Shortly after news of the Black Crowes’ second Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination was shared globally on Wednesday (Feb. 25), frontman Chris Robinson found himself on the phone with Noel Gallagher of fellow nominee Oasis.
“I told Noel that if we both get in he’s buying dinner — then we instantly got to talking about (soccer),” Robinson tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. The Black Crowes, who are nominated for a second time, and Oasis, who are nominated for a third time, were both on the ballot last year as well, and the two had toured together during the late spring of 2001.
“To have friends that are in the same thing is fun,” says Robinson, who’s also friendly with Adrian Smith of thrice-nominated Iron Maiden and has fond memories of “a great evening hanging out” with the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence in Paris (INXS is nominated for the first time). “That’s the way it is after getting close to 40 years of doing this,” Robinson notes. “To have those kinds of friendships and connections in the music business with other artists that have won the award, that are nominated, just makes it way more intimate for us.”
The Black Crowes did not, of course, get into the Rock Hall last year; they finished eighth in the public fan vote with 165,000, which contributes to the final tally. But Robinson says that does not at all diminish how he and younger brother and guitarist Rich Robinson feel about having the band in the fray again.
“I’m equally as excited,” he says. “Just to be included and to be recognized and to have the opportunity last year and now this year, and you see all the artists that are on the list, it’s amazing. It doesn’t go without the due respect that it deserves from Rich and I. We look at it as an achievement to be nominated. That we’ve been nominated again feels amazing. If we get in we get in, and we’ll be super happy and we’ll celebrate the band and the people that have been in the band. It’s just about that…and also about the fans. They’re the origin story; they’re the ones that breathed life into a lump of clay and then this happens.
“I think if there’s one thing we’ve learned, especially Rich and I, it’s to allow ourselves to feel good about accomplishments and about milestones…. These kids shot an arrow over the mountain in the late ‘80s, and we’re still chasing it. We just see it in a very positive way and are just as excited, and it just feels good.”
Most of the Robinsons’ attention right now, however, is focused on the March 13 release of A Pound of Feathers, the Black Crowes’ 10th studio album and the follow-up to 2024’s Grammy-nominated Happiness Bastards. The latter was the group’s first in 14 years and the first since the Robinsons reactivated the Black Crowes during 2019 after an acrimonious four-year hiatus. The 11-song set was recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce; its lead single, “Profane Prophecy,” peaked at No. 22 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
The Black Crowes kick off a tour supporting the album on April 2 in Australia and will also play in Tokyo before beginning a Southern Hospitality Tour with Whiskey Myers on May 17 in Austin, which will include an Aug. 17 Hollywood Bowl date with the Tedeschi Trucks Band.
“We have some new songs to learn,” Robinson says, “and we’re bringing back a couple of old favorites — everyone’s jaws will drop, hopefully. We’re stoked, man. Ultimately everything is icing on the cake, but the filling of the cake is we just made another record that we really love and we’re super excited to get out and throw in a couple of those nuggets every night and just have a great time.”
The Rock Hall inductees, chosen by the Rock Hall’s 1,200-member professional voting committee, are expected to be announced during late April. The public fan vote, now open via rockhall.com, will be used to assemble an additional ballot. The 2026 induction ceremony will take place during the fall, at a date and location to be announced.
www.billboard.com
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