WEBVTT - Rewind: Chris Robinson 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:21.876 Pushkin. The Black Crows are one of the great rock 0:00:21.956 --> 0:00:24.596 bands of the last thirty years, and they've just been 0:00:24.596 --> 0:00:26.876 nominated for the twenty twenty six Rock and Roll Hall 0:00:26.916 --> 0:00:30.676 of Fame, alongside nominees like Lauren Hill, Phil Collins, Wu 0:00:30.756 --> 0:00:34.076 Tang Clan and Oasis, all acts i'd vote for if 0:00:34.116 --> 0:00:36.876 I were a voting member, by the way, but instead 0:00:36.876 --> 0:00:39.316 of voting, we'd figured we'd honor the Black Crows nomination 0:00:39.436 --> 0:00:42.356 by running back my interview with their singer Chris Robinson 0:00:42.596 --> 0:00:47.636 from when they released their album Happiness Bastards Enjoy. Sixteen 0:00:47.716 --> 0:00:49.956 years have passed since The Black Crows last put out 0:00:49.996 --> 0:00:53.156 an album of all new material. The world's changed a 0:00:53.156 --> 0:00:56.636 lot since then, and it appears so have the Robinson brothers. 0:00:57.436 --> 0:01:00.196 Chris and Rich Robinson are, of course, the backbone of 0:01:00.236 --> 0:01:02.916 the group. They started together back in Georgia in eighty 0:01:02.956 --> 0:01:07.236 four as Mister Crow's Garden, before moving to NYC, signing 0:01:07.276 --> 0:01:10.436 with Death American and changing their name to The Black Crows. 0:01:11.356 --> 0:01:13.916 The band's debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, set them 0:01:13.996 --> 0:01:16.756 up as torch bearers of Southern rock for the nineties 0:01:16.796 --> 0:01:20.356 and beyond. As you'll hear in our conversation the brothers 0:01:20.476 --> 0:01:24.116 Robinson have had a competitive relationship for a long time. 0:01:24.636 --> 0:01:26.956 There ups and downs have meant hiatuses for the band 0:01:26.956 --> 0:01:30.236 over the years, but now they're back united and seemingly 0:01:30.236 --> 0:01:32.396 in it for the long haul with their new album 0:01:32.636 --> 0:01:36.676 Happiness Bastards. On today's episode, I talked to Chris Robinson 0:01:36.676 --> 0:01:39.276 about his growing up in Georgia with Rich their dad's 0:01:39.356 --> 0:01:44.036 rockabilly career, his listening routine that includes Sudanese and Sufi music, 0:01:44.436 --> 0:01:47.076 and how his road habits have changed from indulging in 0:01:47.156 --> 0:01:54.716 champagne and other substances to reading Herman Melville. This is 0:01:54.836 --> 0:01:58.596 broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Mitchman. 0:01:59.436 --> 0:02:02.556 Here's my conversation with Chris Robinson of the Black Crows. 0:02:03.796 --> 0:02:05.956 Is that it gun club like the band? Sure that 0:02:05.996 --> 0:02:06.356 you got on? 0:02:06.436 --> 0:02:06.596 Yeah? 0:02:06.676 --> 0:02:08.116 Yeah, yeah, oh hell yeah. 0:02:08.196 --> 0:02:11.716 I love gunklow Man, Jeffer Lee Pierce one of my faves. 0:02:12.076 --> 0:02:15.076 And it's funny because you know, when we started, people 0:02:15.076 --> 0:02:17.556 would always say we sounded like and we did. We had, 0:02:17.596 --> 0:02:21.756 you know, there was the Jengle sort of indie pop thing, Rim. 0:02:21.436 --> 0:02:26.116 Of course being the purveyors of that, but let's active. 0:02:26.036 --> 0:02:29.516 And the DBS and then bands from California, like Game Theory. 