Look for a ton of new music downloads, a new section devoted to clippings from Hittin’ the Note Magazine and much more!
For now, please enjoy this recently unearthed compilation:
Marc Ford – “Works Well With Others (Volume One)” – A compilation featuring Marc Ford sitting in with other bands from various points in his storied career.
Please stay tuned!
Emerging from the ashes of his first stint in The Black Crowes, Marc Ford teamed up with singer/songwriter Luther Russell to form the powerhouse known as Federale. The pair wrote and recorded several songs together and performed some stellar shows to captivated crowds. Interscope Records came knocking in early 1999 and it seemed that Federale was poised for greatness.
The stars were not aligned for Federale, however. After recording demos together (included here as “The Ventura Sessions”), inner turmoil at Interscope Records lead to interest in the band being abandoned. Ford and Luther went their separate ways and Federale was no more. Ford would incorporate some of the songs he wrote for Federale into his solo release over the following years, but sadly the band would never drift back together.
For links to show downloads and setlist information, please click here.
Where can one even start a discussion about Marc Ford? He’s a journeyman, an endless well of creativity and talent that has lent itself to countless bands and other musical projects for the better part of the last three decades. He is of course most well known for his tenure with The Black Crowes, whom he joined in 1992 and helped forge what is perhaps their most endeared era. It was in that band that Ford not only developed his signature sound, but also forever intertwined himself with the band’s co-founder and co-songwriter, Rich Robinson.
Ford would stray from The Black Crowes twice: the first time in the Summer of 1997 and the second in the Fall of 2006, after he had returned for the band’s reunion run in 2005. In between and following, Ford pursued a creatively-successful solo career (yielding six impressive albums), played with some of the best names in the business (Ben Harper, Booker T. Jones, Warren Haynes) and even assumed the role of producer for the formative albums of some of music’s brightest talent (Ryan Bingham, The Steepwater Band, Phantom Limb).
Included here are some of his solo performances, ones that are essential to his evolution as a solo artist in many different ways. Also up for grabs is a short-but-sweet collection of some rare tracks from his career. Shows will continue to be added, so check back often!
For links to show downloads and setlist information, please click here.
Circle Sound was a short-lived side project of guitarists Rich Robinson and Luther Dickinson, of The Black Crowes and North Mississippi Allstars, respectively. Their run consisted of two nights in New York City, handling primarily blues covers with a few Black Crowes and Rich Robinson solo tunes thrown into the mix. These performances pre-date Dickinson’s tenure with The Black Crowes as lead guitarist (2008-2013) and were likely the catalyst for his invitation to join the band.
Joining Robinson and Dickinson on the stage were Black Crowes bassist Sven Pipien, Hookah Brown drummer Bill Dobrow and keyboardist Rob Clores (who filled the empty keyboard slot on The Black Crowes’ 2006 Fall tour and remained until Adam McDougall took over in late 2007). Guests included Patti Smith, Santo Fazio and Jackson Smith.
For links to show downloads and setlist information, please click here.
Rich Robinson made his debut in the rock word in 1990, serving as the guitarist and co-songwriter for The Black Crowes. Formed in Georgia by Rich and his brother Chris, the band would inject a fresh sense of straightforward, infectious rock into a scene otherwise dominate by big hair, over-the-top music videos and somewhat vacuous songwriting. The Black Crowes shot into success right from the beginning and maintained it through 2001, when the band opted to take a hiatus due to tensions within the band.
After forming a new band (Hookah Brown) and touring with it briefly, Robinson opted to launch a solo career in late 2003. His first album, Paper, would appear shortly thereafter and gained much critical praise for its songwriting and sound. The record was filled with Rich’s trademark riffs and demonstrated that he could do just fine outside of the Black Crowes bubble. Rich toured extensively in support of the album throughout 2004, but opted to return to The Black Crowes for a reunion in mid-2005.
Robinson would continue his solo career when The Black Crowes took breaks from recording and the road through 2015, when they officially disbanded permanently. Robinson would reunite with his former Black Crowes bandmate Marc Ford and several other familiar faces for The Magpie Salute, a band celebrating their collective pasts and joint future, in early 2017 and remains his current project.
Included here are some of his early solo performances, ones that are essential to his evolution as a solo artist in many different ways. Some of the shows presented here are not of the utmost sound quality, but they reveal a great deal in regards to Rich as a songwriter and performer.
For links to show downloads and setlist information, please click here.
Burning Tree were a three piece rock group active between 1987-1991, featuring Marc Ford on guitar and vocals, Doni Gray on drums and Mark “Muddy” Dutton on bass. The band released one self-titled album in 1990 and toured fairly extensively in support of it, including an opening slot with The Black Crowes. The band would record demos for a second record, but plans for that release were shelved as Ford opted to fill the open lead guitar slot with The Black Crowes upon the dismissal of their original lead guitarist, Jeff Cease. Gray and Dutton would pursue various solo projects following the demise of Burning Tree.
The three members of the band would reconvene in late 2006 for a handful of shows in the Los Angeles, CA area and to record Ford’s 2007 solo album, Weary and Wired. Dutton would stick with Ford for the album’s support tour and lent his bass guitar work to the album’s follow-up, Fuzz Machine (recorded in 2008 but not released until late 2010). Since that time, the members of Burning Tree have pursued separate musical endeavors.
For links to show downloads and setlist information, please click here.
Hookah Brown was a short-lived rock outfit formed by guitarist Rich Robinson after his band The Black Crowes took their first hiatus in 2001. Comprised of Robinson on guitar and vocals, John Hogg on lead vocals, Bill Dobrow on drums and Fionn O’Lochlain on bass, the band was a tight, thundering four piece that performed from late 2002 through mid-2003. The band never released a studio album (although a bootleg of demo sessions did circulate briefly until Robinson requested it not be), but a large portion of their live shows were recorded and filtered into the trading pool.
Interest in the Hookah Brown recordings dissipated after the band announced their break-up and Robinson launched his solo career. When The Black Crowes permanently disbanded in 2015, Robinson formed a new band called The Magpie Salute the following year, comprised of former Hookah Brown frontman Hogg and former Black Crowes members Marc Ford and Sven Pipien. Thus, there was somewhat of a renewed interest in the original Robinson/Hogg pairing, which is why I opened the archive to get these shows back into the mix.
For links to show downloads and setlist information, please click here.
State of Amorica Archive 