The Black Crowes - The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion
Listen to an audio version of this review by Greg
The year was 1992, the music world was RIPE!! Bands like Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Guns n’ Roses ruled the rock world from a Pop Charts perspective. Artists like Boyz II Men, Sir Mix-a-lot and Right Said Fred dominated the hip-hop/dance charts. But through all the haze, there was a classic sound that had been hibernating for several years. This sound, hiding, or maybe just hibernating, for a decade, was reincarnated in 1992. A band out of Atlanta, GA entered the studio in late 1991 to record their second album. This album, their finest in my professional opinion, was the follow up to the chart breaking, Shake Your Money Maker, an album that had little musical company amongst its peers upon its release in 1990. This album matured my musical tastes at this time. This was not your girlfriend’s “Ain’t Looking for Nothing but a Good time!” This wasn’t Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil.
Mr. Crowe’s Garden was formed in 1984 at Walton High School in Marietta, GA by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson. The brothers were fans of what was then called “Indy” music or “College Radio”. Influenced by bands like R.E.M., a staple in the 80s Georgia college radio scene, the Robinson brothers also had a taste for 70s blues and rock n’ roll, specifically The Rolling Stones.
The band would moonlight in New York City on and off for the next 5 years, playing small venues, eventually graduating to play CBGB’s, once considered THE chief music club from its opening in 1973, until its demise and eventual closing in 2006 (RIP CBGB!) In 1989, the band would secure a record contract from Def American Records, and soon change their name to The Black Crowes.
After the commercial success of Shake Your Money Maker in 1990 and 91, it was time to record their second record. By this time, the band had sold over 5 million copies of Shake Your Money Maker. They’d developed a little confidence, and many would also say cockiness.
Their next record was going to be a true blues rock n’ roll album. Yes, “Money Maker” was bluesy, but this time around, the band had money, they had fame, and they had a desire to make the record they really wanted to make. So, in late 1991 they entered the studio to record their sophomore effort, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.
The name originated from an actual songbook published in 1835 by an American Baptist in South Carolina named William Walker. The original name of the book was a “tune book”. These types of tune books were written all over the south throughout the 1800s to provide instructional singing to members of church choruses and choirs. It is on record that The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion was considered amongst the most popular tune/song books of the 19th century.
Photo of Tune Book Cover of William Walker’s “Southern Harmony and Musical Companion” from 1835
And what an incredible album name it was too, for The Black Crowes. Marc Ford, from the band Burning Tree would replace Jeff Cease at lead guitar. It’s no secret to Black Crowes fans the band has had some “infighting” throughout their 30+ years in existence. Just listen to any interview Chris and Rich did over the years. I don’t want to generalize, but let’s just say they were “difficult to get along with”. I firmly believe their personalities were a large reason why the band was such a revolving door in terms of members. Marc Ford would be replaced by Audley Freed from the band Cry of Love and bassist Johnny Colt would be replaced years later by Sven Pipien after Colt quit. The reality was…. the reality is …Chris and Rich dance to the beat of their own drum. And many times, that drum created a divide between the brothers. For their family squabbles have been well documented over the years.
But when you take a closer look, Chris and Rich were pioneers in many ways. Sure, they didn’t invent their style of music, but they thrusted onto the scene during a time when many considered their music, “out of touch” or “boring classic rock”. I certainly did not! I’m just telling you what I heard!!!
Punk rock and indie rock dominated the music scene in the 1980s. REM was an indie/college radio band out of Georgia making noise on the indie circuit, and The Black Crowes were aware of this. They wanted to be on an indie label. They thrived in that “us against them” mentality.
In an interview on the Bobby Bones Podcast, Rich Robinson noted at the time the band was starting, there was an over gentrification in music. In 1990, it was all about sales. There was an industry driven sales pitch, and record companies in many ways were seen by outcasts as trying to “tell you what you wanted to hear”. Whether you agree with this sentiment or not, Chris and Rich were defiant. In the late 1980s, Chris and Rich were just out of high school. They were only playing the music they heard in their heads. If it sounded like The Allman Brothers Band or The Rolling Stones, that was everyone else’s problem. Not theirs!
“Rock n’ Roll is defiance”, Chris said in an interview on the Bobby Bones Podcast in 2020. Boy was he right! When The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion was released on May 12th, 1992, it debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 charts. The album hatched singles such as Remedy, Sting Me, Thorn in My Pride and Hotel Illness.
