Rewind: Chris Robinson

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1:50Pushkin.

1:55The Black Crows are one of the great rock bands of the last 30 years, and they've just been nominated for the 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside nominees like Lauryn Hill, Phil Collins, Wu-Tang Clan, and Oasis. All acts I'd vote for if I were a voting member, by the way. But instead of voting, we figured we'd honor the Black Crows nomination by running back my interview with their singer Chris Robinson from when they released their album Happiness Bastards. Enjoy. 16 years have passed since the Black Crows last put out an album of all new material. The world's changed a lot since then, and it appears so have the Robinson brothers.

2:32Chris and Rich Robinson are, of course, the backbone of the group. They started together back in Georgia in 84 as Mr. Crow's Garden before moving to NYC, signing with Deaf American, and changing their name to the Black Crows. The band's debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, set them up as torchbearers of Southern rock for the 90s and beyond. As you'll hear in our conversation, the brothers Robinson have had a competitive relationship for a long time. Their ups and downs have meant hiatuses for the band over the years, but now they're back united and seemingly in it for the long haul with their new album, Happiness Bastards.

3:09On today's episode, I talked to Chris Robinson about his growing up in Georgia with Rich, their dad's rockabilly career, his listening routine that includes Sudanese and Sufi music, and how his road habits have changed from indulging in champagne and other substances to reading Herman Melville. This is Broken Record, liner notes for the digital age. I'm Justin Richman. Here's my conversation with Chris Robinson of the Black Crows. Is that a gun club like the band shirt that you got on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, hell yeah. I love Gun Club, man. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, one of my faves. And it's funny because when we started, people would always say we sounded like, and we did, there was the jangle sort of indie pop thing, R.E.M., of course, being the purveyors of that, but Let's Active and the D.B.s and then bands from California, like Game Theory, we kind of were into this kind of jangly, 60s-inspired.

4:08but we really sounded early days a lot like the gun club you know because gun club and x are very interesting to me and the like early punk scene here in los angeles because they were the well i guess you could put the blasters and the plugs in there too blasters are from sf though right oh blasters are la band too yeah are they oh okay cool they had those kind of rootsy things you know And it would be really early on that we would think like, okay, well, Jeffrey Lee Pierce is like a punk icon, but he plays a Robert Johnson song on the first record. I mean, it doesn't sound like Robert Johnson, but needless to say, he found great inspiration and the mythology and the imagery and the vibration of the blues and stuff, which other punk bands really didn't.

4:55Whatever music is happening in LA, there's always some subset of it that countrifies it. you know it's like even with the birds like sweetheart of the rodeo like all that stuff like the birds got into that and you know i don't know you could even feel that with buffalo springfield or i mean i know like neil's from canada or whatnot but they're making music here you know of course of course well i mean you know i mean while that's going on tim buckley's here and you know what i mean and while that's going on you have bands like the chambers brothers and eric burden leaves the animals and a northern english white band playing blues music and then And he's the lead singer of War.

5:31Of War. War is like such a quintessential LA Long Beach, in fact, group, you know? I mean, I think, obviously, their subsequent most famous records don't include Eric Burden. And it's funny, it also just goes to show how that's just how music is, isn't it? You know what I mean? I mean, I guess, obviously, you can make examples of things that seem heavy-handed or things that don't contain a certain authenticity. But I mean, that was a big deal when I, you know, talking about growing up in a band, being from Atlanta, being like in arguably the most progressive city in terms of race relations in, if not America, and maybe globally.

6:16That's interesting. It probably has to be. I mean, you might, I might have been tempted to say New Orleans, but I think when you kind of look at the musical legacy of Atlanta over the last. I mean, New Orleans most definitely, but Atlanta is different because of the black universities. Yeah. like kind of concentrated there in Atlanta having Maynard Jackson as the first black mayor the first black police chief for black police force in the deep south when I first landed in Atlanta I gotta say coming from LA because I grew up in LA when I first landed in Atlanta and I'm in the airport I'm like where the where am I like how the whole airport is black this is crazy it was the weirdest experience for me funny that's funny and as I said I'm a third generation Atlantan and I don't really make the connection of being like i'm a southern person but my connection is with atlanta yeah and so you know it's funny because maynard jackson's the guy who when hartfield international airport becomes an international airport he's the one who's like we're not doing anything unless black business owners are recognized and have a piece in this and what that could mean for the community something very subtle like that still reverberates i think and besides the culture because you start to see Atlanta also be a city, you know, famous for the musicians and the hip-hop and the athletes that all move there.

