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Written by Brian Kenney Thursday, 31 August 2006 05:34

Reaching back for an acoustic guitar and leading into Bob Dylan's "Girl From North Country," Chris, the gone-Hollywood, trouble-generating, smack-talking frontman, proved to be quite lucid behind a guitar—this good ol' boy can play.

Fox Theatre | Boulder, Colo.

With 2005's experimental Hammerstein Ballroom shows, the Black Crowes proved that founding brothers Chris and Rich Robinson had overcome their sibling rivalry enough to get down to brass tacks and play music together again. Forgotten was the "Tour of Brotherly Love" forgery with Oasis, where infighting still drove the band. Perhaps they feel indebted to fans who never strayed during their post-Amorica (the infamous pubic hair album), jammier phase. The "Get Tall in the Rockies" contest rewarded some of the most rabid Crowes fans with a tour-ending Red Rocks show on one night, a stay in "Hotel Illness" for the weekend, and this little Fox Theatre show that kicked off the "Brothers of a Feather" tour: a (mostly) acoustic evening featuring the Crowes' core.

Two chairs, a black cloth-covered table, music stands with songbook and lyrics, no amps, just monitors, and the two most famous Georgian brothers since the Allmans. "The truth of the matter," Chris said in response to the crowd's voracious chorus of thank yous, "is that you're freaky hardcore Crowes fans. And the cocoon that we live in is possible because of the energy you bring. Otherwise we'd be singing to the wall...and the wall might not like us."

Taking pulls off of Red Stripe beers, the pair settled in for a relaxed evening of covers and Crowes rarities, mostly taken from the double-disc Lost Crowes, a collection of two studio albums that were never officially released: Tall in 1993 and Band in 1997. The brothers ventured into a set heavy with acoustic strummers, such as a scorching version of Gram Parsons' "She," followed by "My Heart's Killing Me" and "Wyoming and Me," the latter a Crowes rarity.

It was getting very comfortable, taking the shape of a "folk family Robinson hootenanny," with a little over 500 in attendance. Reaching back for an acoustic guitar and leading into Bob Dylan's "Girl From North Country," Chris, the gone-Hollywood, trouble-generating, smack-talking frontman, proved to be quite lucid behind a guitar—this good ol' boy can play. And younger brother Rich can sing, taking over lead vocals and switching to dobro for the Devendra Banhart tune "This Is the Way." Rich backed his brother on vocals throughout the set, singing much more soulfully than expected.

Through the colorful set, the Crowes' tape-trading faithful connected glances during searing versions of "Thorn in My Pride," live Crowes favorite "Spider in the Sugar Bowl Blues," and "Miracle to Me" from the 2001 release Lions, a song inspired by Chris' wife, the actress Kate Hudson, who regretfully was not in attendance. (Ironically, the press would break the story of their impending divorce the following afternoon.)

Refreshingly, the brothers Robinson played nothing from Shake Your Moneymaker, the radio-friendly debut that they seem desperate to leave behind. Chris appeared to genuinely enjoy the smaller venue, chit-chatting with the audience and reveling in the performance's relaxed, low-key approach absent of any kind of schedule counting down their minutes on stage.

The loudest applause was for what was already making news in trading circles before the sun had risen in the east: a new Crowes record. Before closing their 18-song set with "Loser," Chris mentioned, "In the fall sometime, I guess Rich and I will get everyone together and make an album," leaving the stage Southern-fried and the fans in attendance ecstatic.