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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!


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Showing posts with label Blackberry Smoke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blackberry Smoke. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Blackberry Smoke Tour Announcement

The Delta Saints

2014 Tour Announcement
Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Blackberry Smoke "Fire In The Hole" Tour 2014

We are excited to announce that we're joining BLACKBERRY SMOKE on their 2014 "Fire In The Hole" tour, presented by Live Nation. 
Check out the full schedule below and on our website, and RSVP to the tour's Facebook event here to get an EXCLUSIVE PRE-SALE CODE tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
Also, we've got quite a few more 2013 tour dates remaining. Check those out below and we hope to see you soon!
-The Delta Saints
"Fire In The Hole" Tour w/ Blackberry Smoke:
1/10 - Revolution - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
1/11 - House of Blues - Orlando, FL
1/15 - The National - Richmond, VA
1/16 - The NorVa - Norfolk, VA
1/17 - Track 29 - Chattanooga, TN
1/18 - House of Blues - New Orleans, LA
1/19 - House of Blues - New Orleans, LA
1/23 - The Pageant - St. Louis, MO
1/24 - Egyptian Room @ Old National Centre - Indianapolis, IN
1/25 - St. Andrew's Hall - Detroit, MI
1/26 - The Intersection - Grand Rapids, MI
1/30 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
2/1 - Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN
2/6 - Bogart's - Cincinnati, OH
2/7 - Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH
2/8 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
2/11 - Mod Club Theatre - Toronto, Ontario
2/13 - House of Blues - Boston, MA
2/14 - Theatre of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
2/15 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
2/20 - The Fillmore - Charlotte, NC
2/21 - The Ritz - Raleigh, NC
2/22 - House of Blues - North Myrtle Beach, SC
3/21 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
3/22 - House of Blues - Houston, TX
3/25 - Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, OK
3/27 - Diamond Ballroom - Oklahoma City, OK
3/28 - Midnight Rodeo - Amarillo, TX
3/29 - Dirty Bourbon - Albuquerque, NM
4/1 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
4/2 - House of Blues - Los Angeles, CA
4/3 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA
4/5 - House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV
4/10 - Knitting Factory - Reno, NV
4/11 - Stoney's Rockin Rodeo - Sacramento, CA
4/15 - Knitting Factory - Boise, ID
4/17 - Dante's - Portland, OR
4/18 - Neptune Theatre - Seattle, WA
4/19 - Knitting Factory - Spokane, WA
5/9 - The Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD
5/10 - Baltimore Soundstage - Baltimore, MD
 
Remaining 2013 Dates:10/16 - The Mint - Los Angeles, CA
10/17 - Boulder Station Casino - Las Vegas, NV
10/19 - Harvest Festival - Ozark, AR
10/23 - Terminal West w/ Robert Randolph - Atlanta, GA
10/27 - Vinyl Music Hall w/ Robert Randolph - Pensacola, FL
10/30 - Lamasco Bar & Grill - Evansville, IL
10/31 - The Bottleneck - Lawrence, KS 
11/7 - Main Street Live - Murfreesboro, TN 
11/8 - Bijou Theatre w/ The Black Cadillacs - Knoxville, TN 
11/9 - Clementine Cafe - Harrisonburg, VA 
11/22 - Boone Saloon - Boone, NC 
12/6 - Route 20 - Sturtevant, WI 
12/7 - The Gypsy - Olney, IL 
12/28 - Cervantes - Denver, CO
12/29 - Sheridan Opera House - Telluride, CO 
12/30 - Center for the Arts - Crested Butte, CO 
12/31 - Wheeler Opera House - Aspen, CO 
more  

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Deep Ellum Blues - Blackberry Smoke with Billy Gibbons


You can call Blackberry Smoke’s music southern rock and you wouldn’t be wrong. Or you could call it country and you wouldn’t be wrong, either. But you would be selling both the band and its legion of fans short by trying to fit them solely into one genre. With influences that run the gamut from country to bluegrass to metal to gospel and yes, southern rock, Blackberry Smoke is more than the sum of its diverse parts.

“None of us have ever said, ‘Let’s be a southern rock band or a bluegrass band or a country band’,” Blackberry Smoke front man Charlie Starr explains. “We all love the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Stones and the Faces and Hank Williams and Bill Monroe. It’s not about what kind of music it is, as long as it’s good and it’s honest. When we get together it just sounds the way it does.”

The group, which is made up of Starr, sibling rhythm section Richard and Brit Turner (bass and drums, respectively) and guitarist Paul Jackson, formed in 2000 and quickly made an impact. Thanks to individual and shared reputations for entertaining, the foursome hit the road hard. “We had gigs right away,” says Richard, who with Brit had been in a popular Atlanta band that opened for national touring acts.

One of the fledgling group’s early supporters was Jesse James Dupree of Jackyl, who invited the group to tour with his band. “He’d heard a demo and thought it was fantastic,” remembers Charlie. “It was trial by fire. We played every scary dive between here and there… and a few real nice ones, too. From that tour we made relationships with club owners, promoters and DJs that we still have today,” says Charlie.

Touring soon became a way of life for the band. Among the many acts the group has shared the stage with are ZZ Top, Montgomery Gentry, The Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band and Cross Canadian Ragweed.

While the group has deep southern roots—Starr is from Alabama, the Turners are from Georgia and Jackson hails from Florida—it first found success north of the Mason Dixon line. “We got big in Wisconsin and Michigan and worked our way back to Georgia,” Brit says with a smile.

Not only did the band mesh when it came to touring, they also clicked when it came to musical aspirations. “We had an unspoken vision of what the band should sound like,” Charlie says. Paul agrees, “Everybody brings something to the table.”

The group found inspiration in some of the greatest bands of all time. “The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin would make records with great rockin’ songs and also some honky tonk country and blues,” explains Charlie. As such, diversity is important to Blackberry Smoke. “It makes it more enjoyable for the listener than staying in a little narrow hallway,” Brit says. “And for the players, too.”

Good music is good music, the band believes, no matter the style. “There are moments in our show that are straight out of a Jimmy Martin or Flatt & Scruggs set list,” Charlie says. “Bluegrass is a beautiful form of American music. Just like southern rock, bluegrass is about really good songs and good musicianship,” he adds. “You just spread out and see where it will go.”

The quartet, which has built an international following thanks to the Internet and a universal love for good music, self-released its debut, Bad Luck Ain’t No Crime, which was produced by Dupree, in 2004. A few years later, they followed up with the country-centric EP New Honky Tonk Bootlegs.

Acclaimed producer Dann Huff (Bon Jovi, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts) agreed to produce Blackberry Smoke’s second album after coming to see the band live. “We were excited because we knew what a great musician Dann is,” says Charlie. “He said, ‘I love what you guys do and it’ll be great when we go into the studio that I don’t have to bring in studio musicians to play on it.”

True to his word, Huff encouraged the band to bring their road show into the studio. “We did not use any gear that we don’t have on our trailer, except for a 12-string acoustic,” remembers Charlie.

“Dann’s impressive in every aspect,” Charlie says of Huff. “He’s such a great musician and producer, with great ideas and great ears, and he has such a love for music. If we were arguing with one another, he would always help us find a middle ground.”

The result is Little Piece Of Dixie, a fresh yet familiar collection that fuses Blackberry Smoke’s diverse influences with its road-honed musicianship.

The band, which pens most of its own songs, is also astute enough to realize that a great tune can come from outside its four walls. “Everybody should tip their hat to Hank Williams as the greatest songwriter that ever was,” Charlie says.

To that end, the album is a complementary mix of songs written by the band and some of Nashville’s top songwriters, including Lee Roy Parnell, David Lee Murphy, Gary Nicholson, Craig Wiseman, Randy Houser and Rob Hatch.

The music is already spawning reaction—the hard-driving, layered riffing of “Up In Smoke” popped up in EA Sports’ NASCAR 08, and anthemic first single “Good One Comin’ On” was featured prominently in the Kevin Costner political comedy Swing Vote.

Keyboardist Brandon Still from Lancaster, SC was added to the band’s line up in 2009.

The final piece to the puzzle came when Zac Brown signed the band to his Southern Ground label in the Spring of 2011.
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