7:36But the reason that becomes attractive is because of decisions like that and the hard line that someone like Maynard Jackson would take and how Atlanta had been pried open. Of course, having the great reverend be from there, you know, gives Atlanta a different perspective. But I know it's a unique place in that way. And it's funny, like, I speak on it from the past because I really left. First check I got in the Black Crows, I moved to New York. Being in a band to me was like, you know, shooting an arrow over the mountain. Like just, I wanted to get out in the world. Had you been to New York before you moved there?

8:11Yeah, yeah. Actually, you know, our dad, Rich and I's dad was a singer. He had a top 40 rock and roll hit in the 50s called Boomadipdip. You can check it out on Spotify. I've listened to some of that stuff. it's really good man it's really good yeah it's a good song and so i really have it and we'll be in new york and he was like you know into the theater and music and acting and dance you know so he wanted that too at a certain time in his life and he was in new york and um and it's funny my mom was a flight attendant for the old eastern airlines and you know it's funny she told me she goes oh i served dr king many times on flights out of atlanta wow i always like really blew my mind as a kid you know of course you did i would make i mean how many flights out of atlanta must he have taken yeah i mean all the time you know you know so i moved to new york first and i still love new york and some of my deepest connections and friendships are there my wife and I just got back from there yesterday.

9:18But I came to Los Angeles, and I don't know, it was farther away. From Georgia? Yeah, from everything. I mean, California has an idea. California, later I would get to know far more about this state. And I lived up north for six years, and I was in this little hippie band. And we started, we did nine weeks just up and down California in a van, playing all the little beach towns and hippie towns. And, you know, I got a real appreciation for, do you remember Huell Houser? Oh, come on, man. California's gold, baby. I was like the psychedelic Huell Houser. You know what I mean? You know, Huell Houser was always like, so this is an Adobe.

10:00Wow. He was amazed about everything, too. He's like, so this is a bowl of menudo. I love Huell Houser. R.I.P. The late great, man. The late great Huell Houser, man. I love, and you know what? He was always so excited. He saw every mission from San Diego to like, you know, the Oregon border. So that is the mission. He's like so excited. Everything was ecstatic to him. It was crazy. It was so, that was a funny show to watch, man. I loved it. When I moved here, I was like, what is this? This is fantastic. I also am lucky that when I'm, so I moved here in 91, early 92. that was the golden age of public television yeah the weirdest weirdest of the weird stuff would come on tv man on the couple of public stations on your cable like channel 6 and channel 14 or whatever the most unimaginably i mean obviously like tim and eric i don't know if you ever got into tim and eric oh yeah oh yeah tim and eric like take the inspiration of that into their twisted world for the series which is still some of my favorite stuff you don't need a chinese massage you need an italian massage it was fantastic you know what i mean and and you know the other thing about things that were really i've always been interested in outsider culture you know when those would be like driven by like this but but because it's hollywood it made it even weirder like i'm on tv now i'm famous too you know what i mean it's kind of predated the psychoses that has become social media, you know?

11:35Yeah. Yeah. People always describe LA when they come to LA as being closer to the industry, as being closer to things. But I also find that you can find your niches and stay way out of the way of the industry if you want. I did it. Yeah. I mean, when I moved to Topanga Canyon at a certain point, I moved to Topanga because I have these romantic notions of what Northern California, and I've been to Northern California, but what it might feel like not to be in LA, but to still be able to be in LA for different reasons. I'm of the firm belief that Los Angeles is one of the great cities in the world, which is also unique because of how new this city is comparatively.

