The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1984. Their discography includes ten studio albums, four live albums, and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the following year. Their follow-up, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, reached the top of the Billboard 200 in 1992. The albums Amorica (1994), Three Snakes and One Charm (1996), By Your Side (1999), and Lions (2001) followed, with each showing moderate popularity but failing to capture the chart successes of the band's first two albums. After a hiatus from 2002 to 2005, the band regrouped and toured for several years before releasing Warpaint in 2008, which reached number 5 on the Billboard chart.
Following the release of their greatest hits/acoustic double album Croweology in August 2010, the band started a 20th anniversary tour that was followed by a second hiatus. After touring in 2013, the band announced another breakup in 2015, reforming in late 2019 to announce a 2020 tour in support of the 30th anniversary of Shake Your Money Maker. By this point the band had none of its original line-up left except for Chris and Rich Robinson, the only two constant members of the band over its entire history.
The Black Crowes have sold more than 30 million albums, and are listed at number 92 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. They were labeled by Melody Maker as "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World" and the readers of Rolling Stone voted them 'Best New American Band' in 1990. Their ninth studio album, Happiness Bastards, was released in March 2024 and nominated for the Best Rock Album Grammy later that year. In 2025 and 2026, the band was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
History Formation: 1984–1989
The first incarnation of the band, "Mr. Crowe's Garden", named after Leonard Leslie Brooke's children's book Johnny Crow's Garden, formed in 1984 in Atlanta, Georgia. Influenced by contemporary local acts like R.E.M., as well as 1960s psychedelic pop and classic Southern rock, they gradually evolved into a revivalist band dedicated to 1970s-era blues rock."Biography: The Black Crowes." Rolling Stone. Taken from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001) Although the band has had a high turnover rate throughout their history, the driving force behind the band has always been brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, who initially formed the band while attending Walton High School.
The first professional demo the Robinson brothers did was for A&M Records in 1987. The band's manager at the time, Dave Macias, got in touch with A&M rep Aaron Jacoves, from Los Angeles, who offered the band a 'demo' deal and arranged the band's first of several demo sessions. It was held at Steve Gronback's studio in Carrboro, North Carolina. They were paid $2,000 by Jacoves to cover production costs. Jeff Sullivan (of Drivin N Cryin fame) played drums on the first demo, while subsequent demo recordings featured Steve Gorman on the drums. Gorman played on the subsequent A&M demos in Carrboro, North Carolina, during mid and late 1987, although as a guest drummer at first until he officially joined Mr. Crowe's Garden later that year. The band was originally offered a record deal in 1987 under the label "Dog Gone" by R.E.M.'s manager Jefferson Holt but declined.
The band played as a quartet in New York City clubs such as "Drums" and CBGB in 1988. In 1989, the band - which had stabilized as a five-piece including the Robinsons, Gorman, Johnny Colt and Jeff Cease - met George Drakoulias, who signed the band at Def American. Drakoulias turned the band on to music it had not heard before like The Faces and Humble Pie. Under Drakoulias' influence, the band began covering the Rolling Stones and Rich began playing in open-G tunings for Mr. Crowe's Garden songs. At this point, the band also changed their name, and considered ideas such as "The Heartless Crowes" and "The Stone Mountain Crowes", before settling on "The Black Crowes".
Height of fame: 1990–1995 The Black Crowes released their first studio album, Shake Your Money Maker, in 1990. Supported by the singles "Hard to Handle", "She Talks to Angels", "Jealous Again", "Twice As Hard", "Sister Luck", and "Seeing Things", the album received multi-platinum certification and eventually sold more than five million copies. Their cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle", and acoustic ballad "She Talks to Angels", both achieved top 30 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991. The band opened for ZZ Top on a tour sponsored by Miller Beer, from which they were fired in March 1991 after Chris Robinson's verbal tirade aimed at Miller. The band launched its own tour that May and later took part in a Monsters of Rock tour in Europe, where they opened for Metallica, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe and Queensrÿche.
Due to the prevalence of Chuck Leavell's piano and organ parts on the first release, in 1991 the band hired a keyboardist of its own, Eddie Harsch. He became a permanent member of the group beginning with the "High as the Moon" tour in 1992.
