Black Crowes front man Chris Robinson flying high

Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes performs in this April 22, 2005, file photo on the opening day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival in New Orleans. Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes performs in this April 22, 2005, file photo on the opening day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival in New Orleans. Photo: BURT STEEL, STR Photo: BURT STEEL, STR Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Black Crowes front man Chris Robinson flying high 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

As Chris Robinson sees it, going on tour can feel a bit like heading into battle.

"We used to go on these Napoleonic campaigns with great victories and great defeats," the charismatic front man of the Black Crowes says. "Now it's far more of a guerrilla force - we go in under the cover of darkness and get out."

The famed blues-infused, roots-rock jam band is rounding out the final leg of its eight-month "Lay Down With Number 13" world tour, which culminates Dec. 14 at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. In a recent phone interview, Robinson sounds cheerful and reflective, refreshed even - a surprise given the grueling tour schedule the Crowes have kept this year since hitting the road after the last hiatus.

"Because of the tumultuous nature of the Black Crowes, at the end of some tours, I think, 'I'm never doing this again.' But I don't feel that way this time," says Robinson, who turns 47 this month.

"One of the motivating factors that keeps me interested in the Black Crowes is that our cocoon gets a little bigger every time we go out. The band means a lot to a lot of people. It's been a part of people's lives for nearly 25 years. And that's really special."

The one-night finale is a departure from the band's previous appearances here: In 2010, the Crowes played a six-night run at the Fillmore.

"It's strange when you do something for a couple of decades. We've had great times and times that were not so easy on a personal level," Robinson says. "But this year's been really positive. I wanted to end the tour with a big rock 'n' roll hootenanny instead of some arduous campaign."

Formed in 1989

Formed in Atlanta in 1989 by Robinson and his younger, less outspoken brother, Rich, the Crowes were abruptly thrust into rock stardom with the huge success of their multiplatinum debut album, "Shake Your Money Maker," which included a chart-topping cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle." In retrospect, the band's mainstream rise in the early 1990s was somewhat of an anomaly given the dated musical influences it drew from. The sound melded the swagger of vintage 1970s Rolling Stones with the Southern jam band nuance of the Allman Brothers and the simple harmonies of the Faces, coalescing in a set of bluesy, soul-infused hard-rock grooves packaged around Robinson's distinctively smoky vocals.

But it struck a chord with the masses. More than 3 million copies were sold, by far the band's greatest commercial success - enough to establish a long-term, highly devoted fan base.

As Robinson describes it: "We were part of the machine before we even knew what it was."

In the nearly 25 years since, the Crowes have come out with eight additional studio albums and gone on two multiyear hiatuses. And like many a bona fide rock band, they've experienced their fair share of high-profile tumult, including fierce outbreaks of sibling feuding, sometimes erupting in fistfights in the recording studio.

Shifting lineup

The band has also experienced a frequently shifting lineup, with few members staying put for prolonged periods. This year's tour features 32-year-old Northern Californian Jackie Greene on lead guitar, replacing Luther Dickinson. The switch has been a major transition, given the prominence of lead guitar in the extensive jams that are the hallmark of the band's live shows.

Robinson, though, says it has worked out well.

"Jackie brings new breath to old songs. We refer to him as our trophy wife," he says. "He's such a talented and sincere person, it almost gets annoying sometimes. But he's brought a lot of cohesiveness to what we're doing."

The band hasn't put out an album of new material since its impressive 2009 release, "Before the Frost ... Until the Freeze," and although fan expectations are high, Robinson isn't sure a new album is in the cards anytime soon, nor has he given much indication as to the band's next steps after the tour.

Nice to be free

"If there were songs, I'd be in the studio," he says. "We decided we don't have any plans after this year. It's nice to be free."

Rail-thin, long-haired and sporting an impressively bushy beard, Robinson often performs in moccasins and bell-bottoms, conveying an image less of a rock star than a long-standing resident of a hippie commune. In contrast to his firecracker reputation, his speech is often steeped in New Age rhetoric, peppered with words such as "cosmic" and "progressive." A father of two, he's now in his third marriage and says he's settling into family life.

"Most people can't imagine the domesticated version of me," he says.

Throughout the Crowes' tenure, Robinson has tried to enforce a staunch anticorporate ethos, an attitude that has set the band adrift from major labels and sponsors over the years. In 1991, they were famously kicked off a tour opening for ZZ Top after Robinson, in multiple performances, went on a string of tirades about the corrosive influence of corporate culture, not too subtly aimed at the tour's sponsor, Miller Lite. The band's four most recent albums have been released on independent labels, including Robinson's own Silver Arrow.

"I've always been influenced by artists who are their work," he says. "You get a feeling that this isn't an act. It's not contrived or put together by other people to make money or be popular."

He acknowledges, though, the irony of biting the hand that's fed him.

"Even if I wanted to sell out, I wouldn't know who to call anymore," Robinson proudly insists. "We've already alienated ourselves from everyone. You're never going to hear one of our songs in a Prius commercial." He pauses, then adds, "I mean, I have a Prius. But still."

After the tour, Robinson rejoins his side project the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, a more casual, Grateful Dead-influenced jam band, which just released "Betty's S.F. Blends, Vol. One" on Robinson's label. A vinyl-only boxed set, it features long jams from the band's five-night run last December at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall, including a fun mix of original tracks and enjoyable - if not mind-blowing - covers of classics such as Aretha Franklin's "Do Right Woman" and Bob Dylan's "Down in the Flood." The group plans to release its third studio album next spring.

"It's completely enjoyable," Robinson says of the gig. "I like it because we started something on the fly, inventing our own culture as we go along. It's a very vibrant thing for us. And that's how it should be as I move on with my life." {sbox}

The Black Crowes: With the Tedeschi Trucks Band. 7 p.m. Dec. 14. $55. Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove St., San Francisco. (415) 624-8900, (888) 490-2726. www.ticketmaster.com.