Rating: 9/10
In my recent discussion on “real country” with Zack of The Musical Divide, he brought up the interesting point that country-oriented sites tend to be more accepting of rock influences infiltrating the country genre than of pop ones. He even cited Blackberry Smoke as being a band embraced by a lot of sites such as ours, and the point is a good one; Blackberry Smoke’s sound is less country than much of what we’d call pop country, yet many of the same people that shun country music infused with pop elements welcome Blackberry Smoke with open arms, a band who, aside from select tracks, arguably doesn’t fit within the genre at all.
It’s a contradiction and an interesting thing to ponder, and I still don’t have a good answer for why strict traditionalists are so averse to pop influences mixing with country, but after one listen to this latest Blackberry Smoke album, I think I can say exactly why these listeners embrace them and their Southern rock sound. It’s that while we’ve all been focused on the dying art form of traditional country, Southern rock has died right along with it. Maybe we don’t notice its absence as much with the prominence of classic rock over classic country on our radio dials–and also because we keep our focus on the country genre–but when you hear this come blasting out of your speakers, it’s suddenly, startlingly apparent that fans of Skynyrd and CCR have become just as forgotten and disenfranchised as fans of Willie and Waylon. Southern rock, like traditional country, represents a place and people whose music is seen as the sound of a backward generation that needs to be brought into the present. It’s no wonder country fans can identify with this. Just like country music, Southern rock needs artists to keep it alive in the modern context, to prove it’s not music of the past and to keep pushing the genre forward.
For all you disenfranchised fans of Southern rock music, I proudly present Atlanta’s Blackberry Smoke, ready to take up that particular torch and carry it with a vengeance.
I’ve talked about the decline of the importance of melody and even great vocals in the “age of the song” we’re living in, but it also has meant the virtual extinction of the guitar riff. We’re all so focused on lyrics and songwriting that we’ve forgotten what unique joy a great guitar riff can bring to our ears. “Run Away From it All” is a swift reminder, calling to mind those great rock bands of the 70’s and just getting perpetually stuck in your head. The same can be said for the piano-infused “Medicate my Mind” and the energetic “Best seat in the House,” both songs which carry the album theme of finding light in the midst of life’s struggles and both of which sound like they could have been recorded by any of your favorite Southern rock bands at the height of that subgenre.
But this band is also uniquely modern, penning songs like “Lord strike me Dead” and “Nobody Gives a Damn” to address the current state of our world, a state with which they seem to be especially disgusted. The former is more self-reflective, seeing lead singer Charlie Starr indicting the thin-skinned and those always looking for someone to blame, wishing God would just strike him dead and remove him from everyone’s bullshit. The latter is more of an address to these people themselves and something we’d all probably like to say to the whole of social media–“you think everyone’s watchin’, but nobody gives a damn.” These two are great testaments for the viability of Southern rock in 2018, for proof that it’s not just the music of times gone by and can still be relatable today.
Still, there’s variety in the sound as well on this record; it’s not all just screaming Southern rock anthems. “I’ve Got This song” is a straight-up, three-chord country number with an ungodly amount of fiddle. This is one of the best songs of the year so far, a simple declaration that whatever happens, the one think that Starr won’t lose is his music. Amanda Shires lends some of her characteristically excellent harmony to another country moment, the heartbreak song “Let me Down Easy.” This one is upbeat despite its sobering lyrics and provides a cool contradiction musically. “Till the Wheels Fall Off” goes for more of the Red Dirt country/rock blend than Southern rock and reminds me sonically of Kody West or early Eli Young Band. The laid-back closer, “Mother Mountain,” features the Wood Brothers and serves to end this high-energy record on more of a subdued, peaceful note, even fading out with the sounds of a running stream to end it all.
And somehow, despite all these standouts and unique moments on this album, I’ve failed to mention the ridiculously exciting “I’ll Keep Ramblin’,” which might just shine above all of them. This one is just a glorious five-minute exhibition of music where essentially all hell breaks loose as they sing about living restless, rambling lives. We have some killer piano, some screaming electric guitar, a gospel choir, and an appearance by pedal steel player Robert Randolph. We’ve seen our fair share of Southern rock and country on this record, and here we have a touch of blues and soul to round it all out.
If you haven’t figured it out, this is an excellent album. At thirteen tracks and especially fifty-three minutes, it could have done with having a couple songs trimmed, particularly near the front of the record. There’s nothing here I’d skip, but most of this material is so strong that even a marginally weaker track sticks out like filler. If they’d trimmed it a little, it would have been an absolutely ridiculous ten- or eleven-song project, one that would have earned a perfect rating here–and let me say, that would have only been the ninth album to achieve this status since this site was founded in June 2015…yet it would have been Blackberry Smoke’s second, something no artist has done to date. It falls just short of achieving that, but it quickly replaces Lindi Ortega’s Liberty, which held the title for a glorious week, as the strongest album to grace our presence in 2018, and we’ll be talking about this album again when those endless lists come around in December.
Some Southern Rock
Some Country
Some Good Music