Album Review- Black Crowes- A Pound Of Feathers

Each decade has its trends. Growing up in the United States in the 1980s, hair metal and glam rock were the marketing hook for a lot of rock bands. While sounds of these bands varied, I often found some of the bands that came from the vein of the blues rock of the Rolling Stones and the Faces the best. Guns N Roses came from that style. Cinderella was another one that would probably have been marketed differently if they came a decade later. Some were more true to those Stonesy roots than others. The Quireboys (London was added to the start of their name in the US) was a favorite of mine. Jackyl was another band that was looped in. They were famous for their live concerts which featured the lead singer brandishing a chainsaw. I saw them 20 years ago and they were certainly more Southern Rock than anything. 

 Of all these bands, my favorite might be the Black Crowes who had six hits on the Billboard 100 from 1992-4 and were constantly on MTV and took six songs to # 1 on the US Rock chart. While their first two albums went top 10, their third Amorica just missed it at # 11. It also seemed to be the beginning of a commercial decline. Fourth album Three Snakes and One Charm seemed to have got fairly positive reviews but there was no longer the constant MTV presence. This was 1996 and the golden era of the Black Crowes now seemed to be over. 

 Their 1999 album By Your Side found them off the American Records label (though Columbia took them on). Guitarist Marc Ford and bassist Johnny Colt had left the band and were not to be found on the album. The Black Crowes never went away but they were starting to fade. Personally, I was taking less and less notice of them. They released a live album paired with Jimmy Page in 2000 and it got buzz. A new album Lions came out the next year (the band choosing not to go any further with Page). Eight years passed and maybe the biggest news about Warpaint was the Maxim magazine review. Despite a review published in the March 2008 issue, the band revealed that they had not sent any pre-release material, thus the review surely was only based on the radio edit single that was available at that time. Thus Maxim had written and published a review of the album without actually listening to it. 

I had not followed the band in years but there is a noteworthy change this time. Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars had joined the band. There were Rich Robinson solo albums, Chris Robinson Brotherhood albums and many lineup changes (Dickinson would leave as well as drummer Steve Gorman who played on the first nine albums.). 

Ten years passed without a full length Crowes album of new material. That is an easy way for me to jump to 2024s Happiness Bastards. The Robinson brothers may be the only names most people might recognize in the lineup that has picked up keyboardist Erik Deutsch (Leftover Salmon, Shooter Jennings). The Crowes had always maintained some rock fans but the fact that Mojo magazine named it a favorite album of the year made me took notice, though I didn’t investigate further. When 2026s A Pound of Feathers came out, I couldn’t ignore the buzz I was seeing on vinyl forums. 

Listening to lead single “Profane Prophecy” I was hooked. The Crowes always had sounded like the Faces and the Stones and so they do here too. It does help that 21st Century production has updated their sound. Jay Joyce who produced their previous album is here and he has a CV of the modern country sound of Eric Church, Lainey Wilson, and Miranda Lambert, but also John Hiatt, Patty Griffin, Orville Peck and Cage the Elephant. It’s a nice swagger that holds up the first part of the album quite well. They don’t sound like a band ten albums and 30 plus years in. There is plenty of Mick and Keef style grit in songs like “Cruel Streak” transitioning into less obvious singles and finally the second half ends with more adventurous fare like the five minute closer “Doomsday Doggerel” which doesn’t quite land for me. 

 That said, the Black Crowes have landed a memorable album in 2026 after a long career that continues to evolve.