fter taking little time off after a 118-show tour, the CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD are heading out for another lengthy run of performances.  The trek kicks off May 3 in New Orleans and includes a stop at Memphis’ Beale Street Festival May 6, with dates booked into October.  The group’s debut album BIG MOON RITUAL will be released via Silver Arrow/Megaforce Records on June 5, the same day the band is confirmed to  perform the album’s “Rosalee” on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”  BIG MOON RITUAL will be followed by companion album THE MAGIC DOOR in September.  Both albums were produced by Thom Monahan (Vetiver, Devendra Banhart, Papercuts).

 In 2011, after more than 20 years of intense gigging and recording, CHRIS ROBINSON set off to shape something new, a fresh rock mythology, a breathing kaleidoscopic thing stuffed with chooglin’ soul, bedrock boogie and shuffling wisdom birthed in intimate clubs and amongst the tall trees of the Golden State and eventually taken nationwide as the CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD evolved. What began as an experiment without expectations turned into a 118-show journey for Robinson (lead vocals, guitar), Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Adam MacDougall (keys, vocals), George Sluppick (drums) and Mark Dutton (bass, vocals) that surprised these seasoned pros as music of unshakeable solidity and exuberant reach poured out of them, a New Cosmic California sound with tendrils reaching to the original Fillmore West, Topanga Canyon and outwards towards far horizons.

“This music is unashamedly what we’re into,” says ROBINSON, who cites Neu!, Melanie, Flatt & Scruggs, Mel Tillis and Morton Subotnick as regulars in their van listening.  “It’s not a psych band because you have a Prince Valiant haircut and wear Beatle boots.  It’s psych because that’s where our heads are.  We want to make music that blossoms.  We want to make music that sounds cosmic.”