Article on new Rich album
DGDevin
The Black Crowes’ guitarist flexes chords on solo flight
Read more: The Black Crowes’ guitarist flexes chords on solo flight
By Chad Berndtson
GateHouse News Service
Posted Oct 07, 2011 @ 12:09 PM
Rich Robinson’s “Through a Crooked Sun” isn’t a healing record, but it does
sound like the work of a man who’s been through a few things and had to
settle down, regroup and refocus.
That was indeed the case with the 42-year-old guitarist and vocalist, best
known for his role in The Black Crowes alongside singer and older brother
Chris Robinson.
“All this (stuff) is life, you know? It sucks, but if you can learn from it,
good,” Rich said. “But that’s not really the focal point, it’s more about
new life.”
After a highly regarded 20th anniversary tour in 2010, the Crowes are on
hiatus, and Rich, like many of his bandmates, has jumped into a solo project
with both feet.
It’s been a while since the Crowes were in a bad way; the band reunited in
2005, settled into a new lineup in 2007 and had been stable, and a
ferociously intense live band again, for the past few years. But Rich’s
relationship with his brother, amply documented, has always been tense, and
there was plenty of personal conflict in recent years, from a painful
divorce to various financial difficulties occupying his mind.
“I got married when I was 23, and it fell apart. We were too young and we
weren’t happy, and that’s just the way it is,” he said. “I met someone else
and I fell in love. So this has all been more of a stepping point into
something new, a way to focus on the positive instead of the negative. There
are places you have to go through to get to these things, but it’s
necessary. It’s hard, but the through-pull at the end makes you the person.”
Rich, who lives in Connecticut, is in a good place now: remarried, with a
young son and another child on the way. The album is hardly sleepy, but it
does sound relaxed and stable, and even folksy at times. The cover art for
“Crooked Sun” shows Rich and his family in a washed-out, rustic-looking
photo that looks like it could be from 40 years ago, and it has more
photographs dated April 2011 in Woodstock, N.Y., where it was recorded.
“Crooked Sun” includes 11 originals from Rich and one cover, a groovy
blues-folk work-up of Fleetwood Mac’s “Station Man.” Sonically, it’s not far
off the path from the Crowes, maybe a bit folksier but no less blues-rock
gritty, with a gamut of songs covering weighty subjects like materialism
(“It’s Not Easy”), family (“Follow Your Forever”) and fear (“Hey Fear”).
There are pathos and introspection in healthy doses: “Bye Bye Baby” is heavy
with the former, while “Gone Away,” is a call-and-response conversation
between Robinson and what sounds like a spiritual minder.
Overall, it’s a stronger and more well-rounded album than 2004’s “Paper,”
Robinson’s last solo album. It sounds a lot more worked-through and less
coughed-up and, above all, confident in its execution.
“On the first solo record I made, the Crowes had broken up, and I’d put
together a band, and that fell apart as did the expectations around that,
and it was frantic and I was just juggling 25 (bleeping) balls,” he said.
“It was a great learning process, but I had to figure out what the hell I
was doing. This time I said I’m not going to do everything myself and I’ve
been incredibly fortunate to have these amazing players come in and play on
my record.”
Longtime friends Robinson and drummer Joe Magistro, who toured with the
Crowes last year as a percussionist, are the core of the album. They began
to add players along the way, Robinson said, and “Crooked Sun” features
guest contributions from a number of heavy hitters, including renowned
producer, string player and former Bob Dylan sideman Larry Campbell, Gov’t
Mule and Allman Brothers mainstay Warren Haynes, keyboards wizard John
Medeski, and Karl Berger, a vibraphone and piano master best known for his
work with Ornette Coleman.
Joining Robinson for the tour are Magistro, bassist Jack Daley and another
of the album’s strongest contributors, keyboardist Steve Molitz, known to
jam fans for the electronica band Particle and stints with Phil Lesh &
Friends and other groups.
As for the Crowes – who wrapped up a monster pre-hiatus tour in 2010 and
regrouped briefly for some victory lap dates this past summer in Europe –
Robinson takes a “happens when it happens” view.
The band hasn’t broken up but has no immediate plans to reform, either, and
Robinson’s bandmates, including brother Chris, on the road with the Chris
Robinson Brotherhood for much of the year, are all active in other projects.
“The last time, we broke up. We’d been doing it for 11 straight years at
that point,” Robinson said, referencing the band’s acrimonious 2001
collapse. “We don’t want to go down that path where it’s too much, so we’ve
been doing it for five years solid and we’re going to ease up right now.”
agentalbert
sometimes. I never got his last album, "Paper". I heard a few live shows of
his band, but never checked out his songs.
DGDevin
"agentalbert" wrote in message news:j791mj$d71$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
> Thanks for keeping the faith, man. I need to take a look at Rich's stuff
> sometimes. I never got his last album, "Paper". I heard a few live shows
> of his band, but never checked out his songs.
the new album seems more natural, like he's not trying to show he can do
hard-edged rock (like that was ever in any doubt). Looking forward to
seeing him live this fall.