After 19 years, the Crowes are still rockin’

The Black Crowes

No member of The Black Crowes shaved before the band’s show in downtown Richmond on Tuesday at the National.

The southern rock band, spearheaded by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson from Marietta, Ga., appeared before a full crowd looking like refugees from the early ‘90s, the era of Seattle grunge-rock. They had full beards and long hair, wore ripped jeans and flannel shirts and burned incense on stage during their set. From the second they walked on stage, I was teleported back to my childhood and the heady days of dirty guitar distortion and gloomy song lyrics.

The band did, in fact, enter the mainstream of American music in 1990, around the same time as the grunge rockers. But the Black Crowes did something different than their grunge counterparts. Their sound was upbeat and classic. In 1990, Rolling Stone Magazine’s readers named them “the best new American rock band.”

Bands such as The Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd influenced The Black Crowes. The band’s soulful ‘70s rock sound is enriched by Southern choir vocals and organs.

The Black Crowes continue to make music almost 19 years after their first big album, which featured their radio hit “She Talks to Angels,” a bluesy ballad about drug addiction.

Their newest album, “Warpaint,” reached No. 5 on the Billboard album charts, proving that an old fashioned Rock ‘n’ Roll band such as The Black Crowes was still relevant in an era of increasingly pop-oriented rock.

The show started slowly, but The Black Crowes seemed to hit their stride while they played “Walk Believer Walk,” a track from their recent album. “Believer” is a driving and rhythmic blues song that gave the rockers plenty of time to jam on their instruments.

The crowd was also slow to get into the show, primarily because the sound quality was poor. But The Black Crowes did not let sound problems dampen their enthusiasm. They played for more than two hours and clearly enjoyed themselves.

Noticeably absent from the evening were the hits from the early ‘90s. “She Talks to Angels,” “Remedy” and “Blackberry” never made the set list.

Leaving those songs out made the show better. They would have been a cheap crowd pleaser and would have shown no musical growth after almost 20 years of playing together. Additionally, it gave the crowd a chance to see a different side of the Crowes than what they already knew from the well-worn radio songs.

All in all, I loved the show. I entered the concert on the fence about The Black Crowes, but left the concert a devoted fan. They did their jobs.

Contact staff writer David Larter at david.larter@richmond.edu