Specializing in a free-spirited, blues infused form of rock ‘n’ roll, The Black Crowes are an essential piece of rock music history. Through its Eagle Records subsidiary, Eagle Rock Entertainment is releasing a 2CD set from the rock luminaries. Warpaint Live is hitting the shelves on April 28 [CLICK HERE to Pre-book from Amazon for $17.98]. An accompanying DVD will be released later this year.

After ten years of touring around the world and 20 million records sold, The Black Crowes took a five year hiatus. In 2005 the band re-united and re-ignited. Three years later, they released Warpaint, their first new studio album in seven years.

For those interested in all things Robinson, the Brothers Of A Feather – Live At The Roxy CD/DVD is also available here in CD or DVD.

Warpaint Live Track Listing:
Disc 1:
1.) Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution
2.) Walk Believer Walk
3.) Oh, Josephine
4.) Evergreen
5.) Wee Who See The Deep
6.) Locust Street
7.) Movin’ On Down The Line
8.) Wounded Bird
9.) God’s Got It
10.) There’s Gold In Them Hills
11.) Whoa Mule

Disc 2:
1.) Poor Elijah – Tribute To Johnson (Medley)
2.) Darling Of The Underground Press
3.) Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye
4.) Don’t Know Why
5.) Torn And Frayed
6.) Hey Grandma

Here’s the Black Crowes performing  John Lennon’s Jealous Guy in 1991:

GBarton over at Classic Rock Magazine just published a great interview with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes on “What it takes to be a great Rock singer”. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Black Crowes and I play a lot of their songs on my guitar and try so sound like Chris- he’s awesome.

Here’s a bit of the interview…

Without being modest, what exactly makes you such a good singer?

“My father was a rock ‘n’ roll singer in the ’50s, and he didn’t think I was a very good singer, and didn’t encourage me much, but now he’s proud of me and realises what my talent is. I think it has something to do with honest expression. I probably wouldn’t get very far on American Idol. But this is rock ‘n’ roll. What comes out is who you are and how you live. Singing for me is very visceral. That’s the Southern side of me. Just get up there and do it. Open your mouth and hope a good sound comes out.

“There’s more to singing than hitting notes. Otis Redding sang out of key a lot, but he gave so much with his voice, it was as though he was taking a piece of himself in his hands and giving it to you. That always resonated with me. Rock ‘n’ roll is not a perfect science. The music that always grabs me by the heartstrings is the stuff that isn’t perfect but contains that exchange between the vocalist and audience. For me, that’s the way it has to be.”

Which other singers do you admire?

“Whether it was Otis Redding or Steve Marriott, it’s all about expression. That’s why Neil Young and Bob Dylan are great rock ‘n’ roll singers. I’m sure you’ve met people who don’t think Bob is a great singer, but his voice is honest within the material and cuts close to the bone, and there’s a sincerity to that. It’s the connection between the audience and the experience of what he’s singing about. Freddie Mercury had great emotional exchange too. You could get bogged down in tonalities. Paul Rodgers has a great tone to his voice as a great white blues singer. Or Rod Stewart, when he was starting out. But the stuff I learnt to sing with was Sly & the Family Stone and George Clinton’s Funkadelic records.”

What do you think is your best vocal performance?

“Early in our career, maybe something like Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye from The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion [1992]. We were still very young; we made that record in a week, so we didn’t spend a lot of time fretting over it, and I think it’s a real heartfelt performance. And personally, I think Oh Josephine from the last album [Warpaint]. I always tend to go for the ballads, where the imagery and the vocal and the song convalesce into something. If I can’t believe in the stories and the words I’m saying, there’s no use singing it. That’s also true of the covers we choose to sing.

“What mood do I need to be in to give a vocal performance? When I was starting out, I was more at the whims of stuff like anger. Now I’m always ready to sing. Even when I’m tired. Even when I’m sick.”

The rest of the interview is here- Classic Rock » Blog Archive » The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson On What It Takes To Be A Great Singer.

by Tim Cashmere - November 28 2008

The most rock n` roll rock n` roll band in the world, The Black Crowes have begun thinking about their next album.

In an interview with Billboard.com, guitarist Rich Robinson said “We still want to do this. Having all this sort of new enthusiasm and this newfound sense of identity as a band, I think we want to put it to good use and make another great record and really do some different and interesting things.

“Right now I’m just writing what I write, and Chris is writing what he writes,” the guitarist says. “When we get together and put all of our songs together, I think it’ll dictate what common direction it’s going to go. Once that happens, that’s when I think everyone’s gonna come in and we’ll solidify everything.”

The band have twelve shows left in the USA from December 5, but no new shows will be announced as recording is a priority for them for now.

Check the band out in the States at:

DECEMBER

5 – The Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL
6 – Fillmore Detroit, Detroit, MI
7 – Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI
9 – The Venue, Fargo, ND
10 – First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
11 – Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines, IA
13 – Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO
15 – The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
16 – The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
18 – The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
19 – The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
20 – The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA