Review: Blackberry Smoke 'Be Right Here'

Review: Blackberry Smoke ‘Be Right Here’

By Hal Horowitz

Few bands have experienced as much emotional upheaval in the past few months as Georgia’s Blackberry Smoke.

The elation of watching this release, Be Right Here, their first studio full length of new songs in three years, simultaneously debut at #1 on the Country, Americana/Folk, and Current Rock Albums charts came crashing down when founding member/drummer Brit Turner recently succumbed to the brain cancer he had been fighting for years.

It’s especially difficult because Turner had been a key force within Blackberry Smoke from their days playing the dingiest of clubs in their Atlanta hometown over two decades ago, to their chart topping, headlining, internationally recognized stardom, culminating in this, the outfit’s eighth, and arguably finest, studio set.

Perhaps unintentionally, the Charlie Starr fronted Southern rockers tackle subjects of mortality, appreciating every day’s little joys, and working hard for success (as this outfit clearly has done) on its ten tracks. From the swampy why-me? rocker “Hammer and Nail” (“The whole world swings a hammer and I’m the nail”) to the rollicking “Don’t Mind if I Do” (“We ain’t gonna live forever/Only one time around it’s true…nobody said it was gonna be easy”) and the bluesy, Black Crowes-styled lope of “Like It Was Yesterday” (“I want to feel like we’ve got it made/’Til tomorrow comes and takes it away”) with its stinging duel guitar solos underpinning the concept of living like there may not be a tomorrow, an uplifting yet clear-headed sense of mortality and how life can deteriorate with issues outside of our control connects the dots of these selections.

High-profile Americana producer Dave Cobb returns after working on Smoke’s 2021s successful You Hear Georgia. He keeps the sound lean, providing an unvarnished and uncluttered atmosphere as these tightly crafted songs, none over five minutes, were tracked live in three studios, two in their home state.

The majority cohere around Smoke’s established menu of dirty guitars, tough red clay rhythms and Starr’s Southern-styled vocals. But they lower the fever on the lovely, stripped-down acoustic, Poco-inflected “Azalia” with its lyrics of “home will always be right here” which provides the album’s title. The folksy “Other Side of the Light” also lightens the mood with its Allman Brothers Band lilt and twin guitar riffs (“Don’t worry about the darkness/It’s just the other side of the light” advises Starr).

Backing duo The Black Bettys highlights Smoke’s soulful side on the Stones-y grind of “Little Bit Crazy.” The closing call and response vocals are straight out of the gospel tent and a distorted guitar solo is just quirky enough to throw changes into the formula.

“You can’t take it with you that’s what they say/We’ll all be empty-handed come Judgment Day,” Starr reminds us, a refrain that reoccurs throughout. It’s possible that Turner’s extended illness informed the lyrical theme of these potent tunes made even more relevant after his passing.

But with riffs and melodies that stick like kudzu to a Georgia tree and unfiltered musicianship as unpretentious as their rugged looks, Blackberry Smoke’s Be Right Here delivers another robust dose of what they do, and have always done, best.

“Like It Was Yesterday”