12:17In 1860, there's 5 ,000 people living here. That's wild. Ranchers and spread out, and it's just come over from Mexican rule and stuff from that government. and they had, you know, gave everyone deeds to these massive fincas and ranches and things that were all of California, you know. So it's not that old in the big scheme of things. But the other funny thing is when I came here, I laugh all the time because it was like, growing up in Atlanta or whatever in 19, I had my first sushi in 1989. This guy ended up being our manager, took me and Rich with some friends to get sushi. And that place was called Imperial Gardens or whatever.

13:03It was right there on Sunset. It's now like an aqua place or something. But it was the Roxbury later. But anyway, we're sitting there. And of course, I know what it is. But Stan and Nancy Robinson in Atlanta, we didn't do sushi. You know what I mean? I remember being 16 and telling my dad, coming downstairs one day, I was like, why have we never had Indian food? My dad was like, you're right, we should go get it. And I was like, we all drove to the one Indian restaurant, and it was amazing. But when I'm here in 1989, I'm still working on the first album, and I'm a kid from Atlanta. But the cool thing is, it's a mentality.

13:43You get farther away from where you come from, and like anything else, you figure out what's delicious about it and what's special about it. And now it has a place in your culinary thing. Tonight's sushi, we want to go. And you know what I mean? And then you can enjoy it on the level. But there was one time where I come to LA, I don't know anything about anything, and I don't even know what this is. How far removed from Atlanta do you feel now? Do you feel like an Atlantan? I mean, not especially. And none of that is to be taken as if Atlanta has feelings. I do love Atlanta more than ever but it's also I like the remnants of the Atlanta that I remembered So when you go back you don't see the I mean man it's changed There was this thing on Pete Street called the Darlington Apartments and there it used to have this digital thing and it would be like 2 ,900 ,000 you know what I mean and it was the population and it got older with the population sign it got bigger and it went to 3 million in 1990 deep.

14:48You know, we used to hang around this monthly thing called the Mud Shack at this after hours Mexican burrito place. And it was a poetry reading and just the poet would get on stage like, I live in a city of three million people as if it was like, you know, this Atlanta. It's almost eight million people now. Yeah. Yeah. Right. That sounds about right. It's huge. So we're not there. I mean, of course I love it. But most a lot of the Atlanta, of you know the house where we used to rehearse and have parties is now the federal reserve the club that we based all our rock and roll dreams and mythology on is now at a you know place where people go get stitches or whatever you know what i mean like all of that kind of stuff from back in the 80s whenever the world was new and music was all our career was ahead of us that's all kind of gone yeah you can see that the skeleton of it you know what i mean yeah we'll come back with more of my interview with Chris Robinson after this quick break.

16:14manage all your business finances all in one place with their digital tools. Looking for tips and advice? Their online resources are always available to give you the solutions you need to help your business thrive. See how your business can get stronger and go farther with Chase for Business. Learn more at chase.com slash business. Chase for Business. Make more of what's yours. The Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., member FDIC. Copyright 2026, JPMorgan Chase & Company. Women deserve tools that support their health at every stage of life.

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17:38Be the expert in you. Visit auraring.com forward slash decoding to get 10 % off the new Aura Ring 4.

18:32We'll be right back. an uncapped 1 % bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. We're back with Chris Robinson. Do you get excited to tour these days? Can you still get excited about it?

19:01I do. I do. It was funny. I've done a couple of interviews for this project and I'm like shocked that the people have said, you're the first musician who says they still find inspiration doing what you do and being on tour, they say is so boring. I'm like, I've never lost the dream. And again, I've never been bored. You know what I mean? Even as a kid, like with my mom and dad, go to your room. I'd be like, I'm amazing. That's all I want to do. records are in there the books i'm reading are in there i can draw i can dream you know what i mean daydream i mean i was somewhere there's a permanent record of me and all it says is prone to daydreaming not very good at math yeah right but i was saying i mean it's just the way it is i i mean is it tedious sometimes fuck yes i'm 57 now airports fucking suck yeah not every gig is a magical experience, but you never know who you're going to meet.

