By Chris Varias
The Cincinnati Enquirer

No, he didn't do Black Crowes songs. In fact, nothing he did sounded that much like the Black Crowes.

As lead singer of the Black Crowes, Chris Robinson repeatedly came off as an imitator of the early 1970s editions of Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart, fronting a freewheeling rock `n' roll band and wailing the white-boy blues.

Robinson can do worse than emulate those once-esteemed gentlemen, as evidenced by the performance he turned in at Bogart's Tuesday night.

With the Black Crowes on hiatus, Robinson has formed his own group, New Earth Mud. And now that he's sprung from whatever corner he painted himself into with his old group, Robinson has traded in Jagger and Stewart for a couple other `70s staples - the psychedelia of the Allman Brothers and the relaxed, countrified boogie of Little Feat.

Robinson and New Earth Mud played two sets mixing languid country rock and uninspired improvisations and jams before a crowd of a couple hundred or so. Without an opening act on the bill, the band did two sets, each over an hour, highlighting its new album and slipping in a cover here and an instrumental there.

Perhaps Chris' lead-guitar-playing brother Rich was the Robinson responsible for those scant moments when the Black Crows rocked well. Left to his own devices, Chris chose to play it slow, grasping for that elusive "sadly beautiful" vibe but coming away empty-handed.

It wasn't the fault of his hired guns. Given the chance to step out on such songs as the straight-ahead mid-tempo rocker "The Thankful Neighbor" and bluesy "Mother of Stone," guitarist Paul Stacey, drummer Jeremy Stacey, bassist George Reiff and keyboardist George Laks showed they could play.

But for most of the night they were handcuffed by lame material. (Consider: The songs were as bad as their titles, and "The Thankful Neighbor" and "Mother of Stone" was the good stuff.)

Robinson even rendered a good cover bad. By the time he got around to the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Sin City" in the second set, he had beaten down the crowd with so many lame country-rock ballads that this Gram Parsons-penned gem was guilty by country-rock-ballad association.

E-mail cvarias@enquirer.com