002 only to reform in 2005, having released three albums. Now considered classic rock, they have been unable to capture the spark of their earlier work. Whether with the Crowes or as a solo act, Robinson continues to perform to the delight of fans.
The Fat Angel Sings 