Thursday was a sad day for fans of roots rock, as guitarist Rich Robinson announced that the Black Crowes officially split up.
Rich Robinson co-founded the Black Crowes with his brother, Chris Robinson , and drummer Steve Gorman. Rich released a statement regarding the break-up of the band, one that painted Chris Robinson, the singer, in a negative light.
“It is with great disappointment and regret that after having the privilege of writing and performing the music of The Black Crowes over the last 24 years, I find myself in the position of saying that the band has broken up.
I hold my time with the Black Crowes with the utmost respect and sincerest appreciation. It is a huge swath of my life’s body of work. I couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished and deeply moved by the relationships people created and maintained with my music. That alone is the greatest honor of being a musician. I love my brother and respect his talent but his present demand that I must give up my equal share of the band and that our drummer for 28 years and original partner, Steve Gorman, relinquish 100% of his share, reducing him to a salaried employee, is not something I could agree to.
There are so many people who have helped and supported us along the way. I want to give a heartfelt thank you to all of our fans, our friends behind the scenes, and to everyone who was a part of The Black Crowes.”
Steve Gorman discussed the split of the Black Crowes on his Fox Sports radio program. He confirmed that Rich Robinson’s statement was the truth, and went on to explain that the amount of drama in the group made it obvious the split was coming.
“When you know somebody’s sick for a long time you accept it, but then you see the coffin and then it’s right there and there’s a whole new set of feelings,” Gorman said.
He went on to thank the fans, saying, “Thanks to everybody because The Black Crowes had a tremendous run and far more than the knuckleheads that we were in 1987, when we started the band, should’ve ever have hoped to expected.”
According to Gorman, The Black Crowes had every intention of performing in a 25th anniversary tour during 2015. Although no dates were scheduled yet, they were almost done planning when the split happened.
The Black Crowes were formed in Marietta, Georgia, and their first album was Shake Your Money Maker in 1990. “Jealous Again” and “Hard to Handle” (as seen above) were songs from the album.
[ Image courtesy of American Songwriter ]
