Crowes by Jay Hutto

Back in the spring of 1990, I was a Senior in High School out in the northern Atlanta burbs. I had come into a unique living arrangement since a job transfer sent my parents to another state. I was allowed to stay with a friend since I was on the verge of graduating and they didn’t want me to miss out on that. The house we lived in was a typical brick ranch built back in the 50’s or 60’s. Still had the shag carpet and a big picture of plants on a single sheet of wallpaper covering one of the walls in the kitchen. It had a pool table and bar in the basement, a big backyard, and a hot tub in the back deck.

Also: a glaring lack of parental supervision. My friend’s dad lived with his girlfriend at her house in another suburb during the week and most weekends.

You can imagine the things two teenage boys with a ton of friends and the run of a house where the only basic rule was “don’t break anything”. And we blew that rule out one night on a sliding glass door. The house quickly turned into a pool hall with people coming and going from late afternoon and late into the night. I remember we drank a ton of Michelob and any beer or liquor we could get. I don’t remember. But it was pivotal.

Somewhere, in late spring or early summer, we ended up with a cassette tape. I remember someone telling us the guys were from Marietta, Georgia- which was essentially where we were. They were only a year or two older than us. Nobody in the house knew them though. I should also mention that I was a couple of years into playing guitar and my girlfriend’s father was a professional guitar player. So, I was way into things like the Stones, Hendrix, Bad Co. We had those tapes on repeat. Just wore them out.

Our lives kind of changed the night we heard this tape. “Shake Your Money Maker” by the Black Crowes. It was something completely different than the Paula Abdul, Bobby Brown music, and even the pop-metal like Def Leppard and Tesla. The music was polished but had a very British, Stonesy rock sound. Very accessible to our ears. It had some killer ballads like “Sister Luck” and the teenage heartbreaker, “Seeing Things”. We just couldn’t believe that these guys pulled this off. It was only a little later that I found out that Brendan O’Brien, a music savant who played in cover bands around Atlanta and who later became a huge producer to bands like Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen, was the real brain behind the sounds. He was also the guy playing the Keef-ish guitars and solos. It took many years for me to figure out who Chuck Leavell was. You know the music even if you think you don’t.

We became huge fans. A couple of years later, we became bigger fans. All this being pre-“internet” we didn’t know anything about anything. I was hanging around some older music guys. One night, one of the guys said, “Hey, this Saturday there’s going to be a Pot Festival in the park.” Piedmont Park. And the Crowes would be there. So would I.

It’s really hard to imagine now, but we had no idea there was a new album coming. The week of the Festival, my friends at UGA were able to see “The Roach Clips” at the 40 Watt for five dollars or something. That was the Crowes. The word was out. This pot fest turned out to be one of the biggest “demonstrations” in the US up to that time. It was a wild day. At one point it began to storm and people were hanging out of trees while lightning crashed around. Muddy hippies and drum circles. Cops and marijuana everywhere. Wild.

Here is what I remember the most. They changed. Steve Gorman, the drummer, was wearing a suit. He had cut his long hair and looked like their manager. In fact, I saw the Crowes walking around in the back and that’s who I thought it was. The first member on stage was Steve, still wearing a suit and a pair of Ray Bans, just pounding the drums. The rest of the band came out and absolutely took the top of our heads off with grinding, melodic, soulful rock. The sounds on the second album, “Southern Harmony and Musical Companion” were different.

Heavier than the first album. Darker themes. You might consider this the beginning of the “drug phase”. The songs on that record that made the biggest impression on me were: “Bad Luck Blue Eyes”, “Sometimes Salvation”, and “My Morning Song”. Tapping into that record led me to things like the Allman Brothers. Most likely from the Crowes covering “Dreams”. It was a glorious time.

The Crowes were really something. They didn’t get killed by grunge. They had somehow been able to do their own thing and it missed them. The thing that got them was the thing that usually gets everyone: themselves. The third record is probably my favorite. “Amorica”. This was Chris Robinson at his most evangelical and cocky. He hated everything. To prove it, they released “Amorica” with the picture of a woman’s mid-section, bikini bottom made of the American flag, and a tuft of pubic hair roostering out of the top. As you can imagine, it was immediately banned by every retailer in the country. Since there was no streaming, you had to physically buy it. Most people couldn’t get records at a record shop. It was Wal-Mart and Target unless you had a Turtles or something close by. Business tip: if you’re selling something for a living, you’re much more successful if people can buy it.

“Amorica” was just majestic. It sounds big. Lots of jams. But the thing for me in retrospect was the fact that it really showed a progression or growth of the band. My favorite tracks from this album are “Cursed Diamond”, “Nonfiction”, “Ballad in Urgency” and “Wiser Time”. The record didn’t do what the other two did, for now obvious reasons, but it was their best, IMO.

I would put those three albums up against any three-album run from any band. After “Amorica”, my life changed and I didn’t see the band very much. They continued to put albums out for a while but something was just off. They fired a few band members, hired a few, got back together in the early aughts, and broke up again. The brothers sued each other. They sued the drummer. Basically, a lot of legal action and general bad vibe behavior. In the teens, I lost interest. I saw where they got back together a couple of years ago and were performing “Shake Your Money Maker” as some kind of anniversary celebration. Then came Covid which was completely in line with the band’s story and luck. I had lost interest and I guess you could say grown up.

Earlier this year, I saw Chris Robinson making the PR rounds and something was different. His attitude changed. He seemed to actually get along with his brother and didn’t show any real sign of anger or animosity. I guess he’s grown up, too. I heard they had a new record coming out, in five days from this post called “Happiness Bastard”. I heard a new song, “Waiting and Wanting” and I have to say, “I’m back on board”. It leans more toward the beginning of their career than their more jammy, heady stuff. It sounds a little like the first record and a little like the late 90’s stuff. Check it out. My heart is open and I’m ready to listen.

I would encourage anyone who’s interested and who isn’t familiar, to dive into the first three. If you like that, maybe check out “Three Snakes, One Charm” and “War Paint”. I know there are a lot of readers of my vintage but I know there are some younger guys out there who could use it.

You’re not going to make it back to the nineties but it might change your life. You never know.

Jay Hutto is a great friend and probably has better taste in music than you.