Criticism that they were nothing more than '70s rock revivalists didn't stop the Black Crowes from touring with legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page last summer.

Although the tour was ill-fated -- the plug was pulled on the second leg after Page hurt his back, and the Crowes are suing Lloyd's Of London for not compensating them for lost profits -- frontman Chris Robinson said the experience was inspirational and educational.

"It was awesome," said Robinson down the line from New York City recently just before the release today of the Crowes' latest collection, Lions. "After a good long decade of going out on the road and learning about our music and deconstructing it to a certain point and putting it back together again, to be able to do that with somebody else's music -- especially Jimmy's -- was great. We learned a lot more about our band by playing somebody else's music. The dynamic really was Jimmy joining our band for a summer, but we played his music."

The performances eventually ended up on last year's double CD, Jimmy Page And The Black Crowes, Live At The Greek.

Robinson said the high profile collaboration affected the new music on Lions, produced by veteran Don Was and recorded at an old Yiddish musical theatre in New York.

"Atmosphere is everything; it's like accessories are everything," said Robinson, who's been known to sport his fair share. "I don't think we could have made this kind of music in a conventional studio with hallways of other people's gold records on the wall. This was an 'other-people's-accolades-free' work zone. This was about Lions."

The new album marks the Black Crowes' debut on their new label, V2 Records, after their split from Columbia, where they had been since their 1990 debut, Shake Your Money Maker.

"It just wasn't our place," says Robinson, whose band has sold 15 million albums worldwide. "It's a very big label, and a corporate label, and we're not a corporate band. We got into a band because it represented freedom, creative freedom. Music has no limitations for us. Then you get into a business and it's all bottom line, dollars and cents, and test marketing and real corporate attitudes.

"Everyone wants to be successful," he says. "God knows we do, but we're not prepared to be people that we're uncomfortable being just to make money and just to make other people money. Music has always been a little sacred to us and it's the most important commitment in our lives."

In Robinson's case, hopefully the second most important commitment: He married actress Kate Hudson (Almost Famous) last New Year's Eve.

When asked if any of the new songs on Lions are about her, Robinson says: "Well, it all comes from that place, even the stuff that was written before her. I mean she's a constant influence in my life, so it's all in there somewhere."

The Black Crowes launch their Tour Of Brotherly Love with Oasis and Spacehog in Las Vegas on Friday and arrive at the Molson Amphitheatre on May 22.

Robinson says the seed to tour together was planted after he met Oasis brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher over the last couple of years.

"Our conversations started to go to 'We're these last two kind of rock and roll bands in the world,'" he said. "You know proper rock and roll -- lead singers, guitarists. You write songs with your brother. And we've had our run-ins and different troubles and stuff -- the rock drama that people love to hear. But at the end of the day, they're the kind of band we want to tour with, and we're the kind of band they want to tour with and be associated with. There aren't a lot of other bands that I can say that about."