Honor Society

As the Magpie Salute Emerge as the New Darlings of the Blues-rock Scene, Former Black Crowes Uitarists Rich Robinson and Marc Ford Discuss the Importance of Honoring Their Musical Pasts as Much as Looking to the Future.

- Alan Paul

Rich Robinson wanted to do something special for the three studio sessions he per-formed last summer in front of live audi-ences in Woodstock, New York, to promote his solo album, Flux. Something that would reward fans of the Black Crowes who had stuck with him while also scratching a decade-long itch of his own: he wanted to play for the first time in a decade with two longtime Crowes members, guitarist Marc Ford and keyboardist Ed Harsch. With bassist Sven Pipien already in his band, the sessions represented a four-man Black Crowes reunion.

“I knew it would be a treat for the fans, but also for me because I’ve always loved just listening to Ed and Marc play off of anything I played,” says Robinson. “As expected, it was an absolute pleasure. We all felt something lift, something special happening, and the audience felt it, too. Afterward, Eddie said, ‘We really have to make this happen.’ I went back on tour and started thinking about how to keep it going—and how to take it further.”

The result was the formation of a new band, the Magpie Salute, which debuted last January with four shows in New York, followed by four more in London in April. The Magpie Salute picked up the mantle of the Black Crowes, who have not performed together since 2013 and who failed to reunite for a discussed 25th anniversary tour in 2015 after more feuding between Rich and his brother, singer Chris Robinson.