Black Crowes‘ guitarist Rich Robinson admits things got a little surreal this week when the Georgia Music Hall of Fame announced that the 25-year-old Atlanta-birthed rock act was among the inductees into the Macon museum’s 2010 inductee class.
Of the band’s early days when he was just a teenager, banging around Atlanta rock clubs with his older brother Chris Robinson as Mr. Crowe’s Garden, Rich recalls: “Back then, all we really cared about was just getting a guitar and a bass and learning some songs. We never set out to achieve anything, really. We just put our heads down and played. It’s interesting to pop your head back up and receive something like this. We’re grateful and thankful.”
Robinson was just 19 years old when the band’s major label debut, “Shake Your Money Maker” was released 20 years ago. The album’s hits, including “Jealous Again,” “Twice As Hard,” “Hard to Handle” and “She Talks to Angels” set the band’s course for the next two decades of gigging, recording and the occasional bout of bickering between the Robinson brothers.
While a flurry of Southern acts got signed around the same time, few have had the lasting power of the Crowes.
This summer, the band is once again on a multi-month national tour that will take them around the country. Twice.
“I think we grew and changed and all of our records sound different,” explains Robinson. “We kept people guessing and ourselves for that matter! We’ve been able to play with our heroes too —The [Rolling] Stones, AC/DC, Neil Young. I mean, Jimmy Page was in our band for two years! We’ve done some amazing things. I never could have imagined any of it back when we were starting out.”
Also on the 32nd annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame induction list: Stone Mountain songstress and Grammy winner India Arie, artist management legend Charlie Brusco, mezzo-soprano and Grammy winner Jennifer Larmore, classical pianist Charles Wadsworth, late singer-songwriter Paul Davis, steel guitarist Pete Drake, blues musician Rev. Pearly Brown and songwriter John Jarrard.
The induction ceremony will be held on September 11 at the Cobb Energy Centre and will feature live performances from the Crowes, Arie and others.
Tickets go on sale July 1 via the Cobb Energy Centre box office or Ticketmaster.