20:01And it could be anyone. It could be the Guyanese Uber driver who picked you up in St. Louis, who's fucking hilarious and amazing, soulful person who's left a life behind to try to eke out something better. And like, it's so brave and courageous. And, you know, you, and you're only with this person eight minutes from the airport or whatever. And you just, two people in the world laughing in a car, you know, But that little thing, that doesn't even necessarily have to be a part of the narrative. It just has to be a part of that you still believe that there's dynamic in meeting people and talking and laughing and sometimes crying.

20:38But I'm just naive enough to still see it as in the same way that I wanted. I picked music on a lot of levels because I knew it was the one thing that I would travel all the time. Yeah. And then you set up your little thing and then you put your vibes out there, you know? That is pretty weird. I feel like listening to you talk, the only other person who has had a level of success that you've had and tours as much as you do and travels as much as you do, that seems to still love it. I got lucky. I met Quincy Jones in Havana maybe 10 years ago. Wow. And the joy he has to, like, travel and just talk to anybody.

21:13It's like, he's like, yeah, he'll tell Sinatra stories and he'll tell the story about, like, the cab driver in, like, Memphis. And he's like, everything is like new and fun and interesting in every person and everything and every sound and every, that's a particular joy that you don't find in a lot of people. Like I said, I understand. And, you know, you get older. It also helps in my life that after all the rock and roll and all the experiences that I found Camille, my wife. because I found someone who she understands that some of that is problematic and some of it's a pain in the ass and some of it's like can't we just be nor do normal something and like by the way we can talk about that and uh do our best but then she also realizes like she's an artist and she's a Pisces queen moonstone child out in the world you know who wants to feel these things too And, you know, my thing is the pandemic was such a fucking head trip.

22:18Personally, I didn't really find it creative. I found it stifling. But we were lucky enough to live out in the wilds of West Marin. And then we were in Southwest Colorado. Amazing. Yeah, which was really, really hell. But one thing I thought I would really flip out on was it was the first time since I was basically a teenager where I wasn't working and touring and singing and playing and doing the whole spiel and you know what it was rad really you liked it well my head didn't fall off you know our lives didn't you know disintegrate into nothing it was nice I had time for a lot of other things and it's funny the travel part of it I was just talking to my manager Mark last night about how at a certain point it would be nice to bow out from performing the way we perform before i can't because i love the travel and we fit in the things that we want to but it's different to be in a place for you know we're going to paris i'm going to see my friends i know all the restaurants i want to go to i know all the things i want to do ah but you got to leave in two days yeah yeah and you have a show when i was a kid i didn't care we would just party go out champagne drugs this that two days do the gig go back do it again do the gig you know like it's all one thing it wasn't when you're young you can do it you know what i mean yeah i don't feel that now i'm really happy being in the black crows and really fulfilling and satisfying and gratifying but at a certain point i just want to take my wife and go to sicily and eat linguine and clams and like, you know, drink wine and, you know, read Moby Dick for the third time or whatever.

24:09You know what I mean? I just want to just be a part of everything going on. There's lots of places I haven't traveled. I haven't been to Africa. I've always wanted to go to Africa. You know what I mean? That would be nice to have some time to do that. And because Africa is such a huge thing to, you know, I'm really interested in West Africa. I'd like to go to North Africa. It'd be cool to see the East Africa. It'd be cool. You know what I mean? What interests you in West Africa? I don't know. I think maybe it has something to do just with the, I mean, I love North African music, but there's, you know, a lot of those West African music could be because of the horrors of mankind and the horrors of the slave trade.

24:48Human beings found a way somehow through the vileness of that to communicate and share things in art and music, cuisine. so many African parts especially in the deep south and people don't even know they're under educated anyway but with these things it's like oh every southern person loves to eat fried okra but okra came over from Africa before that okra came from India to Africa so just dumb things like that plants and fruits, vegetables natural things and supernatural things that were brought over that could never be extinguished. And I just have some sort of, and I don't even know what it is because I'm not obviously that knowledgeable as other people, but I can put a few things together and realize, you know, so much of the music, singing, rhythm things, guitar things especially, string things, come from a West African musical tradition that represents like this African mysticism and magic as well that manifests when people express themselves vocally and rhythmically and with melody and things, like a simple something like a string guitar.

