Chris Robinson BrotherhoodIf you go• What: An Evening With the Chris Robinson Brotherhood•When: 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28•Where: Track 29, 1400 Market St.•Admission: $18 in advance, $20 day of•Phone: 423-521-2929•Venue website: track29.co•Artist website: chrisrobinsonbrotherhood.comDiscography• 2012: "Big Moon Ritual" / "The Magic Door"• 2014: "Phosphorescent Harvest"
Every time Chris Robinson takes the stage, it's with the mindset that he's not sticking to whatever preconceived road map he has for the evening.
The former lead singer and co-founder - with his brother, Rich - of The Black Crowes, Robinson switched gears in 2011 to front The Chris Robinson Brotherhood. Leading up to the new project, Robinson combined the Crowes' blues-rock swagger with a healthy dose of psychedelia and jammy improvisation.
And when the musicians take the stage, there are some points when all bets are off and the musical whim of the moment takes over, he says.
"We have some set places where we know that 'Boom - we blast off here,' and we have some places where we know to kind of lift off and that, 'If we duck down this tunnel, there are no monsters in there,'" Robinson says, in a recent phone interview.
"You just have to have a certain amount of imagination, like, 'I'm not afraid of not knowing what's going to happen,'" he adds. "Some nights, it might be dissident, and some nights, it might be beautiful. Either way, these are our little trips."
Robinson is unabashed in acknowledging the influence The Grateful Dead has had on him and his bandmates. His friendship - performing and otherwise - with Dead co-founders Bob Weir and Phil Lesh goes back more than a decade, and he says the older band's freewheeling spirit has strongly influenced his philosophy for the Brotherhood.
"One thing I identify with is the [Dead's] independent spirit and the spirit that [The Brotherhood] makes decisions based on things other than the commerce of the thing," he says. "There is an ethic and there is a great respect for the muse and a great respect for why music makes these things happen and why people are emotionally attached [to the music]."
The Black Crowes have been on an indefinite hiatus since December 2013. The band played in Chattanooga in May 2013, but it's been more than two years since Robinson's Brotherhood followed up its Scenic City debut at Track 29.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, Robinson will return to the Market Street venue alongside Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Adam MacDougall (keys, vocals), George Sluppick (drums) and Mark Dutton (bass, vocals).
The show is being billed as "An Evening With the Chris Robinson Brotherhood," which translates to "no opener," Robinson says. Instead, the audience will get two sets - about three hours - of the Brotherhood's soulfully psychedelic, improvisationally free-form rock 'n' roll.
As a band that's still in a relative state of infancy, Robinson says the show won't be an exhibition of whiz-bang multimedia decadence, but it will have plenty of soul and will lead listeners on a journey.
"It's like, 'Turn the lights down low, and let us provide whatever sort of color and sonic ambiance to what's going on,'" he says. "That's good because you have to be more expressive."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.