Eagle Rock EntertainmentBlack Crowes spinoff group The Magpie Salute‘s sophomore studio album, High Water II, was released earlier this month. The album is the second part of a project that began with the group’s 2018 studio debut, High Water I.
Magpie Salute band leader Rich Robinson tells ABC Audio that “the whole process [of making the High Water albums] was something that was just really brilliant and cool.”
He says the initial plan was to release one double album, but “the label wanted to split it up.”
That was serendipitous, Robinson says, because the delay in putting out High Water II gave the group time to write and record more strong material.
Rich notes that the late additions “really shifted the direction of the record. It really took it somewhere else, which…I thought was a really cool and fresh thing.”
High Water II is filled with songs that mine the same late-1960s and early-1970s rock influences that inspired The Black Crowes. Among the interesting tunes is “Lost Boy,” which features bluegrass great Alison Krauss on backing vocals and fiddle.
The timing of High Water II‘s release seems interesting, because rumors began circulating this week that a Black Crowes reunion may be brewing after the group’s website and social media sites were updated with an apparent new logo.
Robinson didn’t mention anything regarding a Crowes reunion to ABC Audio, but he did say that The Magpie Salute wasn’t planning to tour behind High Water II.
Robinson tells ABC Audio that for 30 years he’s followed the cycle of recording and releasing an album, then touring behind it.
“This time…it’s different,” Rich maintains. “And it’s kind of cool just to be able to say, ‘Let’s put the record out and see what happens.'”
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