0:02:29.556 --> 0:02:31.556 We kind of were into like this kind of jangly 0:02:31.956 --> 0:02:35.876 sixties inspired but we really sounded early days a lot 0:02:35.996 --> 0:02:38.396 like the gun Club, you know, because gun Club and 0:02:38.636 --> 0:02:41.556 X are very interesting to me, and like early punk 0:02:41.996 --> 0:02:45.516 scene here in Los Angeles because they were the well, 0:02:45.556 --> 0:02:47.876 I guess you could put the blasters and the plugs 0:02:47.876 --> 0:02:48.436 in there too. 0:02:48.716 --> 0:02:50.636 Blasters are from essef though, right, oh. 0:02:50.556 --> 0:02:52.276 Blasters are LA band too. 0:02:52.156 --> 0:02:53.476 You are they? Okay? Cool? 0:02:53.996 --> 0:02:57.116 They had those kind of roots seed. 0:02:56.956 --> 0:02:59.236 Things, you know, and it would be really early on 0:02:59.276 --> 0:03:01.516 that we would think like, okay, well, Jeffery Lee Pierce 0:03:01.636 --> 0:03:06.196 is like a punk icon, but he plays a Robert 0:03:06.236 --> 0:03:08.796 Johnson song on the first record. You know, it doesn't 0:03:08.836 --> 0:03:12.316 sell Robert Johnson, but needless to say, he found great 0:03:12.396 --> 0:03:17.396 inspiration and the mythology and the imagery and the vibration 0:03:17.516 --> 0:03:18.796 of like the blues. 0:03:18.436 --> 0:03:20.516 And stuff, which other punk bands really didn't. 0:03:20.796 --> 0:03:23.996 Whatever music is happening in LA, there's always some subset 0:03:24.076 --> 0:03:27.036 of it that countrifies it. You know. It's like even 0:03:27.036 --> 0:03:29.076 with the Birds, like Sweetheart of the Rodeo, like all 0:03:29.116 --> 0:03:31.556 that stuff, Like the Birds got into that and you know, 0:03:31.596 --> 0:03:33.676 I don't know, you could even feel that with Buffalo 0:03:33.716 --> 0:03:36.036 Springfield and I mean, I know, like Neil from Canada 0:03:36.076 --> 0:03:38.716 or whatnot. But they're making music here, you know, of course. 0:03:38.476 --> 0:03:40.956 Of course, well I mean, you know, I mean, while 0:03:40.956 --> 0:03:43.716 that's going on, Tim Buckley's here, and you know what 0:03:43.756 --> 0:03:46.356 I mean, And while that's going on, you have bands 0:03:46.396 --> 0:03:50.436 like the Chambers Brothers and Eric Burden Leaves the Animals 0:03:50.556 --> 0:03:55.076 and Northern English White Band playing blues music. And then 0:03:55.156 --> 0:03:56.716 he's the lead singer of War. 0:03:57.556 --> 0:04:01.356 It War is like such a quintessential La Long Beach 0:04:01.396 --> 0:04:02.716 of fact group, you know. 0:04:02.836 --> 0:04:06.836 I mean, I think obviously there's subsequent most famous records 0:04:07.836 --> 0:04:11.476 don't include Yeah, And it's funny. It also just goes 0:04:11.516 --> 0:04:14.636 to show how that's just how music is, isn't it. 0:04:14.676 --> 0:04:15.316 You know what I mean? 0:04:15.636 --> 0:04:17.716 I mean, I guess you obviously you can make examples 0:04:17.756 --> 0:04:23.236 of things that seem heavy handed or things that don't 0:04:23.436 --> 0:04:26.276 contain a certain authenticity. But I mean, that was a 0:04:26.316 --> 0:04:28.636 big deal when I you know, talking about growing up 0:04:28.676 --> 0:04:32.916 in a band, being from Atlanta, being like in a 0:04:33.236 --> 0:04:37.796 arguably the most progressive city in terms of race relations 0:04:37.916 --> 0:04:40.436 in if not America and maybe globally. 0:04:41.076 --> 0:04:42.676 That's interesting. It probably has to be I mean you 0:04:42.716 --> 0:04:44.676 might I might have been comping to say New Orleans, 0:04:44.676 --> 0:04:46.356 but I think when you kind of look at the 0:04:46.436 --> 0:04:49.116 musical legacy of Atlanta over the last I. 0:04:49.036 --> 0:04:52.476 Mean New Orleans most definitely, but Atlanta's different because of 0:04:52.516 --> 0:04:57.716 the black universities, yeah, like kind of concentrated there, and 0:04:57.836 --> 0:05:01.476 Atlanta having Maynard Jackson as the first black mayor, the 0:05:01.476 --> 0:05:04.356 first black police chief for the black police force in 0:05:04.396 --> 0:05:05.236 the Deep South. 