Although their sound is steeped in the blues, R&B and British rock of the ‘70s, one of earliest influences for Black Crowes founders Chris and Rich Robinson was R.E.M.’s early catalog of music.
“I remember the first time I heard ‘Radio Free Europe,’ it was on [Atlanta radio station] 96 Rock,” said Rich Robinson during a recent phone conversation, referring to the Athens band’s debut single. “I think I was 14 or something, and it was right at the time when all these things were sort of coming at us, all at once. It just hooked me and I know Chris feels the same way.”
He proudly notes that R.E.M. was an atypical southern band. “We loved the classic Southern rock but they were different. At the time, everyone was overdoing the reverb on the drum snare and things were really getting kinda slick, but R.E.M. was so organic and beautiful, they especially moved us. They’re really what solidified Chris and I into like, ‘OK, this is what we want to do.’”
While attending Walton High School near Marietta, the young musicians formed Mr. Crowe’s Garden, a fledgling combo directly informed by their mutual love of ‘60s psychedelia, southern rock, and the distinctive swirl of bands like California’s Dream Syndicate — and R.E.M.’s Georgia-born jangle.
“We would go see R.E.M. every year when they’d play the Fox or wherever,” continued Robinson. “We remember seeing all these bands like the Three O’Clock, Let’s Active and Love Tractor open those shows. We kinda got into all of them and the covers they’d play, and then somehow it all made sense. It was very expansive and they all sort of vibrated out into the ethos of music, to that place where bands were celebrated for their uniqueness.”
Fast forward to this past July — past the Robinson’s extensive set of eight studio albums and four live collections as the Black Crowes as well as several inventive solo projects and collaborations — the brothers were playing the summer leg of their “Shake Your Money Maker” tour.
Credit: Sandra-Lee Phipps
Credit: Sandra-Lee Phipps
“We were playing near Seattle and [R.E.M. co-founder-guitarist] Peter Buck came up to see the show,” recalled Robinson. “We wanted to do R.E.M.’s “The One I Love,” and he was up for it, so he got up and played. And man, I saw the reaction; there were five or six thousand Black Crowes fans, all loving that song as much as we do. It was incredible. I saw Peter was having so much fun playing it, too. The next night, we all went to dinner and we were just talking about all of it and that big reaction. All these great memories of their music came right back. We grew up loving this stuff, especially the first few albums that came along before we went off on our own journey. Right around the same time, I think ‘Chronic Town’s’ 40th anniversary album was just about ready to be re-released. It all just clicked that these songs need to be heard and played and truly celebrated.”
Credit: Sandra-Lee Phipps
Credit: Sandra-Lee Phipps
Originally released in August 1982, R.E.M.’s critically acclaimed five-song collection was reissued this past summer in multiple formats by I.R.S./Universal with extensive liner notes written by producer Mitch Easter. To mark the occasion, Robinson reached out to his old friend, artist manager and talent buyer Velena Vego to help plan some “Chronic Town” concerts.
“Rich got in touch with me about this idea about the record and it all just exploded. Everyone we’d call to be a part of it was just like, ‘Oh man, I’d love to do it,’ instantly, without a bit of hesitation,” said Vego. “Everyone is playing for free and R.E.M., though they won’t be performing, wanted the proceeds to go to Planned Parenthood, so we just took it from there and started booking these two shows.”
Both the 40 Watt and Roxy shows sold out in a matter of minutes and Veeps is hosting a special streaming presentation of the Atlanta event. “People were going, ‘I really want to do this song,’ or ‘hey, let’s do that song,’” continues Robinson. “We could have probably done a whole week on this theme and had different guests every night, but finally we just had to put a cap on it. The vision I had for the whole thing was to have people from our scene but also from the world join in — because that music has just reverberated out and inspired so many different people over the years.”
Darius Rucker, Fred Armisen, Mitch Easter, Cat Power, Lenny Kaye, Kevn Kinney, Pylon Reenactment Society and Elf Power are among the wildly diverse list of announced guests, with comedian David Cross serving as host. “We’re gonna represent the EP and really honor it in its entirety. Then everyone’s coming in and they’re gonna do all of the songs they’ve selected. It’s gonna be a really cool thing to be a part of, just to see the sort of wide breadth of everything these people are coming up with for the two shows. Everyone’s bringing their own special memories to this celebration.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
R.E.M’s 40th Anniversary of “Chronic Town” Celebration Concert
7 p.m. Dec. 14. Sold out. 40 Watt Club, 285 W. Washington St., Athens. 40watt.com.
8 p.m. Dec. 15. Sold out. Coca-Cola Roxy, 800 Battery Ave. SE, Suite 500, Atlanta. 470-351-3866, cocacolaroxy.com.
The Dec. 15 show is streaming for 24 hours via Veeps at chronictown.veeps.com.
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