Ask any fan of Blackberry Smoke which of their albums best represents their sound and they’ll probably go into a tailspin of deliberation. The Georgia quintet may be southern rock stalwarts with an easily identifiable sonic imprint, but they always gift each record its own unique signature, tellingly spicing their musical stew with fresh flavours.
From the pumped-up radio-rock of ‘Little Piece of Dixie’, through the bludgeoning and rootsy Americana of ‘The Whipoorwill’, to ‘Holding All The Roses’ and its short, sharp commercial cuts, a Blackberry Smoke album is invariably like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get.
There were rumblings of discontent to greet 2016’s ‘Like An Arrow’, though, with its increasingly mellow country vibe eliciting fears that Charlie Starr and his brethren were becoming too laid back.
But ‘Find A light’, the band’s sixth record, nonchalantly sweeps aside such doubts thanks to a glut of brawny rockers that spit out indelible hooks while cruising astride swinging grooves.
Best Seat in the House delivers a corking piece of Tom Petty ear candy, Nobody Gives A Damn takes down pseudo-celebs with a muscular choke hold and the effortlessly catchy escapism of Run Away From It All could make you quit your day job and hit the road.
It’s instantly apparent how inspired and at ease the band are on this record. Self-produced and exuding a looseness and warmth that captures the camaraderie of their live shows, it’s great to hear these talented players dispatching the kind of spontaneous instrumental passages that were missing on their last two efforts.
I’ll Keep Ramblin’ typifies this, while epitomising their ability to pepper their southern gumbo with added piquancy. Featuring co-writer Robert Randolph, its gas-guzzling stampede sounds like a wacky races chase sequence until the tune collides with a gospel passage and subsequently takes off on a frenzied jam.
Elsewhere, Flesh and Bone and The Crooked Kind also tweak the band’s aesthetic with mouth-watering results. The former’s grungy cadence is thicker than volcanic mud and its fearsome hook delivers a powerhouse gut punch, while the latter uses markedly different chord voicings to beef up a blast of bad-boy blues-rock.
Starr recently told Classic Rock magazine “we're a rock n' roll band that happen to occasionally play country songs”. This time they’ve struck the perfect equilibrium between the two, allowing the record’s harmony-laden acoustic cuts, which bleed reflective blue collar existentialism, to stand out and shine. Medicate My Mind is a slow-burning groover about dependency as a necessary coping strategy, Seems So Far offers traditional Tennessee fare and the delicate fiddle of I’ve Got This Song echoes Starr’s most pained, proud and personal lyric to date.
Every ounce of the group’s identity as a recording and touring act has gone into this record, creating a wonderfully sequenced, pleasingly diverse caboodle of songs that are marvellously paced and imbued with a typically inescapable feelgood factor. As such, ‘Find A Light’ feels like the ultimate Blackberry Smoke album and a perfect feast for any newcomer who’s desperate to sink their teeth into a dish of juicy southern rock ‘n’ roll.
Blackberry Smoke Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sat June 30 2018 - HOLMFIRTH Picturedrome
Fri November 02 2018 - NEWCASTLE O2 Academy Newcastle
Sat November 03 2018 - GLASGOW O2 Academy Glasgow
Sun November 04 2018 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Tue November 06 2018 - BELFAST Telegraph Building
Wed November 07 2018 - DUBLIN National Stadium
Fri November 09 2018 - CARDIFF Tramshed
Sat November 10 2018 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Birmingham
Sun November 11 2018 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Tue November 13 2018 - SOUTHAMPTON O2 Guildhall Southampton
Thu November 15 2018 - LONDON O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
Fri November 16 2018 - LONDON O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
Sat November 17 2018 - MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
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