RICH ROBINSON

'Rich Robinson' (born May 24, 1969) is a musician and a founding member of the rock group The Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 (which was originally called ''Mr. Crowes Garden'') while the two brothers were still attending high school (Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia). At age 15, Rich first wrote the music to what would become one of the band’s biggest hits, "She Talks to Angels".
Robinson grew up in the East Cobb County / Marietta suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. He was greatly influenced by The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers Band, Neil Young, and Led Zeppelin. Robinson has also cited folk-guitarist Nick Drake as an influence. Robinson claims it was Drake, and not Keith Richards, that led him to open tunings. The guitarist often employs open G in many of The Black Crowes’ songs and has also used open E, B♭, and G♭. Over the years, Robinson has become one of the premier slide guitarists in rock.
Often overshadowed by his brother and Crowes' front man Chris, Rich has been the steadying influence in the band and the source for almost all of its music. A natural songwriter (his father Stan Robinson had a minor hit in the 1950s), Robinson was still in high school when the band began touring. At first Rich relied heavily on the strength of the songs to make up for his inexperience at playing guitar. However, the massive touring and open-ended jams helped his playing significantly. Soon, Young Rich (as his brother often referred to him in concert) was covering Duane Allman's slide solo from The Allman Brothers Band's "Dreams" demonstrating his emerging mastery of the guitar.
In 1990, The Black Crowes released their debut album ''Shake Your Moneymaker'', followed by the 1992 release of ''The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion''. Although the band’s popularity never again reached the pinnacle of these two albums, The Black Crowes established a loyal and steady following mainly due to their live shows which feature dual guitars and Page-Plant like interplay between Rich and Chris. Following several albums released throughout the 1990s the Black Crowes released ''Lions'' in 2001.

Contents

Solo

Black Crowes reunited

External links

Solo

Robinson seemed poised to redirect the band’s music into more progressive ventures, but after more touring, brother Chris decided that he wanted to pursue a solo album.
After the announcement of the band’s hiatus, Rich formed a new outfit called Hookah Brown. The band (featuring John Hogg on vocals, Bill Dobrow on drums and Fionn O'Lochlan on bass) was an attempt to create a sound that was drastically different from The Black Crowes. Robinson handled most of the songwriting, with Hogg contributing lyric and melody ideas to some material. After their debut gig at Arlene's Grocery in New York City, the band entered Robinson's Globe Studio to record a few original tracks. Included on this demo were "Cut the World," "Know Me" and "Black Cloud," among several others.
After completing the demo sessions, Hookah Brown began touring clubs and other small venues throughout the United States. The gigs were well received and it appeared that the band was on the cusp of success, both commercially and critically. In April of 2003, however, it was announced that Hookah Brown would be going their separate ways and that Robinson would be continuing as a solo act. The guitarist later revealed that the expense of operating a full band on tour without the backing of a record label proved too much and forced the disbanding of Hookah Brown.
Robinson continued to tour throughout the end of 2003 and well into 2004. His band featured a consistently rotating line-up, with drummer Bill Dobrow and bassist Gordie Johnson (ex-Big Sugar) being the only fairly regular faces. By August, Robinson had a full album of original material ready for release. Entitled ''Paper'', the record featured many new songs in addition to some reworkings of material from the Hookah Brown period. Robinson handled guitar, bass, and other instruments as well as taking over the lead vocals, with the gaps being filled in by Joe Magistro (drums), Eddie Hawrysch (keyboards), Donnie Herron (fiddle, violin) and his own son Taylor Robinson (percussion).^[1]
During breaks from touring with The Black Crowes, Robinson found time to assemble another band, Circle Sound. Featuring Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi All-Stars), Bill Dobrow, Sven Pipien (The Black Crowes) and Rob Clores (The Black Crowes) in addition to himself, the band played a handful of gigs on the east coast and are expected to perform again in the future.
In addition, Robinson contributed to singer/songwriter Patti Smith's release ''Twelve'', which was released in April 2007.

Black Crowes reunited

In 2005, The Black Crowes reformed and once again began touring. In March of 2006, they released a concert CD/DVD of a performance from that tour at The Fillmore in San Francisco entitled ''Freak 'n' Roll Into The Fog''. Touring for the better part of the following two years, The Black Crowes went through some line-up changes but managed to impress both critics and fans alike with what many referred to as their best tour to date. The band is expected to release their first new album in six years in spring 2008.^[2]

External links

★ Official website