Due to the strong presence of Chuck Leavell’s piano and organ contribution on Shake Your Money Maker, pianist and keyboard player Eddie Harsch joined the band to record and tour off Southern Harmony. Harsch would make significant contributions to the band. Leavell was more of a hired hand where Harsch was a bonafide full time member. By the way, for those of you wondering, Chuck Leavell currently holds the #1 spot in my world for greatest piano solo in a rock song EVER (Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band). Harsch’s solo during Descending, a song off the Crowe’s follow up album, Amorica is right up there! Listen to that when you get a chance. It’ll make your knees buckle!
The album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion was released on Tuesday, May 12, 1992. If you release an album on a Tuesday, then you get the maximum seven days of sales counted toward your total (including a full weekend). The other is early “word of mouth” and momentum. Distributors are (or I guess I should say, “were”) typically set up to deliver copies to stores over the weekend and on Mondays. Most only do runs a couple of times a week. This was the genesis behind the idea that Tuesdays were the best days to release an album. I ALWAYS noticed this as a kid, but never bothered to research why until writing this review!
Southern Harmony kicks off with Sting Me; a track I would put closer to the bottom of my list of favorites. It’s a solid classic rock swing, but a bit repetitive for my taste. When I first heard it, I enjoyed it, but I had yet to be blown away by this album’s power.
Radio friendly Remedy follows up Sting Me. Remedy was the first single off the album, and it got a lot of traction. It reached #1 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart in the first month of its release (May 1992). The song reached #48 on the Billboard Top 100 and #24 in the UK, giving the band instant success upon this release.
Things really get going on the album’s third track, Thorn in My Pride. This is what I paid for!!! I still enjoy throwing this song on my stereo, staring at the ground during the intro and then sticking my index finger up, putting it against my closed lips and mimicking the “shhhhhhhhh” sound right in the face of whoever’s in the room. The loyal Crowes fans laugh usually, whereas the naïve ones just stare. That’s okay. I’m used to people staring when I jam.
After the shhhh, Thorn in My Pride opens to a beautiful melody. I can just picture a dark, candlelit room, where the only other lights are from the amplifiers. The band is standing on a big, red, oriental rug, jamming this tune out just for me. I’m getting a private performance. Ok that didn’t happen in reality; just in my dreams!!
Thorn in My Pride gives you another splendid performance by pianist/keyboard player Eddie Harsch. The lyrics are soulful, heartfelt, and VERY bluesy. It’s the first “softer” song on the album, and much like She Talks to Angels from the band’s debut album, “Thorn” is melodic and sweet. Despite one thinking this is a love song, I interpret the lyrics as a sort of apology.
Wake me when the day breaks
Show me how the sun shines
Tell me about your heartaches
Who could be so unkind?
Do you dream to touch me?
And smile down deep inside
Or could you just kill me?
It's hard to make up your mind, sometimes.
My angels, my devils, my thorn in my pride.
You judge for yourself. What do you think? I think the evidence here supports this is a type of apology for being either a bad friend, a bad family member or a bad lover to someone else. “Do you dream to touch me? Or could you just kill me? It’s hard to make up your mind sometimes”. The author, Chris Robinson, is talking about his or her good side (or pros), bad side (or cons) and summing it up by saying, there are several discrepancies or “thorns”, sharp stabbing objects in my character. I’m not perfect, but what you get is what you get with me!
The old school blues party continues with the next track, Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye. Like the Christmas Tree Salesman in A Christmas story when he tries to sell Ralphie’s mom and dad a crummy Christmas trees), I’m having the same feelings about this song as he was his trees, except I’d like to think I don’t come off as shady and disingenuous. Now this song here is A SONG! You want a SONG? This here is A SONG!!!
I can remember buying this album, taking it home, unwrapping it and putting in into my CD player. Back then I listened to albums from beginning to end, no skipping songs, at least for the first run-through. Bad Luck Blues Eyes Goodbye was different from the tracks off their debut. This song had soul. Like real soul. THIS song especially makes me think of watching the band perform in a small, very dark, candlelit room. Maybe some incense burning? Perhaps a blacklight?
The track begins with Chris Robinson saying, “B&B with a little weed”, which is perhaps a direct referral to what the band was consuming during the majority of this recording. For those of you who are inexperienced (or maybe just have your s**t together unlike me), B&B by BENEDICTINE is one of the oldest premixed cocktails in the world. In the early 1900s in the US, the B&B cocktail was created by blending BENEDICTINE D.O.M. French Liqueur and Brandy. In 1937, the Benedictine company decided to produce this drink by blending 60% BENEDICTINE D.O.M. with 40% French brandy, allowing the flavors to rest and harmonize in French oak vats for a warmer, deeper, and drier taste.
