Mixing It Up

Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson gives me some news today: He tells me his band has settled a lawsuit against country singer Gretchen Wilson, without telling me full terms of the settlement.

The Crowes sued Wilson because her song "Work Hard, Play Harder" (which was used for a TV show commercial), sounded terribly like the Crowes' "Jealous Again."

(You should YouTube the two songs to hear how similar they sound. It's crazy.)

"They gave us songwriting credit and put it to bed. It even sounded like they lifted my guitar for it. Not only was it the same chord structure, the same melody, and a very general theme, but it also seemed like they lifted my guitar tone, or at least come as close as possible."

Wilson, the supposed country "rebel," put the song out in October. It's credited as being written by her and by outside songwriters John Rich and Vicky McGehee.

If the phrase "outside songwriters" doesn't sound ominous, it should. The Black Crowes themselves have forever navigated such people flying at them from the assembly factory of the music business.

"When we were with Columbia, they wanted to bring in some Desmond Child/Diane Warren-type person" to write songs for The Black Crowes, Robinson says.

Child and Warren wrote big, dumb blustery hits for other bands, such as Child's cacophony of an annoyance for Aerosmith, "Dude (Looks like a Lady)," and Warren's soul-suffocating atrocity for Aerosmith, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."

"They told us, 'You'll never have a hit again.' We were like, 'All right ... maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, but this is my expression."

Robinson relates yet another story about how hyper commercialized the music industry has become.

"There was this kid in New York I knew that was part of a band. And he was a really nice kid. But he loved punk rock," Robinsons says.

"I saw him recently, and he said, 'Hey man we're doing this tour, it's great, and these corporations are involved, and they're giving everyone cool sunglasses and stuff.'

"I'm just like, 'Look at you man. How is that punk rock?' "

Every art form has turned into a service industry chopped up and served in niches online and on TV, Robinson complains. The entertainment media gives us followers, not leaders who challenge us artistically.

"I'm sure there will always be a small percentage of the population that tries to find new things and is excited to find stuff. But for the most part, I think now there's a tremendous amount of apathy. People are so used to being catered to."

The problem is symbiotic.

"Corporations cater to those people -- and those people allow themselves to be catered to. That's permeated our movie industry. I mean look at the movies being made now. Look at what's going on with books. Look at what's going on with music. It's hard to find real music that isn't the corporate agenda."

The Crowes, meanwhile, have integrated new sounds into every album. Robinson in particular has toyed with rhythm structures beyond the standard two-four rock beat. "Sometimes Salvation" (my favorite of theirs) is a false-waltz. Beyond that song even, Robinson is ever inspired by Thelonious Monk and other real musicians.

One of his approaches to songwriting: "Instead of fitting the music to the beat, fit the beat to the music," he says. "Let a piece of music be what it is."

On tour: "We try to change up the set list. We try to cover our catalog. We try to do these things. By changing it up, it keeps us inspired to get onstage and play."

He means no ill will against bands that perform sameness every concert, every night, every year. But constant repetition is not for him or the Crowes, he says.

"Kiss goes up there, they do what they've done for 20 years. AC/DC goes up there, they do what they've done for 20 years. They've perfected it, they like it, they know what to expect, their audience knows what to expect, and that's great. Good for them.

"Other people want to be inspired and can give the most when they are inspired."

Doug Elfman's column appears Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. E-mail him at delfman @reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.