Rich Robinson Talks Black Crowes & His Brother’s Love Of The Grateful Dead

Those hoping Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson will put aside their issues to re-form The Black Crowes shouldn’t expect a reunion any time soon. Rich spoke with Rolling Stone about the state of the band and makes it clear Chris’s head is elsewhere.

While Rich recently performed with fellow Crowes alums Marc Ford, Eddie Harsch and Sven Pipien, he said of his brother, “Chris is done with [The Black Crowes] and we’re done with him, in a weird way. And it sucks, because that band could still do a lot of great things.” Rich realizes Chris isn’t going to turn away from focusing his time on the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, “He’s just into the Grateful Dead. That’s all he really cares about. He makes his records sound like the Dead; he hangs out with the Dead. It’s fucking crazy.” However Rich does seem to want his brother to be happy, “But that’s what he wants to do. And if he’s happy doing it, good for him, man.”

Rich was excited to get together with his old mates, “They came and joined my band and we did a whole bunch of songs together…I play with all the Crowes minus Chris.” Rolling Stone’s Joseph Hudak reports Rich shook his head when pondering the end of The Black Crowes, “It didn’t have to, but it did.” For his part, Rich lived out a dream earlier this year, when he joined Bad Company for their Summer Tour, “I grew up a huge fan of Free and to play with [Bad Company drummer] Simon [Kirke] and [Bad Company vocalist] Paul [Rodgers] was amazing. I had met Paul doing this Jimmy Page tribute in Seattle … and he wanted me to play on some Firm songs. I guess he really liked the way I played, so when Mick couldn’t do the tour, Paul called. It was one of those things I’d never done, go play someone else’s songs and be in a band, but it was a lot of fun.”

Head to Rolling Stone for the rest of the interview with Rich Robinson.