It took a couple of years but Blackberry Smoke has risen to the top of the heap, especially when it comes to rock & roll with a southern heartbeat. They have become the golden child, the chosen one to lead where the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd built a path. And their new album, Like An Arrow, only solidifies that assertion even more.
Beginning as a band about sixteen years ago, Blackberry Smoke was struggling in their home state of Georgia. “We’ve worked a lot of years,” singer Charlie Starr told me during an interview for Glide in 2011. They hit the road and found an enthusiastic audience up north. “I don’t know if it’s something about being southern that those people were really intrigued by but whatever it was I appreciate them all.”
But when they came back home, “We’d play for nobody,” continued Starr. Guitar player Paul Jackson agreed: “We had people who would drive three hundred miles to come see us play and we get home and we couldn’t get our friends to drive three miles to see us,” he said with a laugh. “It was tough, discouraging, but then little by little we just kept working,” said Starr. And the fanbase kept building.
With the arrival last month of Like An Arrow, Blackberry Smoke has produced their best album to date, featuring the spitting “Waiting For The Thunder” and the R&B funkified “Believe You Me;” an older fan favorite has also landed on the twelve track disc, “Sunrise In Texas.” “This album is the self-produced culmination of fifteen years of trying to plant our flag in the musical landscape,” said Starr.
Recently, Glide spoke to Jackson about how the band creates their music, touring with Jackyl and being the band’s resident metalhead. But first, strange things were happening at home.
Hi Paul, what happened today?
My garage door was broken and I had to have somebody come out and fix it.
So you’re a normal person then
(laughs) Yes, sometimes. My kids and wife don’t think I’m normal at all. But when I’m home there’s so many other things I have to do when I’m here, obviously, like mow and make sure everything is together, fixing toilets and stuff like that (laughs).
I bet the fans would love seeing you fixing toilets
(laughs) Yeah. I’ve done it quite a bit. That’s what I used to do a long time ago. I was a plumber years and years and years ago when I was in Florida. I did it for five years and then I moved to Georgia and I wound up being a printer forever, until I got into Blackberry Smoke and we got moving.
Why did you move from Florida to Georgia?
I was in Pensacola playing and I got to the point where the band I was in was pretty well known and then our singer went into the Air Force so I started playing in other bands. Well, all the bands I played in seemed like they would break up and then I’d get into another band and it was the same people that was in the band that just broke up (laughs). It was crazy. But I knew I didn’t want to stay in Pensacola. I couldn’t do what I wanted to do for a career in Pensacola. Nobody goes down to Pensacola looking for bands. Nobody does. And there are plenty of great players down there. I learned from the people older than me. They’re smoking musicians but they just didn’t want to move, you know.
So I moved to Atlanta and I get into a band and it was awesome. And you know what? It was the same dudes I had played with! They had moved to Atlanta (laughs). But I just knew I couldn’t have a career in Pensacola. I love Pensacola, I miss it and every chance I get I go back because I’m a beach bum and I have family there. But I knew what I wanted to do for a living and I couldn’t do it there.
And here you are in Blackberry Smoke and you’ve got this new record. How long did it take to get that one done?
It didn’t take long at all, maybe two weeks at the most. We work pretty fast in the studio. We don’t go in blindly and write songs in the studio like some people do. We know individually what we’re supposed to be doing so we kind of knock it out.
Does that allow for you to do a lot of improvisation or experimentation when you’re in the studio that short of time?
Well, we usually go in and record everything live, all the instruments live, and then after we get done doing that, Charlie and I go in and cut vocals. We put guitar parts on but the improvising, a lot of that has to do when you’re adding little nuances to the songs or when you go in and do solos, that kind of stuff. But the recording of the basic tracks, we just knew what we were doing. We just went in there and got those done. During the beginning, no, we don’t improvise very much. Occasionally, somebody turns around and goes, “I think we should go to an F here instead of a C.” And then we try it but mainly we know what we’re up to.
Does Charlie change the lyrics any?
Not lyrically. He knows what he wants to do and he may change a few things but he has pretty much got it solid. When he’s writing these tunes, he’ll lock it down and it won’t change much lyrically and melody-wise. But if we want to try something else, we’ll wind up doing it.
“Sunrise In Texas” is on the record and that’s been around for a little while.
Yeah, we’ve had that for a while but never put it on a record. We figured, well, let’s do it this time. We almost did it last time but we were like, nah, we’ll wait. A lot of the fans wanted to hear it on a record so we kind of went and did it.
How old do you think that song actually is?
Eight years old? Nine years old? It might be older than that. We used to do it before Brandon Still, our organ player, got in the band and then we stopped for a while and when we got him we started playing it a little bit more and always threatened to put it on a record but we just never did.
Did you change up your guitar solo from the early version?
Some things I did a little different. I always thought it was a good melody for that particular song and I didn’t want to fiddle with it too much. But I think the beginning part I may have messed with. But other than that it’s always been the same.
“Believe You Me” has a R&B funk sound to it. Who originally brought that vibe to that song?
That was Charlie. He came up with it when we were like soundchecking a gig and we were just fiddling with it and we all just put parts to it. And that’s pretty much how that started. Charlie pretty much wrote that one and did a fantastic job.
You’ve shared the stage with many legends and now you have Gregg Allman singing with you on “Free On The Wing.” How did that come to be?
We had him in mind and it was just one of those things where we got in contact with him and he agreed to do it. We got home off the road, we’d been out for a while, and he was doing a show in Macon. So Charlie went down to Macon to talk to him about it and it got set up. I’m still beside myself. I still can’t believe he’s singing on this. And he’s such a sweetheart, just so nice. I thanked him when he did it and he was like, “Oh thank you so much for letting me. I hope I didn’t make ya’ll look bad or anything.” I was like, “Dude!” (laughs) He was just awesome and such a nice guy and super cool.
