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The freethinkers, the freaks, and the firebrands always find The Black Crowes.
The GRAMMY® Award-nominated multiplatinum band founded by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson
make music for the mavericks, playing rock ‘n’ roll that’s hip-swinging and heavy, dirty and debonaire,
bluesy and ballsy, ecstatic and electrifying, and soulful and soaring. They don’t fall in line, and they never
cared to either. Instead, they’re right at home with the outsiders, the drifters, the lost souls, the
hustlers, and the hellraisers who inhabit timeless tunes like “She Talks To Angels,” “Hard To Handle,”
“Wiser Time,” “Twice As Hard,” and “Black Moon Creeping,” to name a few.
No matter where culture went, The Black Crowes fearlessly charted their own course, taking flight with
the 5x-Platinum Shake Your Money Maker and never coming back down ever since. Their path twisted
and turned from seminal records a la the 2x-Platinum Billboard 200 #1 LP The Southern Harmony And
Musical Companion and Gold-certified follow-up Amorica to a once-in-a-lifetime jaunt with Jimmy Page
and accompanying Gold-certified live record: Live at the Greek. As one century gave way to the next, the
band’s lore expanded with the chart-shaking Warpaint and Before the Frost…Until the Freeze and more
sold-out shows. Another generation fell under their spell as the group launched their biggest headline
tour yet to celebrate Shake Your Money Maker’s 30th birthday in 2021. They truly lit up the next chapter
with 2024’s Happiness Bastards—which garnered a GRAMMY® Award nod for Best Rock Album.
Between widespread critical praise, they even picked up a 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® nomination.
Rather than rest on their laurels, Chris and Rich wrote and recorded their tenth full-length offering, A
Pound of Feathers, in just ten days.
It’s the sound of uncompromising, urgent, and undeniable rock ‘n’ roll. It’s the sound of unrepentant
creative spirits in harmony. It’s the sound of The Black Crowes.
“We’re never going to make the same record twice,” Chris declares. “We wanted to be spontaneous. On
Happiness Bastards, we were finding our footing again. We’d just been touring for the first time in years,
we had planned on writing, and we colored in between the lines to a degree. On A Pound Of Feathers,
we were throwing more paint at the walls in the best way.”
“When you have a direction in mind, you’re less likely to explore,” Rich notes. “We just started working
this time, which made everything more exciting and visceral. That’s what rock ‘n’ roll is. It can always go
off the rails; it’s not precious.”
Once again, Chris and Rich locked in with Happiness Bastards producer Jay Joyce [Cage The Elephant,
Lainey Wilson] in Nashville. They didn’t waste any time. The music materialized faster than any other
session in the band’s history—save for The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion (which was born
in eight days). Joined by drummer Cully Symington, the brothers tapped into a shared groove.
“After all of these years, Rich and I can simply look at each other, and he’ll know what I’m about to say,”
observes Chris. “We’re in a good place where we trust each other so much. My friend—the late Todd
Snider—hung out for a couple of days. At one point, he said, ‘This shit is crazy. You and Rich have ESP!’
I’ve seen Rich make a lot of great music, but A Pound Of Feathers is the best I’ve ever heard him play.”
“Back in the day, we weren’t very good communicators,” Rich admits. “However, I always felt like we
effortlessly communicated through music. We’re definitely better communicators today. We can talk
and have deep conversations. We can get everything we want without any rubs, fighting, or that shit. It’s
a little richer now.”
The Black Crowes introduce the album with the first single and opener “Profane Prophecy.” Rich’s
hummable solo coils tightly around snappy distortion with serpentine finesse and flair. Chris sinks his
teeth into swaggering verses propelled by tambourine and cheeky ad-libs. Issuing an invitation to
surrender inhibitions at the door, he teases, “My pedigree in debauchery is my claim to fame. Profane
prophecy has got me in its sweet embrace.” The fret-scorching lead screeches, and this rough-and-
tumble riff jamboree boils over with a handclap-driven gang vocal, “A pound of feathers or a pound of
lead.”
“I got that line from a sample on an old Broadcast record,” says Chris. “This kid was chanting, ‘A pound
of feathers or a pound of lead, look out below, and mind your head’. I loved the phrase and what it
could mean because a pound is a pound. It doesn’t matter whether it’s lead or feathers. There’s some
rustic, weird wisdom to it. In terms of ‘Profane Prophecy,’ I’ve lived my life. It would be easy to call me a
debaucherous blasphemer, which I’ll gladly take. I like to romanticize the outcast or the rock ‘n’ roller
though. Every riff is funky and hard. It’s a little different, but it’s The Black Crowes.”