0:05:05.396 --> 0:05:06.956 When I first landed in Atlanta, I got to say 0:05:06.956 --> 0:05:08.556 coming from LAA because I grew up in la When 0:05:08.556 --> 0:05:10.876 I first landed Atlanta, I'm in the airport, I'm like, 0:05:11.676 --> 0:05:14.756 with whem, Like, how is the whole airport is black? 0:05:14.836 --> 0:05:17.156 This is crazy. It was the weirdest experience for me. 0:05:17.356 --> 0:05:18.276 Funny, that's funny. 0:05:18.276 --> 0:05:22.236 And as I said, I'm a third generation Atlantan and 0:05:22.956 --> 0:05:26.796 I don't really make the connection and being like I'm 0:05:26.836 --> 0:05:29.716 a Southern person, but my connection is with Atlanta. 0:05:30.236 --> 0:05:30.436 Yeah. 0:05:30.436 --> 0:05:32.556 And so so it's funny because. 0:05:32.276 --> 0:05:35.596 Maynor Jackson's the guy who when Hartfield International Airport becomes 0:05:35.636 --> 0:05:38.636 an international airport, He's the one who's like, we're not 0:05:38.796 --> 0:05:43.156 doing anything unless black business owners are recognized and have 0:05:43.196 --> 0:05:43.836 a piece in this. 0:05:43.916 --> 0:05:46.876 And what that can mean for the community. Something very 0:05:46.916 --> 0:05:49.196 subtle like that still reverberates, I. 0:05:49.116 --> 0:05:54.556 Think, and besides the culture, because you start to see 0:05:54.596 --> 0:05:57.236 Atlanta also be a city, you know, famous for the 0:05:57.356 --> 0:05:58.156 musicians and. 0:05:58.156 --> 0:06:00.956 The hip hop and the athletes that I'll move there. 0:06:01.116 --> 0:06:03.956 But the reason that becomes attractive is because of decisions 0:06:04.076 --> 0:06:07.196 like that and the hard line that someone like Maynor 0:06:07.276 --> 0:06:10.516 Jackson would take, and how Atlanta I had been pried open. 0:06:11.116 --> 0:06:13.756 Of course, having the great Reverend Bee from there, you know, 0:06:13.916 --> 0:06:16.396 gives Atlanta a different perspective. 0:06:16.836 --> 0:06:18.876 But I do know it's a unique place in that way. 0:06:18.996 --> 0:06:19.996 And it's funny like I. 0:06:19.956 --> 0:06:23.036 Speak on it from the past, because I really left 0:06:23.476 --> 0:06:25.836 first check I got into Black Crows, I moved to 0:06:25.876 --> 0:06:27.876 New York. Being in a band to me was like, 0:06:28.916 --> 0:06:31.476 you know, shooting an arrow over the mountain, like just 0:06:31.596 --> 0:06:34.276 I wanted to get out in the world. 0:06:34.516 --> 0:06:36.556 Had you been to New York before we moved there? 0:06:36.756 --> 0:06:36.996 Yeah? 0:06:37.076 --> 0:06:40.436 Yeah, Actually, you know our dad, rich andized dad was 0:06:40.476 --> 0:06:41.036 a singer. 0:06:41.956 --> 0:06:42.876 He had a top. 0:06:42.716 --> 0:06:46.596 Forty rock and roll hit in the fifties called Boom 0:06:46.596 --> 0:06:47.156 a Dip Dip. 0:06:47.196 --> 0:06:48.676 You can check it out on Spotify. 0:06:48.876 --> 0:06:52.396 I've listened to some of that stuff good man. It's 0:06:52.476 --> 0:06:53.076 really good. 0:06:53.196 --> 0:06:55.156 Yeah, it's a good song. And so I really have 0:06:55.276 --> 0:06:57.076 been and lit at New York. 0:06:57.116 --> 0:07:00.436 And he was like, you know, into the theater and 0:07:00.676 --> 0:07:02.996 music and acting and dance. 0:07:03.076 --> 0:07:03.276 You know. 0:07:03.316 --> 0:07:05.556 So he wanted that too at a certain time in 0:07:05.596 --> 0:07:09.676 his life. And he was in New York. And it's funny. 0:07:09.756 --> 0:07:14.316 My mom was a flight attendant for the old Eastern Airlines, 0:07:14.836 --> 0:07:15.556 and you know it's funny. 