Rich and Chris Robinson are standing side by side, winding down part of a photo shoot inside Avatar Studios in midtown Manhattan. Just before the photographer's shutter clicks for the last time, the Robinsons--at the urging of several onlookers in search of a laugh--wrap each other up in a warm, goofy embrace.

The shot is taken and everyone in the studio erupts in laughter. It's an ironic shot to be sure, one few would traditionally associate with the Black Crowes. There was once a time--more than once, in fact--when the brothers Robinson, the same ones unlocking from a hug, would beat the living daylights out of each other.

But times change, and so have the Crowes. They're releasing their fifth studio record, By Your Side, their debut for Columbia, putting a producer, Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith's Nine Lives), at the helm for the first time since their 1990 debut, Shake Your Money Maker. In addition, last summer saw the release of Sho 'Nuff, a boxed set containing remastered versions of their first four records, with a bonus live EP to boot. The band has been on the road, playing small gigs in preparation for full-scale touring action in early 1999, and they're doing it with an influx of new blood. Gone from 1996's Three Snakes and One Charm lineup are bassist Johnny Colt and guitarist Marc Ford, and in their places are new bass player Sven Pipien and tour guitarist Audley Freed. Ford's departure from the band, meanwhile, left Rich Robinson to handle all of the guitar duties on the new record.

"After we fired Marc, we started trying out a couple of guitar players," Rich says, "and then I started writing songs. So I just put the whole thing on the back burner. I decided that I'd rather just work on this record."

Robinson didn't hire a guitarist and didn't feel obliged to bring a session player into the studio for By Your Side. "I just did it myself," he says, matter-of-factly. "It took me a couple of weeks to figure some things out; most of the solos were done in open G. But I just tried to have fun with it, to feel it."

Robinson's "feel" approach to playing has up to now been nicely complemented by Ford's versatility. But Rich, who by many accounts has grown dramatically as a guitar player as the '90s have progressed, had no qualms about going it alone in the studio.

"I know what I like, and I know what sounds good to me, like different notes put together, or different chords or things like that," he says, adding he's gotten a lot of mileage out of his Zemaitis Custom Deluxe, in addition to a 1954 gold-top Les Paul and his main Telecaster. "When you know too much, you can sort of counteract the creative process, because you automatically cancel things out. When I made Shake Your Money Maker, I had only been playing guitar for like four years. And I think that helped me."

For his part, the irrepressible Chris Robinson is hoping that By Your Side will firmly re-establish the band's rock and roll roots, and, in the process, give Rich his due as a player. "People have never understood what a good guitar player and musician my brother is," Chris says. "I mean, he wrote 'She Talks to Angels' when he was 16. I think Rich is an exceptional guitarist, and I think he continually gets better. But the one thing about the Black Crowes is that besides our musicianship, it's always about the song."

The tunes on By Your Side incorporate many of the musical influences that the band has explored over the last nine years, from the fiery, driving "Kickin' My Heart Around" to the gospel-tinged title track. By the time they left the studio, they had more than 35 tunes to "kick around." Though the Robinsons don't like to compare the new record to their soulful multi-platinum debut, By Your Side's focus and straightforward approach place it on common ground with the same defiant, no-frills sound that helped kick big-haired, spandex-wearing hard rockers off the block for good.

Of course, the listening public's musical tastes are constantly changing, and the Crowes have at times taken a back seat among fickle consumers. The grunge explosion arrived around the time of the band's 1992 sophomore effort, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, and the ensuing recycling process at least temporarily popularized (or re-popularized) sounds like ska, electronica, swing, and punk. In the process, subsequent Crowes sets like Amorica and Three Snakes and One Charm failed to create the kind of impact generated by the first two albums.

"I think as a nation we're caught up in the technical trends," says Rich. "We're so corporate. Record companies are run like corporations now, churning out whatever manufactured crap they can slap a 'new-and-improved' sticker on. People buy it, just like they do some new-and-improved detergent, or the new-and-improved Pop-Tarts with more jelly filling."

By Your Side might be new and it might be improved, but it's hardly the same ol' stuff with new packaging. The Crowes' trademark sound endures--the band has never denied that they owe a debt of gratitude to those who've come before--but Chris is quick to point out that artists in other genres have their own influences as well. "As good as Kurt Cobain was, I'd heard that music before," he says. "It's like people who say to me, 'I've heard your music before.' Well, I should hope so! I've never made any bones about it. Traditional American music is a wellspring for me to be inspired by. Fashion is fiction, and this music is nonfiction. This music has been here, and it's gonna be here.

"Anyone you meet who's a deep musician and who's talented will be the first person to acknowledge their influences," Chris continues. "Any great guitar players I meet, if I say, 'This should sound like Freddie King,' they always know the difference between Freddie King and Albert King. They know the difference between Clarence White and James Burton, and they'll play you those subtleties. To me, it's like being well-read."

Don't blame the brothers if they get a little defensive on the subject of influences. Both self-taught musicians, they grew up in suburban Atlanta with a reverence for old blues, soul, and other R&B sounds. They're fiercely dedicated to their own music, which is why labels like "retro" or blanket comparisons to the Faces or the Rolling Stones don't always sit so well.

"Music is important to us," says Rich. "It has always been important to us. We're influenced by music, not by any specific genre. To me, that's how you move music forward. It's not through technology. Technology breeds convenience, and to me, convenience doesn't do anything but take away from creativity."

It may not be accurate to say that the Black Crowes have already come full circle--after all, five records doesn't make a career--but they've certainly survived the music scene's ever-changing undercurrents to this point. After spending most of their twenties growing up as rock stars, Chris, 32 and fresh from a divorce, and Rich, 29, are undeniably wiser. And they've learned over time that you get what you play for.

"I think we're pretty well-adjusted compared to some of the shit I've heard other people say," says Chris, never one to withhold an opinion. "I would never take time out from talking about my music to speak about my money, like Oasis. Do you think people wanna hear about that? I don't spend time talking about how hard fame is, or celebrity. Who cares? You signed on the dotted line because that's what you wanted. So now you've got it. Deal with it!"

The Robinson brothers, honest and unrepentant as ever, are dealing with it. And they agree on one thing: By Your Side is their best effort to date. Says Rich: "I think it's everything that we've been trying to be for the last 10 years, and we finally did it. I think that we're a new band, really. We're moving forward and looking forward to the next 10 years."