Songfacts®:

• Chris and Rich Robinson have a long and storied history of falling out for long stretches. They were largely inactive from 2002 to 2005, and another dustup in 2011 kept the amps quiet for a year. Then came the mother of all breakups that led to the Black Crowes' disbandment in 2015.
  
  "Chris and Rich were always fighting," bassist Sven Pipien told Mojo magazine. "But as soon as you picked one side, the other one will jump straight in and defend his brother."
  
  Fans were ecstatic when the siblings reunited in 2019 for a reunion tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their breakthrough debut album, Shake Your Money Maker.
  
  In 2024, the band returned with a new album called Happiness Bastards. This gospel-infused ballad is its closing track.
• The olive-branch-extending "Kindred Friend" is a different beast from The Black Crowes' usual Southern rock. Acoustic guitars strum a soulful melody, backed by a gentle piano, harmonica whispers, and a wash of strings. It's a ballad dripping with reconciliation vibes.
  
  "On one level, it's about two people who have reconnected, whether it's good friends, whether it's ex-lovers," Chris Robinson told UK newspaper The Sun. "But it could be about me and Rich or The Black Crowes and our audience. Of course, I didn't write it thinking in those terms."
• Despite their differences, Chris believes he and his brother share a "pure heart." He points to the 2019 auditions for new band members – the first time the Robinson brothers played together in years – as a turning point. "It was just so powerful," he gushed to Billboard. "I can't take one of the most unique guitar players in rock 'n roll history out of how important that is, and he feels the same way about my talent and what I do."
• The Black Crowes named Happiness Bastards after the only published novel by the San Francisco beat poet Kirby Doyle. "I'm an obsessive reader," Chris Robinson told Mojo. "But the title's meant to be funny - don't take everything so seriously. It's a love letter to rock and roll, if that's not too much of a cliché."