By Brent Thompson

Nearly 30 years ago, The Black Crowes – fronted by vocalist Chris Robinson – put the rock & roll world on notice with its Southern-fried Stones sound. These days, at 51 years old, Robinson – now fronting the Chris Robinson Brotherhood (CRB) – remains as musically ambitious as ever. Formed in 2011, the CRB – Robinson, Neal Casal, Adam MacDougall, Jeff Hill and Tony Leone – has released a steady stream of studio and live recordings. Stylistically, the quintet finds frontman Robinson trading in his swaggering rock style for jam-based California psychedelia. On Saturday, September 8, the CRB will perform at Avondale Brewing Co. Recently, Robinson spoke with us by phone from his adopted home of Marin County, Calif.

Birmingham Stages: Chris, thanks for your time. Are you home right now?

Chris Robinson: You could call it that [laughs]. I’m moving  – you know how that goes. I have three shows this weekend – two with my Marin country band and a CRB festival in Yosemite. It’s kind of a hectic weekend, but they seem to all be hectic weekends these days.

Birmingham Stages: You’re able to juggle a lot of projects. You produce other artists, you toured with [side project] As The Crow Flies recently, and you front the CRB. There doesn’t seem to be much blank space on your calendar.

Robinson: The CRB is one thing – we’re still building this band and we’re still setting up our little fortune teller booth and getting out the crystal ball and hoping somebody will sit down [laughs]. But it’s good, man. I love music and in this day and age where – juxtaposed against popular opinion – I think people say, “Rock & roll? There’s no such thing,” but I’m pretty busy and everyone I know plays guitars and we write songs.

If your goal is to be rich and famous, then this is probably the wrong time. But I think if you have a lot of creative energy and you have a voice for expression, then give me a big slice of now. It’s a great time if you have some imagination. I’m not being flippant and I’m glad to have the history I have and that anyone would be interested in hearing me sing or what I’m writing. That being the case, I feel I’m here to make music – it’s what makes me happy and I understand it and it brings me solace and I feel peace in the universe. As you know, we live in a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety and that permeates our daily thing. So, for me music is a great exercise to stay in the present and tune out some of that negative stuff.

Birmingham Stages: Some artists say that they miss the traditional model that included marketing departments and other artists tell me they prefer the current climate that allows them more freedom to navigate their careers. How do you view the current musical climate?

Robinson: I dig it. Marketing department? Those are just square business dudes and they would be selling Volvos or toaster ovens. I knew that when that shit was happening. I’ve always had this artist’s “Us versus Them” counter-culture mentality. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, that was the way it was working and that was my life. We signed a shitty record deal but, luckily, we had a sound that people were interested in. I know people are obsessed with fame and fortune, but wasn’t the guy in Ugly Kid Joe famous for a minute, too? I just picked some band from the ’90s. But that’s indicative of where I come from through art and expression.

I’ve made life very difficult for me and those around me because I don’t really care about money the same way people do. My motivation really is about the work and you’re only as good as the last gig you did or the song you’re writing. I’m ambitious – success is cool, it’s just that I’m not going to ever change anything about what I want to do or how I do it to make everybody else more money. I have a vision – I don’t know if my parents dropped me on my head – but it seems like most of my heroes all tend to be people that have to do it their own way and I believe in forging your own path.

Birmingham Stages: Your publicist says that there is a new CRB album set to be released next year.

Robinson: Yeah, it’s called Servant of the Sun. We’ll probably be done with the mixing by next week. We went to our favorite fishing hole in Unicorn, Calif. and to our favorite studio – the Brotherhood Arts Laboratory – and I think we’ve come up with another psychedelic goodie bag.

Birmingham Stages: How does your writing process work? Do you tend to write more at home or on the road?

Robinson: A little of both. The last record probably more at home, but this record definitely on the road. For whatever reason every year’s a little bit different. This year, it’s seemed like I wrote the majority of the material and I wanted to make a record where every song could be played live. We’ve never really made any records in the summer, so it’s a little more uptempo and up-vibe. I’m super happy with it; I think it’s very dynamic and a little bit different. There’s no acoustic instruments at all – no piano, organ or acoustic guitars. It’s all electric and very danceable. Yeah, I’m very excited.

Birmingham Stages: Your band has been known for a collaborative writing and recording process. Is that still the case?

Robinson: Yeah, pretty much. It’s kind of hard to pin down, but I wrote all the lyrics. If someone has an idea, then the best idea wins always. We’re very open that way.

Birmingham Stages: How do songs stay fresh and relevant to you after you’ve played them for 20 years or more?

Robinson: It’s funny because just doing As The Crow Flies this year and getting back to The Black Crowes catalog and not playing those songs in so many years gave them an inherent freshness. Those songs are part of people’s lives and I’m a singer. I’ve never taken vocal lessons and I’ve got to feel it but that feeling isn’t hard to muster. Once you get up there in front of people – it’s a work ethic type of thing in a sense. Even though I’ve had my moments of lead singer-isms, I’m always acknowledging that people have spent their money. That same crackle I feel when I walk onstage is the same feeling I had in the summer of 1985 when I got onstage at a little punk rock club in Chattanooga.

Birmingham Stages: Though you live in California now, you know that Southern music lovers will always consider you their own.

Robinson: I love the South. Even as a child, I never pictured myself staying in the South. I knew my life was out there, but I definitely see the world through Southern lenses. I’m from Atlanta and I’m proud to be from a place where black people had a voice and a little more power than other Southern places. It was a progressive place and the music part of being Southern is really important to me. And I love barbecue, so I can’t help it.

Emporium Presents: An Evening with Chris Robinson Brotherhood at Avondale Brewing Co. on Saturday, September 8. Advance tickets to the 7 p.m. show are $25 and can be purchased at www.avondalebrewing.com.