0:07:15.596 --> 0:07:18.556 She told me. She goes, Oh, I served doctor King 0:07:18.676 --> 0:07:21.916 many times on flights side of Atlanta. Wow, I always 0:07:22.196 --> 0:07:23.716 really blew my mind as a kid, you. 0:07:23.716 --> 0:07:25.516 Know, of course she did. It wouldn't make I mean, 0:07:25.556 --> 0:07:28.356 how many flights out of Atlanta musty have taken that. 0:07:28.836 --> 0:07:30.596 All the time, you know? You know. 0:07:30.716 --> 0:07:34.196 So I moved to New York first, and I still 0:07:34.236 --> 0:07:37.236 love New York and some of my deepest connections and 0:07:37.276 --> 0:07:39.356 friendships are there. 0:07:40.396 --> 0:07:42.596 My wife and I just got back from there yesterday. 0:07:43.516 --> 0:07:46.876 But I came to Los Angeles, and I don't know, 0:07:46.996 --> 0:07:48.476 it was farther away. 0:07:48.356 --> 0:07:50.156 From Georgia from everything. 0:07:50.716 --> 0:07:54.596 I mean, California has an idea California. Later I would 0:07:54.636 --> 0:07:57.516 get to know far more about this state. 0:07:57.556 --> 0:07:59.596 And I lived up north for six years and I 0:07:59.636 --> 0:08:02.076 was in this little hippie band, and we started. 0:08:02.076 --> 0:08:04.956 We did nine weeks just up and down California in. 0:08:04.876 --> 0:08:08.516 The van, playing all the little beach towns and hippie towns. 0:08:08.556 --> 0:08:12.716 And you know, I got a real appreciation for do 0:08:12.716 --> 0:08:13.636 you remember Hule. 0:08:13.516 --> 0:08:16.956 Houser, Oh, come on man, California's gold Baby. 0:08:17.036 --> 0:08:19.756 I was like the psychedelic Hule Houser. You know what 0:08:19.836 --> 0:08:22.396 I mean? You know hil Hauser. I was like, so 0:08:22.636 --> 0:08:25.236 this was an Adobe. Wow. 0:08:25.556 --> 0:08:27.116 He was amazed about everything too. 0:08:27.596 --> 0:08:33.276 He's like, so this is a ball of Manuda. I 0:08:33.356 --> 0:08:36.916 love Juel Hauser, the late great man, the late great 0:08:36.996 --> 0:08:37.716 Huel Hauser. 0:08:37.796 --> 0:08:38.956 Man, I love. 0:08:39.036 --> 0:08:42.316 And you know what, he was always so excited. He 0:08:42.436 --> 0:08:45.956 saw remission from San Diego to like, you know, the 0:08:45.996 --> 0:08:50.516 Oregon border, so that the mission, You're like so excited. 0:08:51.356 --> 0:08:53.876 Everything was ecstatic to him. It was crazy. It was 0:08:53.876 --> 0:08:56.116 so that was that was a funny show to watch, man. 0:08:56.316 --> 0:08:58.036 I loved it. When I moved here, I was like, 0:08:58.116 --> 0:08:59.516 what is this? Is this good? 0:09:00.196 --> 0:09:02.156 I also am lucky that when I'm I'm so I 0:09:02.196 --> 0:09:03.596 moved here in ninety one. 0:09:04.636 --> 0:09:09.116 Early ninety two. That was the golden age of public television. 0:09:09.636 --> 0:09:14.036 Yeah, I'm the weirdest weirdest of the weird stuff would 0:09:14.076 --> 0:09:17.116 come on TV man on the couple of public stations 0:09:17.116 --> 0:09:21.156 on your cable, like Channel six and Channel fourteen or whatever, 0:09:21.556 --> 0:09:26.356 the most unimaginably, I mean obviously like Tim and Eric. 0:09:26.356 --> 0:09:27.636 I don't know if you ever got into Tim and. 0:09:27.876 --> 0:09:31.436 Hell yeah, Tim and Eric like take the inspiration of 0:09:31.476 --> 0:09:34.316 that into their twisted world for the series, which is 0:09:34.756 --> 0:09:37.116 still some of my favorite stuff. You don't need a 0:09:37.196 --> 0:09:39.476 Chinese massage, you need an Italian massage. 