A gritty, overdriven lick sets the tone for “Cruel Streak.” The track’s playful groove complements the
frontman’s call-and-response chorus, “You need a cruel streak, if you wanna play nice with me.” Organ
wails, a choir sings, the groove shakes, and guitar strings practically bend off the neck.
“It’s my take on people’s taboo proclivities,” Chris goes on. “Everyone has their thing, right? Musically,
we’re leaning into the funk vibe with a heavy riff underneath.”
“Once Chris jumps on the riff, it’s like a freight train,” Rich grins. “It turned out fucking great.”
“Pharmacy Chronicles” comfortably settles into softly strummed acoustic chords and a soul-stirring
melody. Chris reminds, “And it’s lust that they remember, perfume, champagne, and sin.” Piano
underscores an epic refrain, “Don’t call the doctor. Don’t call the priest. Tell old Saint Michael there ain’t
no feast. Leave it all behind you. Let the demons find you.”
“That particular lyric, ‘Let the demons find you,’ sums up many of the record’s themes,” Chris reveals. “I
don’t think a recognition of the darkness around us is bad. It should actually add clarity to what’s
important. Aside from the people I love, what’s important to me is art, poetry, music, and expression.
It’s a survival song. Never forget we’re the writers, the singers, the dancers, and the painters. We all
need to be more resilient with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that befall us all. It’s
autobiographical of being in a band for 40 years or whatever.”
Meanwhile, “Queen Of The B-Sides” tells a story in barely two minutes. Between strains of acoustic and
slide guitar, words of wisdom assure, “If you can’t find a new love, an accomplice will do.” The coda pays
homage to its title character, “Queen of the B-Sides…accused of treason, but you’ll never find any
proof.”
“It’s about relationships,” notes Chris. “Some of them are altruistic. Some of them are just another
person to continue on your life of crime with!”
“It’s a cool little traveling bit,” Rich adds. “You get to go on a trip for a couple minutes.”
Then, there’s “It’s Like That.” A thumping bassline trembles beneath serrated feedback and the voice of
a surprise “guest.” Chris proclaims, “Said I need a lover, I don’t need a friend. Oh baby, won’t you let me
in? Lick a shot, said hot is hot.”
“It’s got the R&B vibes,” Chris continues. “There are some reggae easter eggs too. I was staying at this
house in Nashville, and the doors were open. I heard this frog, so I recorded him. You’ve got my
‘Nashville rasta frog’ on the solo.”
The finale “Doomsday Doggerel” unspools an apocalyptic vision that’s unexpectedly uplifting. Ominous
imagery of “a front row seat to the end of times” slips into the undertow of a caustically catchy chorus
delivered with conviction, “Said I’m a chainbreaker, rainmaker, soul shaker, yes I know what I want…Oh,
I’m looking at you, all I see are empty eyes.”
“We ended Happiness Bastards with ‘Kindred Friend’, and the message was, ‘We’re here. We love each
other. We love our audience. Everyone is hip to this trip’,” Chris muses. “This record says, ‘Oh my God,
we’re going into more unknown territory.’ The world may be scary, but we can all get through these
dark days with a little bit of fortitude and imagination as well as some luck.”
Whether you personally get “a pound of feathers or a pound of lead” from listening to the album is up
to you. No matter what though, you will undoubtedly get The Black Crowes in all of their glory.
“I hope you walk away knowing that this shit is not over…and not just The Black Crowes, but the vibes
and rock ‘n’ roll,” Chris concludes. “This isn’t a record you play on Sunday morning. This is a fucking
Saturday night burner. We’ve been doing this for a long time, but these might be the two most
consistently strong records we’ve ever made back-to-back. Since we got back together, it’s been
amazing. No matter what, we’re still close to the source. We are so close to being those kids who lived
at our parents’ house and dreamed of music. We didn’t dream about Ferraris, private planes, or
groupies. We dreamed about those moments we just had in the studio on A Pound Of Feathers. Now, if
anybody gives a fuck enough to listen to our music, that’s amazing, man.” — Rick Florino, December
2025
