Since emerging from Atlanta in the early 2000s, Blackberry Smoke has become known for a signature sound indebted to classic rock, blues, country and folk. Hits include the songs “Like An Arrow” and “Holding All The Roses” off their two Billboard chart-topping country albums of the same names. Find A Light, Blackberry Smoke’s sixth studio album, doubles down on diversity. Songs hew toward easygoing roots-rock “Run Away From It All” and Southern rock stomps “The Crooked Kind,” as well as stripped-down acoustic numbers “I’ve Got This Song” and bruising alt-country “Nobody Gives A Damn.” Rich instrumental flourishes -- keening fiddle, solemn organ and bar-band piano boogie -- add further depth and resonance. Blackberry Smoke play The Ridgefield Playhouse on Tuesday, September 11 at 8pm, part of the Mountain Dew Country & Bluegrass Series and Pepsi Rock Series powered by Xfinity. Opening act is Quaker City Night Hawks. Media partner for this event is 92.5, Connecticut’s Country Music.
Within Blackberry Smoke’s catalog, Find A Light is distinctive in several notable ways. The record sounds heavier than other albums; in fact, vocalist/lead guitarist Charlie Starr characterizes the churning, scorched-blues album opener, “Flesh And Bone,” as “maybe the heaviest song we’ve ever recorded.” The title has deep significance to the record’s overarching themes. “Most of our albums have been named either for a song on the album or a lyric, and this time I didn’t want to do that,” Starr says. “I thought, ‘What headspace is humanity in as a whole?’ That’s pretty hard to argue with. I think everybody is hoping and looking for something better right now.”
Accordingly, Find A Light’s lyrics portray characters weighed down by the pressures of everyday life. “Flesh And Bone” explores the conundrum of temptation; “Run Away From It All” is about seizing the day and trying to leave troubles behind; and “Nobody Gives A Damn” cautions about letting external achievements such as an attractive partner or a hit song go to one’s head. Yet Find A Light’s hard-luck characters are soldiering forward despite it all, and remain buoyed by optimism—and deep faith in themselves. “One of these days I’ll get the best seat in the house/It’s the measure of a man, of a man,” goes the jangly “Best Seat In The House,” while the narrator of “I’ve Got A Song” asserts, “At the end of the day, it’s the one thing they can’t take away: I’ve got this song.” The album’s final song, “Mother Mountain,” focuses on the belief that redemption and rebirth are always within reach.
“We just want the sound of the band to continue to grow and broaden. We’re not trying to make a hip-hop record,” Starr said with a laugh. “But there’s so many elements to what people call rock. There’s gospel and country and swing and blues. We’re just trying to write songs that include all those different types of elements. It keeps it interesting for musicians and songwriters. You think, ‘Well, I don’t have a straitjacket on, I haven’t painted myself into a corner, so I can try and just make the most of this art form.’”
That’s what Starr (lead vocals, guitar), Paul Jackson (guitar, vocals), Brandon Still (keyboards), Brit Turner (leads drums) and Richard Turner (bass, vocals) have been doing for 16 years now after forming in 2001. The quintet’s blue-collar work ethic, road-dog attitude – the band averages 250 shows a year – and willingness to jam all night long have left Blackberry Smoke with a grassroots fan base that continues to grow show by show.
Quaker City Night Hawks' brand of hard rock n' roll is bred from Texas boogie, Memphis soul and heavy blues. Their music is southern rock right out of '75, played with the fervor of a sermon crackling out of the radio in a '68 Lincoln. They're the whiskey bottle you finished Saturday night and the prayer you said the next morning. Like a country gunshot on a humid night and your first illicit beer, Quaker City Night Hawks are the spirit of rock n' roll.
For tickets ($55), call the box office at 203-438-5795, or visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.