Black Crowes

The Black Crowes are a blues-oriented hard rock jam band that sold over 15 million albums and hailed by Melody Maker as The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World. The band toured with acts such as Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Jimmy Page, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Oasis, AC/DC and Lenny Kravitz. The Crowes are listed at #92 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

The first incarnation of the band began as Mr. Crowes Garden in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985. Although the Crowes 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.According to interviews with Chris and Rich Robinson for an episode of the VH1 program Behind The Music, when The Black Crowes first signed to Def American, their record producer, Rick Rubin, tried to get them to change their name from the original Mr. Crowes Garden to The Kobb Kounty Krows (KKK). This upset the band tremendously and after arguments and labeling him a racist; the band changed the name to The Black Crowes. Before they became national, the band played frequently at The White Dot, a club located on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

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, the debut sold over 5 million copies and was certified 5x platinum in 1995. The crossover appeal of the songs helped catapult The Black Crowes to stardom. In 1991, The Black Crowes helped momentum of their sales by opening for ZZ Top in addition to taking part in the Monsters of Rock tour, with AC/DC, Metallica, Motley Crue and Queensryche. In 2000 the Crowes went on tour and recorded the album Live at the Greek with Led Zeppelin.

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. A live album pieced together from two sold-out shows performed at Boston's Orpheum Theatre appeared in 2002 around the same time the Crowes announced they took an indefinite hiatus. Some members of the band did reunite to play one song with Gov't Mule at the 2004 Jammy Awards. 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).As part of their reunion tour, the Crowes played a New Year's Eve concert (2005) at New York's famed Madison Square Garden, along with the North Mississippi All Stars and former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio. Anastasio played guitar on Hard to Handle.

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. Later in the year, Chris and Rich Robinson hit the road as a duo for a special run of multiple-night acoustic shows, which featured a collection of their songs, influential covers as well as new material. Billed as Brothers of a Feather: An Acoustic Evening With Chris & Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes, the intimate shows were recorded for release. 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 are Paul Stacey on guitar and Rob Clores on keyboards.

On August 2007, when the band went back to tour, they introduced a new keyboard player - Adam MacDougall - which replaced Rob Clores, less than a year after Clores joined the band.In mid-2007, The Black Crowes announced the release of their first new album since Lions some time in 2008 on an undisclosed label.A live album entitled Live at the Roxy, culled from the 2006 Brothers of a Feather performance 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.

On June 15, 2007 the Black Crowes kicked off their summer tour at Jubilee Jam in Jackson, Mississippi. The tour spans 36 dates in 24 states with several shows accompanied by the North Mississippi All Stars. The tour will close October 28th, 2007 with a date at the Voodoo Musical Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana. On August 3, 2007, keyboardist Rob Clores was replaced on tour by Adam McDougal.