0:09:39.756 --> 0:09:41.676 It was fantastic, you know what I mean. 0:09:41.796 --> 0:09:43.916 And you know the other thing about things that were 0:09:43.916 --> 0:09:47.716 really I've always been interested in outsider culture, you know, 0:09:47.716 --> 0:09:50.356 when those would be like driven by like this, but 0:09:50.756 --> 0:09:52.596 because of Hollywood, it made it even weirder. 0:09:52.636 --> 0:09:55.156 Like I'm on TV now I'm famous too, you know 0:09:55.196 --> 0:09:55.556 what I mean. 0:09:55.796 --> 0:09:59.676 Yeah, pre dating the psychoses that has become social media, 0:09:59.756 --> 0:09:59.996 you know. 0:10:00.436 --> 0:10:00.716 Yeah. 0:10:00.836 --> 0:10:01.116 Yeah. 0:10:01.356 --> 0:10:03.316 People always describe LA when they come to LA as 0:10:03.356 --> 0:10:06.356 being closer to the industry, as being closer to things. 0:10:06.356 --> 0:10:10.396 But I also find that you can find your niches 0:10:10.436 --> 0:10:12.876 and stay way out of the way of the industry 0:10:13.036 --> 0:10:13.636 if you want. 0:10:13.836 --> 0:10:16.116 I did it, Yeah, I mean, when I moved to 0:10:16.116 --> 0:10:19.556 Topanga Canyon at a certain point. I moved to Topanga 0:10:19.596 --> 0:10:23.396 because I have these romantic notions of what northern California, 0:10:23.396 --> 0:10:25.316 what I've been to northern California, but what it might 0:10:25.356 --> 0:10:27.476 feel like not to be in LA, but to still 0:10:27.476 --> 0:10:31.836 be able to be in LA. For different reasons. I'm 0:10:31.876 --> 0:10:33.836 of the firm belief that Los Angeles is one of 0:10:33.876 --> 0:10:38.316 the great cities in the world, and which is also 0:10:38.676 --> 0:10:42.516 unique because of how new this city is comparatively. In 0:10:42.596 --> 0:10:46.236 eighteen sixty there's five thousand people living here that's wild 0:10:46.516 --> 0:10:50.636 ranchers and spread out, and it's just come over from 0:10:50.756 --> 0:10:53.476 Mexican rule and stuff from that government. 0:10:53.516 --> 0:10:55.236 And they had, you. 0:10:55.116 --> 0:10:59.676 Know, gave everyone deeds to these massiffincas and ranches and 0:10:59.716 --> 0:11:01.916 things that were all of California, you know. 0:11:02.036 --> 0:11:05.796 So it's not that old in the big scheme of things. 0:11:06.156 --> 0:11:08.356 But the other. 0:11:08.156 --> 0:11:11.956 Funny thing is when I game here, I was like, 0:11:12.036 --> 0:11:14.236 I laugh all the time because it was like growing 0:11:14.316 --> 0:11:15.516 up in Atlanta or whatever. 0:11:15.796 --> 0:11:18.636 In nineteen I had my first sushi in nineteen eighty nine. 0:11:18.756 --> 0:11:22.276 My guy ended up being our manager, like, took me 0:11:22.316 --> 0:11:25.316 and Rich with some friends to get sushi. 0:11:25.516 --> 0:11:28.716 And that place is called Imperial Gardens whatever it was 0:11:28.876 --> 0:11:29.956 right there on sunset. 0:11:29.996 --> 0:11:32.476 It's now like a Loco place or something, but it 0:11:32.516 --> 0:11:36.836 was the Roxbury later. But anyway, we're sitting there and like, 0:11:37.036 --> 0:11:41.236 of course I know what it is, but I'm you know, standing. 0:11:40.996 --> 0:11:44.476 Nancy Robinson in Atlanta. We didn't see you know what 0:11:44.476 --> 0:11:44.796 I mean. 0:11:45.036 --> 0:11:48.636 Like I remember being sixteen and telling my dad, like, 0:11:48.716 --> 0:11:50.876 coming downstairs one day, I was like, why have we 0:11:50.956 --> 0:11:53.316 never had Indian food? My dad was like, you're right, 0:11:53.356 --> 0:11:54.756 we should go get it. And I was like, we 0:11:54.836 --> 0:11:57.396 all drove to the one Indian restaurant, you know, and 0:11:57.436 --> 0:12:00.836 it was amazing. Wow, I'm here in nineteen eighty nine, 0:12:00.836 --> 0:12:03.436 I'm still working on the first album and I'm a 0:12:03.516 --> 0:12:08.236 kid from Atlanta. But the cool thing is it's a mentality. 