\n<\/p>\n
The band has longtime fans waiting for them: \u201cI love the Black Crowes, and have since hearing \u2018Hard to Handle\u2019,\u201d said Aerosmith\u2019s Steven Tyler, who booked the band to headline his annual Grammy-night charity event this year. \u201cChris and Rich share our band\u2019s love of English blues, R&B and flat-out, kick-ass rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. They\u2019re the real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
AFTER THE CHATEAU MARMONT<\/strong> lunch, the band headed to an evening event in Burbank to promote \u201cHappiness Bastards\u201d with a mini concert for a few hundred contest winners and invited guests that would be broadcast live on iHeartRadio.<\/p>\n Rich quietly noodled on his guitar in one dressing room, with his son Quinn, 23, an aspiring musician, keeping him company. (Rich has seven children, ranging in age from 3 to 27.) Down the hall, Chris held court in his, riffing on his favorite British comedies (Season 1 of \u201cAbsolutely Fabulous\u201d; a surrealist puppet show called \u201cDon\u2019t Hug Me I\u2019m Scared\u201d) and exuberantly D.J.ing for the rest of the band, jumping from Sweet\u2019s \u201cBallroom Blitz\u201d to Prince\u2019s \u201cParty Up.\u201d The contrast between rooms is stark, but it\u2019s no longer a source of discord.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, I\u2019d be like, why isn\u2019t Rich in here with me?\u201d Chris said. \u201cAnd he\u2019d be like, why is Chris so loud and chaotic? Now, we love each other for who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho we are\u201d includes being men in their mid-50s. As a concession to age, Chris, still a \u201cdaily cannabis user,\u201d no longer smokes while on tour. \u201cWe don\u2019t live like we used to,\u201d he said. \u201cWe get on the bus, listen to music, play some gin rummy and go to sleep. No more wilding out until six in the morning.\u201d He scoffed, good-naturedly, at TikTok: \u201cThat\u2019s for children. I write with a pen and a notebook.\u201d He boasted about his kids: his son, Ryder, from his marriage to Hudson, now attending N.Y.U.; and his daughter, Cheyenne, 14, who lives in Woodstock with ex-wife number three. \u201cBoth my children are lovely, lovely people.\u201d<\/p>\n Onstage, backed by a recently assembled band that includes the on-again-off-again bassist Sven Pipien and two backup singers, the Crowes muscled through their hits, sprinkling in two well-received songs from \u201cHappiness Bastards\u201d and some deeper catalog cuts. Between numbers, a jovial radio jock lobbed some softball questions at them, and the brothers slipped into their parts, with Chris doing most of the talking and Rich chiming in only when pressed.<\/p>\n For much of 2024, the Black Crowes will be back on the road (with separate dressing rooms), performing at theaters and festivals across the United States and Europe. Chris can\u2019t imagine ever doing anything else. \u201cI\u2019m unemployable,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m nuts. But with the band, I get to do things in my own freakish way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n