No sophomore slump here – The Black Crowes drop original guitarist Jeff Cease and pick up a monster player in replacement Marc Ford, who becomes quite the counterpoint to rhythm guitarist Rich Robinson and the “secret sauce” that helps push this album to #1 on the Billboard charts in 1992.  While debut Shake Your Moneymaker was an excellent disc, Southern Harmony adds a bit more muscular stomp ‘n swagger courtesy of the addition of Ford but also thanks to some excellent keyboard work from newcomer Eddie Harsch and female backing vocals on a good majority of the cuts.  These additions add more of a sonic density, fattening the songs with a certain thickness and, amazingly enough, increasing the warm soul power of lead singer Chris Robinson.

While some naysayers called the band Faces/Stones ripoffs on their debut, the Crowes really made their mark on this album and forged their own sound.  The one/two punch of “Sting Me” and “Remedy” is a monster; the former riding a nasty, chunky groove and features a strong Chris Robinson vocal with the latter cut a bit more smoother funkiness and laid back a hair in comparison.  Both tunes clearly set the tone for the album, showing off the excellent Robinson/Ford tag team as they lay down bedrock riffs and outstanding guitar fills.  Next cut “Thorn In My Pride” is incredible; Eddie Harsch’s intro keyboard is dripping with soul and the groove is mighty laid back and in the pocket and features another great Robinson vocal.  Not to be outdone, Robinson and the backing singers absolutely rule on the next two slow burners “Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye” and “Sometimes Salvation”- both cuts a bit of a lazy Sunday vibe, certainly not in any rush but incredibly strong on feel.

But man…  to me, the back half of this album is where the gems are.  “Hotel Illness” has a similar swagger as to the hits on the debut, but the three headed monster of “Black Moon Creeping”, “No Speak No Slave”, and “My Morning Song” are dead on perfect-  the band as a whole sounds loose, live, and wide open as if producer George Drakoulias flipped the record switch during a jam session.  “Black Moon Creeping” lives up to its title as it rides a nasty, creep of guitar chunk and talkbox, elevating the stomp during the chorus as Robinson and the female vocalists wonder “whatcha got buried in your backyard?”; “No Speak No Slave” shows off how well the Robinson/Ford interplay works-  the former with a solid rhythm, which the latter counters and eventually slays with a tasty solo; and “My Morning Song” includes silvery slide work between the two guitarists and balanced well by the fantastic keyboard work of Harsch, but that fab chorus is an earworm:

“March me down to the seven seas
Bury me with a ruby ring
Kiss me baby on an Easter Sunday day
Make my haze blow away”

(Not sure what it means, but hey…  it’s a doozy listening to it 🙂

The album eases out with a Bob Marley cover in “Time Will Tell”, sounding like a late night take well into the early hours of the morning featuring just the core band without the female vocals.  A bit contrary to the raucousness on display via the other cuts, yet a performance equally strong in passion and an excellent way to close out the album.

While the band went on to release a handful of other fantastic discs in the ’90s, none of them would rock as hard or reach the sonic heights of Southern Harmony.  After two more albums, bassist Johnny Colt and guitarist Marc Ford were out of the group and the band went through a series of replacements over the next two decades before eventually breaking up for good in 2015, leaving singer Chris Robinson to form his own band (the Brotherhood) and guitarist brother Rich rejoining with Marc Ford and late period bassist to form the excellent Magpie Salute.  For those that need their Crowes fix you now have  double the pleasure 🙂