It was difficult imagine the years when Chris and Rich Robinson weren't even talking, but the Black Crowes managed to write and record their first studio album of new material in 15 years. Bastards of Happiness will be released on March 15th, with a hard riffing, big choral first single, “Wanting and Waiting”, out now
For the Robinsons, who reconciled in 2019 after what seemed like a final split in 2015, making new music together was the easy part. “I wouldn't say we had to fix our writing relationship, because that was never a problem,” says guitarist Rich Robinson. “That was always the only natural thing, with very little instability – when we sat down to write, for whatever reason. Everything else was just making the decision to grow up and not fall back into those old patterns. But getting back together and being cool and just getting to this place elevates everything.”
From the beginning, when they slipped onto MTV in 1990 with a blistering cover of Otis Redding's “Hard to Handle” and then released a rootsy second album, Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, Ahead of the alt-rock boom, the band was proudly out of step. “We wore corduroy bell bottoms and, like Eddie Vedder, he wore shorts and jerseys,” says Rich. “As the world kept changing and changing and changing, we just made our records and did what we did… I write how I write, like it or hate it. I think Chris is the same way… We've always followed our hearts, followed our ears wherever we choose. Sometimes to our detriment commercially.”
So this is no surprise Bastards of Happiness offers almost zero reminders that this is a 2024 album, with the Robinson brothers, plus bassist Sven Pipien and touring drummer Brian Griffin, simply delivering an impressively energetic set of songs firmly in their rock revivalist bag. Producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Cage the Elephant) focused on a live, natural sound. “We knew we were going to have a producer and we made a conscious decision to let him tell us what to do a little bit,” says Rich. “We hadn't really worked with someone who produced us in years, almost since Southern Harmony. Jay really handled Chris and I'm a force in the studio, better than I could have imagined.”
From Led Zeppelin III The ambition of 'Cross Your Fingers' to the rabid album closer 'Kindred Friend' to 'Dirty Cold Sun', all would have been even better suited to Seventies AOR radio than, say, the Rolling Stones. Hackney Diamonds. “I feel like, over the years, I've grown my skills, brought all these different textures and musical styles and all these different things to the one chosen form of expression, which is rock & roll music,” says Robinson. “Which was always the broadest form of music because it always included black music, white music, folk music, Celtic music, jazz — rock and roll music always incorporated everything. And that's why Chris and I have always been drawn to this. Because Sly Stone was as rock and roll as Keith Richards, who was as rock and roll as Joni Mitchell.”
The album's one guest is acclaimed Nashville singer-songwriter Lainey Wilson, who harmonizes with Chris on one of the album's best tracks, the tuneful, gospel-flavored semi-ballad “Wilted Rose.” The brothers met WIlson, a longtime fan, when they appeared at the CMT Awards last year with Darius Rucker. But the Crowes have no plans to fully embrace the country world: “We've always been an island unto ourselves,” Rich says.
The brothers are both in their fifties and as the album title suggests, middle age seems to suit them. “Chris sounds better than ever, in my opinion,” says Rich.
Bastards of Happiness track list:
“Bedside Methods”
“Rats and Clowns”
“cross your fingers”
“Wanting and Waiting”
“Wilted Rose” (feat. Lainey Wilson)
“Dirty Cold Sun”
“Bleed It Dry”
“Superficial Wound”
“Follow the Moon”
“Relative Friend”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/black-crowes-new-album-happiness-bastards-1234944933/