0:12:08.276 --> 0:12:10.476 You get farther away from where you come from, and 0:12:10.916 --> 0:12:14.676 like anything else, you figure out what's delicious about it 0:12:14.716 --> 0:12:16.876 and what's special about it, and now it has a 0:12:16.916 --> 0:12:18.916 place in your culinary like. 0:12:19.196 --> 0:12:22.156 Thing that tonight's sushi we want to go and you 0:12:22.196 --> 0:12:24.236 know what I mean? And then you can on level. 0:12:24.236 --> 0:12:26.996 But there was one time where you're you know, I 0:12:27.076 --> 0:12:29.516 come to La I don't know anything about anything, and 0:12:29.516 --> 0:12:30.836 I don't even know what this is. 0:12:31.116 --> 0:12:33.596 How far removed from Atlanta. Do you feel now, like 0:12:33.636 --> 0:12:35.236 do you feel like an atlantin. 0:12:36.516 --> 0:12:41.396 I mean, not especially, And none of that is to 0:12:41.436 --> 0:12:45.156 be taken as if Atlanta has feelings. I do love 0:12:45.196 --> 0:12:49.036 Atlanta more than ever, but it's also I like the 0:12:49.076 --> 0:12:52.396 remnants of the Atlanta that I remember, so when you 0:12:52.436 --> 0:12:55.036 go back you don't see the I mean, man, it's changed. 0:12:55.156 --> 0:12:58.236 There was this thing on Peach Street called the Darlington Apartments, 0:12:58.236 --> 0:13:00.916 and there used to have this digital thing and it 0:13:00.916 --> 0:13:02.476 would be like two. 0:13:02.356 --> 0:13:04.516 Million nine U nine, you know what I mean that, 0:13:04.556 --> 0:13:04.836 you know, and. 0:13:05.036 --> 0:13:08.156 It was the population and it got older with the 0:13:08.196 --> 0:13:10.396 population sign and it got bigger and it went to 0:13:10.476 --> 0:13:12.156 three million in nineteen ninety. 0:13:12.876 --> 0:13:14.156 You know, we used to hang. 0:13:13.996 --> 0:13:17.196 Around this monthly thing called the mud Shack at this 0:13:17.716 --> 0:13:20.836 after hours Mexican burrito place, and it was a poetry 0:13:20.876 --> 0:13:23.236 reading and just the poet would get on stage like 0:13:23.516 --> 0:13:26.436 I live in a city of three million people, as 0:13:26.476 --> 0:13:29.036 if it was like you know this Atlanta of this. 0:13:29.796 --> 0:13:32.076 It's almost eight million people now. 0:13:32.356 --> 0:13:34.716 Yeah, yeah, right, that sounds about right. It's huge. 0:13:34.836 --> 0:13:35.636 It went out there. 0:13:35.996 --> 0:13:38.516 I mean, of course I love it, but most a 0:13:38.556 --> 0:13:41.316 lot of the Atlanta. You know, the house where we 0:13:41.396 --> 0:13:44.556 used to rehearse and have parties is now the Federal Reserve. 0:13:44.756 --> 0:13:45.716 The club that we. 0:13:46.236 --> 0:13:49.036 Based all our rock and roll dreams and mythology on 0:13:49.236 --> 0:13:50.876 is now at that, you know, a place where people 0:13:50.876 --> 0:13:51.996 go get stitches. 0:13:51.716 --> 0:13:53.676 Or whatever, you know what I mean, Like all of 0:13:53.716 --> 0:13:54.276 that kind. 0:13:54.196 --> 0:13:56.556 Of stuff from back in the eighties, whenever the world 0:13:56.716 --> 0:14:00.356 was new and music was all our career was ahead 0:14:00.396 --> 0:14:03.836 of us, that's all kind of gone. Yeah, you can 0:14:03.916 --> 0:14:07.036 see that the skeleton of it, you know what I mean. 0:14:07.276 --> 0:14:11.036 Yeah, Well, with more of my interview with Chris Robinson 0:14:11.276 --> 0:14:19.596 after this quick break, we're back with Chris Robinson. Do 0:14:19.636 --> 0:14:21.876 you get excited to tour these days? But can you 0:14:21.916 --> 0:14:23.636 still get excited about it? I do? 0:14:23.676 --> 0:14:24.716 I do. It was funny. 