After replacing guitarist Jeff Cease with Marc Ford from blues-rock power trio Burning Tree, the band released its second album The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion in 1992. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. The effort spawned the singles "Remedy", "Sting Me", "Thorn in My Pride" and "Hotel Illness", all of which topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. "Remedy" and "Thorn in My Pride" also charted on the Hot 100 in 1992.VH1 Biography
In 1994, the now six-piece band released Amorica, after scrapping the unreleased album Tall the previous year. The album eventually achieved Gold status, selling over 500,000 copies. The cover featured a picture of a woman's crotch wearing a U.S. flag thong with visible pubic hair, which was taken from a 1976 issue of Hustler magazine. As some stores would not carry the album because of the cover, a different version was released simultaneously with a solid black background, showing only the triangle featuring the flag.
Middle era: 1996–2001 Three Snakes and One Charm was released in July 1996. The band's support tour included a summer stint with the 1997 Furthur Festival, along with Ratdog, Bruce Hornsby and others. During this period, the band recorded an album called Band, which was scrapped. Guitarist Marc Ford was fired and bassist Johnny Colt subsequently left the group, dissolving the Crowes' line-up for the previous three albums. The unreleased tracks from Tall and Band surfaced among tape trading circles and were later officially released on The Lost Crowes (2006).
The band regrouped, adding Sven Pipien on bass prior to its next recording sessions. By Your Side was released in January 1999; the album stripped away the more adventurous sounds of Amorica and Three Snakes and One Charm in favor of leaner, soul-influenced songs. Guitarist Audley Freed, formerly of Cry of Love, joined prior to the recording of By Your Side but was not included in the recording sessions.
In October 1999, the band was joined by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page for two pairs of shows in New York and Los Angeles, and also at the Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts, yielding a live release, Live at the Greek on TVT Records. Due to contractual issues with Columbia, Live at the Greek did not feature any of the band's songs performed with Page. The collaboration led to a more extensive tour with Page and The Who in summer 2000, during which Pipien was replaced by Greg Rzab. Following the tour, singer Chris Robinson married actress Kate Hudson, before heading back to the studio to record the band's sixth studio album.
In May 2001, the band released Lions on Virgin mogul Richard Branson's V2 record label; the album peaked at number 20 on the charts. The band launched its support of the album with the month-long Tour of Brotherly Love with Oasis and Spacehog in May and June 2001. Throughout the rest of 2001, the band embarked on the "Listen Massive" headlining tour in support of Lions, which spanned Europe and Japan before concluding with 36 U.S. shows. The band effectively dissolved in January 2002 with the departure of drummer Steve Gorman and an announcement that the band was "taking a hiatus."
First hiatus and reunion: 2002–2005
A live album pieced together from two 2001 shows performed at Boston's Orpheum Theatre was released in August 2002. In 2004, some members of the band did reunite to play "Sometimes Salvation" with Gov't Mule at the 2004 Jammy Awards. During the hiatus, Chris Robinson released albums New Earth Mud in 2002 and This Magnificent Distance in 2004. Meanwhile, Rich Robinson formed a short-lived band called Hookah Brown before releasing his own solo album, Paper, in 2004.
In early 2005, the Robinson brothers and Eddie Harsch reassembled the band, bringing Marc Ford and Sven Pipien back into the fold and in the absence of founding member Steve Gorman, recruited drummer Bill Dobrow, from Rich's solo band. Dobrow's tenure was short-lived, however, as Gorman rejoined the band during a four-night stand at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. The reinvigorated band continued to tour throughout 2005, including a summer tour opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and five nights at The Fillmore in San Francisco. The second show at The Fillmore was filmed in high definition and released later in 2006 as Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog on DVD, Blu-ray and audio CD.
Changing lineup and renewed success: 2006–2009 In fall 2006, Eddie Harsch and Marc Ford left the band. Replacing Harsch and Ford were Rob Clores and Paul Stacey, respectively. In August 2007, the band replaced Clores with Adam MacDougall. Stacey's tenure was never intended to be permanent and when the band invited guitar player Luther Dickinson from North Mississippi Allstars to perform on their upcoming record, entitled Warpaint Dickinson officially replaced Stacey as guitarist. Stacey continued to work with the band, however, as producer of Warpaint.
A live album entitled Live at the Roxy, culled from the 2006 Brothers of a Feather performances (featuring Chris and Rich Robinson performing mostly acoustic sets) was released on July 10, 2007. 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 in early 2006.
The Black Crowes' first album since reforming, Warpaint was released on March 3, 2008. Warpaint was critically acclaimed and the album landed at number 5 on the Billboard 200, the band's best debut since The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion topped the charts. The band 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 US 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".