Instead, the band recorded the new musicat the Woodstock, N.Y., barn owned by Levon Helm (drummer ofthe legendary group The Band) that serves as a live performance space andstudio. Over the course of five concerts in front of a small audience, TheBlack Crowes recorded the two-dozen-plus songs that make up the new releases.
There were no extensive rehearsalsbeforehand, little of the precision and control that come with being in aconventional studio. The very real possibility existed that the recordingswould not rise to the level of quality required of a studio CD.
“It could have been that we were out ofour minds and came away with the most expensive demos ever recorded,” drummerSteve Gorman says.
But for the risk, The Black Crowesemerged with one of the best CDs of its long and often stormy career.
So how did the group decide to take sucha maverick approach to Before the Frost…/ Until the Freeze…?
Gorman explains that it was singer ChrisRobinson who initially suggested bringing a handful of fans into a conventionalstudio to witness the recording. Plans solidified in summer 2008, when Robinsonwent to see one of Helm’s regular Saturday night “Midnight Ramble” concerts atthe barn.
“He called everyone the next day saying,‘I got it. I see it. I know what we have to do now,’” Gorman recalls.
The other band membersGorman, guitarist(and Chris Robinson’s younger brother) Rich Robinson, bassist Sven Pipien,guitarist Luther Dickinson and keyboardist Adam MacDougallbought into theidea, and in February of this year The Black Crowes were in Helm’s barn andready to make new music.
The Black Crowes didn’t rehearseextensively or try to nail down every detail of the songs before steppingonstage to record.
“The fact is we really didn’t know thesongs,” Gorman says. “We went Monday through Friday, two or three songs a day,start to finish, and then on Saturday said, ‘OK, let’s go play it’ … So therewas definitely a winging it, fly by the seat of your pants vibe, and I thinkthat translates really well.”
The music on Before the Frost… certainly crackles with energy and enthusiasm.It’s a decidedly rocking effort, with the pace slowing only for an occasionalsong like the acoustic ballad “What Is Home” and the violin-accented “LastPlace That Love Lives.”
Meanwhile, Until the Freeze…, which is available free as a download with thepurchase of Before the Frost…, ismore acoustic, eclectic and rustic, with songs like the cheery country-rock of“Shady Grove” and the twangy romp “Shine Along 128” setting the tone for thedisc.
The new CDs provide convincing evidencethat The Black Crowes, which formed in 1989 in Atlanta, have rebounded nicely from an uncertainfuture created when the group went on hiatus after the 2001 CD, Lions.
Gorman says that when the band reunitedfor the 2007 album Warpaint, it wasclear that the group was once again feeling creative and focused, and thatfeeling of vitality was very much present during the recording of Before the Frost… / Until the Freeze…
“The band is again very much acollective,” Gorman says. “For right now where we are, all the pistons arefiring or whatever sort of analogy you can use. That’s how it feels.”
TheBlack Crowes play an 8 p.m. show at the Riverside Theater with openers Truth& Salvage Co. on Saturday, Nov. 7.