0:14:24.716 --> 0:14:27.356 I've done a couple of interviews for this project, and 0:14:27.556 --> 0:14:30.276 I'm like shocked that the people have said, you're the 0:14:30.276 --> 0:14:34.116 first musician who says they still find inspiration doing what 0:14:34.156 --> 0:14:37.196 you do and being on tour, they say is so boring. 0:14:37.276 --> 0:14:40.796 I'm like, I've never lost the dream. And again I've 0:14:40.996 --> 0:14:44.236 never been bored, you know what I mean. Even as 0:14:44.276 --> 0:14:46.796 a kid, like with my mom and go to your room, 0:14:46.836 --> 0:14:50.276 I'd be like, I'm amazing, That's all I want to do. 0:14:50.756 --> 0:14:52.756 All my records are in there, the books. 0:14:52.436 --> 0:14:55.556 I'm reading are in there. I can draw, I can dream, 0:14:55.836 --> 0:14:57.036 you know what I mean, daydream? 0:14:57.116 --> 0:15:00.236 I mean I was somewhere there's a permanent record of me, 0:15:00.276 --> 0:15:04.116 and all it says is prone to daydreaming. Not very 0:15:04.156 --> 0:15:07.396 good at math. But I was saying, I mean, it's 0:15:07.516 --> 0:15:11.516 just the way it is. I mean, is it tedious sometimes? 0:15:11.596 --> 0:15:16.236 Fuck yes, I'm fifty seven now. Airports fucking suck. 0:15:16.836 --> 0:15:17.036 Yeah. 0:15:17.596 --> 0:15:21.836 Not every gig is a magical experience. But you never 0:15:21.876 --> 0:15:23.756 know who you're gonna meet, and it could be anyone. 0:15:23.836 --> 0:15:27.676 It could be the Dianese uber driver who pitts you 0:15:27.756 --> 0:15:31.236 up in Saint Louis, who's fucking hilarious, an amazing, soulful 0:15:31.276 --> 0:15:34.556 person who's left a life behind to try to eke 0:15:34.596 --> 0:15:37.876 out something better, and like it's so brave and courageous, 0:15:37.916 --> 0:15:40.876 and you know, and you're only with this person eight 0:15:40.996 --> 0:15:43.356 minutes from the airport or whatever, and you just two 0:15:43.516 --> 0:15:45.236 people in the world laughing in a car. 0:15:45.436 --> 0:15:45.636 You know. 0:15:45.916 --> 0:15:48.996 But that little thing that doesn't even necessarily have to 0:15:48.996 --> 0:15:50.436 be a part of the narrative, It just has to 0:15:50.436 --> 0:15:50.716 be a. 0:15:50.636 --> 0:15:51.676 Part of that. 0:15:51.836 --> 0:15:57.516 You still believe that there's dynamic in meeting people and 0:15:57.556 --> 0:16:01.116 talking and laughing and sometimes crying. But I'm just naive 0:16:01.196 --> 0:16:03.716 enough to still see it as in the same way 0:16:03.716 --> 0:16:04.396 that I wanted. 0:16:04.796 --> 0:16:06.196 I picked music. 0:16:06.076 --> 0:16:08.476 On a lot of levels because I knew it was 0:16:08.596 --> 0:16:13.236 the one thing that I would travel all the time. Yeah, 0:16:13.396 --> 0:16:15.556 and then you set up your little thing and then 0:16:15.556 --> 0:16:16.796 you put your vibes out there. 0:16:16.876 --> 0:16:18.156 You know, that is pretty rare. 0:16:18.396 --> 0:16:20.716 I feel like listening to you talk, the only other 0:16:20.796 --> 0:16:24.436 person who has had a level of success that you've 0:16:24.476 --> 0:16:26.636 had and towards as much as you do and travels 0:16:26.636 --> 0:16:28.116 as much as you do that seems to still love it. 0:16:28.156 --> 0:16:30.836 I got lucky. I met Quincy Jones in Havana maybe 0:16:30.836 --> 0:16:34.276 ten years ago, and the joy he has to like 0:16:34.356 --> 0:16:37.276 travel and just talk to anybody. It's like he's like, yeah, 0:16:37.436 --> 0:16:39.636 he'll tell Sinatra stories, and I'll tell the story about 0:16:39.636 --> 0:16:42.476 like the Cab Driver and like Memphis, and you're like 0:16:42.516 --> 0:16:46.636 he everything is like new and fun and interesting in 0:16:46.676 --> 0:16:49.796 every person and everything and every sound and every that's 0:16:49.796 --> 0:16:52.436 a particular joy that you don't find in a lot 0:16:52.436 --> 0:16:53.516 of a lot of people. 