26:03And that is something that would draw me there first. Amazing. I see that in a first person and see what it feels like for me as a real outsider. Yeah. Outsider culture is important to me just because of whether my dyslexia or just whatever my tastes and where I would find the things in life that are interesting, that make me happy, things that I can understand or help me for things that I don't understand to understand. So a lot of that you have to kind of just vibe out viscerally fine. And I would be curious to see what it feels like. Yeah. Wow, we've gone from like psychedelic Hulhauser to like psychedelic, like Anthony Bourdain or some shit.

26:43We've gone global now. Call my agent. I'm down to do this job. That's amazing, man. I want to check out like Robert Plant goes to Morocco. Yeah. Yeah, he loves the Sufi music and the North African music. Yeah. And it's funny because I have this app where you can listen to radio stations all over the world. But it's like, wow, right on, man. I want to listen to some rad Cambodia music. It's like, oh, it's Nicki Minaj, like everywhere else. I know, that's kind of a bummer about radio now. I mean, it's like, which is cool. I'm not bagging Nicki Minaj, but I'm thinking I'm going to get hip to some thing I've never heard, some regional vibes or whatever.

27:22and it's like, oh, it's the same shit they're playing here. Is it that radio app? Yeah, yeah. It's so cool. But there's some in Morocco, and then there's a certain kind of music that the horrors of things. There was a slave trade in Africa for a long time, too. Yeah, within. Within Africa, and they're bringing sub-Saharan Africans to North Africa, but a great musical art form is born from it that still exists today, and there's whole radio stations that play it, and they're basically a living blues. It's the same tradition of the pain and suffering of the blues that these people brought with them.

27:57It still lives today and is now celebrated as rebel songs almost. Yeah. It's like those North African guitar. I don't know how to pronounce their names. Tintin Arwen. Tintin Arwen or something. Yeah, right. I saw their first show in New York many years ago. Really? I love that music and I love Sudanese music. And then you go over. I love Persian classical music. I love music from Afghanistan and I love Turkish music. You know, I really have a lot of diverse interests in things like that. After this last break, we'll be back with more of Chris Robinson. Small businesses are the pulse of every community.

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29:16With that guidance and your determination, you can take your business farther and help build a brighter future for your company. Learn more at chase.com slash business. Chase for business. Make more of what's yours. The Chase mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply. JPMorgan Chase Bank. Any member, FDIC. Copyright 2026. JPMorgan Chase and Company. Women deserve tools that support their health at every stage of life. Oura Ring is more than a wearable. It's a powerful health companion, helping women take control of their well-being with personalized insights.

29:59From sleep to stress, activity to cycle tracking, Oura Ring gives you over 50 metrics that help you understand your body better so you can be your own health advocate. With its accurate heart rate tracking and stylish, comfortable design, Oura Ring is made to be worn 24-7 and actually looks good. It's even FSA and HSA eligible. Oura doesn't just show you the data. It helps you turn insight into action so you can show up as your best self every day. This is personalized health powered by data designed for women. Be the expert in you. Visit auraring.com forward slash decoding to get 10 % off the new Aura Ring 4.

31:37We'll be right back. by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC registered advisor. Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. We're back with the rest of my conversation with Chris Robinson. Within the Crows, like maybe like with your brother, for instance, does he have a similar musical palette? I think he has an appreciation. I don't think his palette is as wide as mine.

32:05and he would admit that i'm not you know he always said like growing up like chris would bring back way more records than i would listen to or some i wouldn't be interested in but i got to he could be able to cherry pick what he liked and he loves classical indian music i listened to like mesopotamian sheepherder music and stuff you know what i mean like i'm really into a lot of different things do you listen to that stuff more than like rock and roll like you'd rather reach for that than a Stones record. No, I listen to things all day long. Like, I like to start the morning with something mellow.