Lead guitarist Marc Ford’s playing on “Bad Luck” is superior and stronger than anything from Jeff Cease on Shake Your Money Maker. I really think Ford is the genesis to why “Southern Harmony” is The Black Crowes’ best album. And Ford would go on to play guitar on the band’s two follow up records, Amorica (which is a friggin gem by the way), and Three Snakes and One Charm, which, although not as strong as the former two, still holds water. As soon as Ford was replaced, the sound of The Black Crowes got darker, heavier and in my opinion, less bluesy. I felt they separated from their roots. Therefore, I am calling it! Marc Ford had an influence and is a viable reason the band had the success they did in the early to mid 90s.
In an interview with the New Zealand Herald, lead singer, Chris, noted that the intensity of touring for four years non-stop, being on the road and not having anyone around you to tell you “no”, took a huge toll on the band, especially Marc. Chris and brother Rich noted that in August 1997, Marc was let go from the band to enter a rehab clinic for heroin abuse.
Thankfully, Marc Ford is still alive today, and seems to have patched things up (for the most part) with the brothers, but he is not on the current 2024 band roster as they are about to embark on their world tour kicking off February 9th in Las Vegas. It is also noted in a 2007 interview Marc did with Swampland.com that “in perpetuity” or FOREVER, Marc is contractually obligated to never discuss his time with The Black Crowes or even write a book discussing his time in the band.
Hmmmmm, bet there’s some dirty, dirty skeletons in THAT closet!!
Back to the music! The track placement towards the mid part of this album is strategically structured, or at least it sounds that way! Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye slowly and carefully melts into Sometimes Salvation. Like “Bad Luck”, this song also starts off with a count-off. I can remember grabbing my Fender knock-off Precision bass in ’92 and just parking my ass down until I learned the whole bass line. God what memories. Chris’ vocals are magnificent. Drummer Steve Gorman’s playing is a lot freer in form and outside the lines on this record. Compared to their debut, which I find relatively easy to play drums along with, Gorman’s changes and time signatures were a refreshing change which I feel played a large part in this album’s success.
But the highlight, once again is Ford’s guitar playing. When Robinson cuts his sentence, “Sister, do you even wanna try and find me……..OH….” short. And just as he belts out the “OH”, Ford’s guitar is right there.
These three tracks, “Thorn”, “Bad Luck”, and “Sometimes” are the albums strongest.
The pace picks back up again with Hotel Illness and Black Moon Creeping. These additional blues numbers are fast paced, and neither are void of that “southern harmony”. The harmonica is a highlight in both numbers. Ford’s guitar in Hotel Illness will make your head turn. I can definitely hear a 20-minute live jam off this riff for sure.
Black Moon Creeping changes tempo several times, a song trait that I love. Anytime an artist or band can change the tempo of the rhythm, it’s a sign the musicians are thinking outside the box, and not necessarily interested in churning out the same “4 on the floor” beat, one that anyone can emulate. Drummer Steve Gorman mixes it up, changing the rhythm and cadence regularly to keep the listeners on their toes.
As things “creep” closer to the next track, No Speak No Slave, things have picked up significantly. I believe “No Speak” is one of the earlier examples of how future Black Crowes songs would be written; a blues note with a heavier feel. The riff in No Speak No Slave is gritty, almost Alice in Chains – like. This is a straight up rock song. Following their 1996 release, Three Snakes and One Charm, the band’s music would never veer from that blues nucleus, but a certainly heavier guitar riff was being used for follow up records like, By Your Side, Lions and Warpaint. Although enjoyable, “Southern Harmony” really captures The Crowes at their absolute peak!
Beginning to end, My Morning Song is solid. It’s likely the biggest “anthem” on this record. With its twists and turns, I can see this song being stretched out to 15-20 minutes live. All in all, The Black Crowes released eight studio albums, all strong. But The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion is a cut above the rest. For its originality and its ability to harken back to the old southern blues from the 1800s, it’s clear you can hear something on this record you don’t get from the other seven, which is depth, personality, atmosphere, emotion, passion, ambiance, feeling, humanity, compassion, and empathy.
The four singles, Remedy, Thorn in My Pride, Sting Me and Hotel Illness all reached number one on the Billboard Top 200 songs in 1992. And it broke a record previously held by Tom Petty with three number one tracks from the same rock album, which happened to be…..do you know it? Full Moon Fever of course!
In 2023, the Robinson brothers released a box set featuring the remixed album along with previously unreleased songs and live tracks, which include studio cuts, live recordings and Jams from the Southern Harmony tour. This is a must own.
I’m grateful to have The Black Crowes in my music life. I will be on another journey to see them again live in May of this year when they stroll through my hometown. But even without the live shows, this band has released a brilliant catalogue, and The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion sits at the top, the very top!