0:16:54.236 --> 0:16:58.236 Like I said, I understand, and you know, you get older. 0:16:59.236 --> 0:17:01.916 It also helps in my life that after all the 0:17:02.556 --> 0:17:05.676 rock and roll and all the experiences that I found 0:17:05.996 --> 0:17:10.316 Camille my wife, because I found someone I knewho she 0:17:10.516 --> 0:17:13.836 understands that some of that is problematic and some of 0:17:13.876 --> 0:17:15.836 it's a pain in the ass, and some of it's 0:17:15.876 --> 0:17:16.756 like can't we just. 0:17:17.316 --> 0:17:19.716 Be do normal something? 0:17:20.356 --> 0:17:22.236 And like, by the way, we could talk about that 0:17:22.356 --> 0:17:26.036 and do our best. But then she also realizes, like 0:17:26.156 --> 0:17:31.596 she's an artist and she's Pisc's queen Moonstone child out 0:17:31.636 --> 0:17:33.596 in the world, you know, who wants to feel these 0:17:33.636 --> 0:17:37.636 things too. And you know, my thing is the pandemic 0:17:37.756 --> 0:17:39.796 was such a fucking head trip. 0:17:40.516 --> 0:17:43.996 Personally, I didn't really find it creative. I found it stifling. 0:17:44.156 --> 0:17:47.596 But we were lucky enough to live out in the. 0:17:46.996 --> 0:17:49.516 Wilds of West Marin and then we were in southwest 0:17:49.516 --> 0:17:55.036 Colorado amazing, Yeah, which was really really help. But one 0:17:55.116 --> 0:17:58.276 thing I thought I would really flip out on was 0:17:58.396 --> 0:18:01.116 it was the first time since I was basically a 0:18:01.156 --> 0:18:04.316 teenager where I wasn't working and touring and singing and 0:18:04.356 --> 0:18:06.276 playing and doing the whole spiel. 0:18:07.116 --> 0:18:11.156 And you know what it was, rat really you liked it? 0:18:11.396 --> 0:18:16.436 Wow, my head didn't fall off, you know, our lives didn't, 0:18:16.716 --> 0:18:18.636 you know, disintegrate into nothing. 0:18:18.716 --> 0:18:19.356 It was nice. 0:18:19.396 --> 0:18:21.996 I had time for a lot of other things, and 0:18:22.676 --> 0:18:25.796 it's funny the travel part of it. 0:18:26.556 --> 0:18:29.716 I was just talking to my manager Mark last night. 0:18:29.596 --> 0:18:32.636 About how at a certain point it would be nice 0:18:33.876 --> 0:18:38.196 to bow out from performing the way we perform before. 0:18:38.516 --> 0:18:42.196 I can't because I love the travel and we fit 0:18:42.276 --> 0:18:45.756 in the things that we want to But it's different 0:18:45.796 --> 0:18:47.516 to be in a place for you know, we're going 0:18:47.556 --> 0:18:49.676 to Paris. I'm gonna see my friends. I know all 0:18:49.676 --> 0:18:51.196 the restaurants I want to go to, I know all 0:18:51.196 --> 0:18:52.756 the things I want to do. But you got to 0:18:52.836 --> 0:18:55.356 leave in two days. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you have 0:18:55.436 --> 0:18:57.516 a show. When I was a kid, I didn't care. 0:18:57.596 --> 0:19:01.236 We would just party, go out, champagne, drugs, this that, 0:19:01.556 --> 0:19:05.396 two days, do the gig, God, do the gig. You know, 0:19:05.596 --> 0:19:08.556 like all one thing was so when you're young, you 0:19:08.596 --> 0:19:10.356 can do it, you know what I mean. 0:19:10.676 --> 0:19:11.756 I don't feel that now. 0:19:11.836 --> 0:19:14.956 I'm really happy being in the Black Crows and really 0:19:15.116 --> 0:19:20.516 fulfilling and satisfying and gratifying. But at a certain point, 0:19:20.716 --> 0:19:23.716