On the first single, “Waiting For The Thunder,” Charlie sounds a little pissed off.
(laughs) Yeah, if you think about what’s going on today. When I read those lyrics I was like, wow, this is pretty much what is going on, and has been for a while with how people are thinking these days. But I know every time I play this song, it sounds like my dad and my grandfather saying, “Everything is going crazy!” But yeah, good expression in that song. It’s believable, that’s for sure, the way he sings it. It’s pretty much, “Hey people, listen, you need to pay attention,” and that kind of thing.
When Charlie has a song together, does he send you music files or just lyrics?
No, sometimes it will be acoustic and he’ll just be singing into the microphone. We all figured out how to use Garage Band and those are fun things and he’ll just put something together on Garage Band and send it and then we’ll listen to it and we’ll get together and start really knocking it out. It’s just your basic bunch of dudes listening to what somebody else had and putting our two cents in and going for it. But I mean, quite honestly, every time I get a song from him in the mail, I’m stoked cause I like it.
Do you immediately get that, Oh I know what would go great in there?
Yeah, I do do that but Charlie puts the guitar part down and I’m not one of those guitar players that go, well, I need to put something too. I’m pretty much like, “That’s exactly what I would have done.” Then he and I will sit down and play it and while we’re sitting there across from each other, we might go, “I wonder if we should try this?” And we’ll try something and if it works, it works; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I don’t want to fiddle with something that’s not broken. If I’m into it, what I’m hearing, yeah, I do come up with things and they may get tossed around but if I feel strongly about the tune I just won’t even mess with it and the majority of the time I don’t because I like it so much.
How and when did you get a guitar in your hands?
Well, I was fourteen and I saw my first concert and I immediately needed a guitar after that (laughs). It was Motley Crue, Theatre Of Pain tour back in 1985. That’s going to date me but whatever (laughs). But my mother, she was talking to me, and she said, “You want a skateboard or a guitar? What do you want for Christmas?” I said, “I don’t think I can wait till Christmas,” cause this was in March. But I thought about it and I was like, well, I’m not going to break any bones playing guitar so I’m going to play guitar (laughs). There were a couple lying around the house that had like two strings on them and I’d always pick it up and act like I was playing. But once I went to my first concert and felt that energy, I was sold.
Did you want to play like Mick Mars?
No, actually, it wasn’t even him. It was just the energy in the whole place. I was always drawn to the guitar anyway cause when I was real little my dad let me listen to Chuck Berry and that was it. I was listening to something, I can’t remember what it was, and he came in the house and said, “You want to listen to something really cool?” And I said yeah and he put the record on and I was like, “What is this!” At that time I was playing baseball but when I saw my first live show, the energy got me.
What position were you playing in baseball?
Second base. I was so into baseball. When I was a kid, my dad was my coach and my uncle had a team. My whole family ran the ballpark down there in Pensacola and I was obsessed with baseball. My dad was a firefighter and he was killed fighting a fire when I was eleven or twelve, but like I said he was my coach and I just kind of lost my interest it in, you know what I mean. Then I was just on the computer constantly. My mother thinks I was lonely but I was just kind of bored. And she came in one day and threw the paper down – they’d built a new Civic Center in Pensacola – and said, “I’m going to take you to a concert. Which one do you want to go see?” And I looked down and went, I think it was Ratt and Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and Autograph or something, and I just went, “Oh, those guys.” And then I went and saw them and was like, oh goodness, I need a guitar. It was a life-changing moment for me to see a live show. I still got that baseball thing lingering on. I’ve been wanting my son to play baseball but he’s just not into it (laughs).
What kind of guitar did your mom get you?
Oh man, I walked into a music store and mind you, I didn’t know much about guitars at all, and this guitar was literally white, everything on it was white, everything, and I thought it was the coolest guitar I had ever seen. So I got that and played it relentlessly for maybe a year and three months. By then I’d played other people’s guitars, real guitars like Strats and stuff, and I said, “Mom, this isn’t happening.” So I played that guitar I got when I was fourteen and turned fifteen in December and then my birthday rolled around when I was sixteen and I got a Kramer. Who didn’t get a Kramer back then! (laughs) I had one and I think all my friends had one.
Which guitar did you use primarily on Like An Arrow?
I used my Gibson ES-135 and my 1979 Les Paul, my 40th anniversary Les Paul and then my 357 custom Telecaster. And I think I used Charlie’s acoustic on one song. I can’t remember which one it was but he’s got pretty killer older acoustic guitars.
Are you a gadget guy?
I used a Leslie simulator on a song but mainly it’s just through the head. I don’t use pedals for my main guitar sound. I just never have. Whatever I can get out of my head is what I primarily want people to hear. And I’ve got pedals just to add a few nuance things here and there or to boost a solo. Other than that, it’s right through the amp. I feel you get a better sound.
When you first started playing, what frustrated you the most?
Well, to be quite honest, when I picked up the guitar, my brother got a drum set and we started playing immediately. I had to figure out songs so fast. He’s older than me so he wasn’t having it, he wasn’t waiting. That’s just the way he was. But what frustrated me was my picking, the way I picked. I had to relearn completely how to pick because instead of resting my hand near the bridge, the back of my hand, it was my thumb on the strings. It was the weirdest thing. If I showed you, you’d be like, how on earth could you play guitar that way. But I did that for maybe three years, four years. And we played every weekend, the band I was in with my brother. I was the only guitar player and we played every Friday and Saturday night at a teen club down in Pensacola. So that’s what was so frustrating cause I knew I was picking wrong but it was so fast learning that way. And when I’d sit home and try to re-pick properly, I was in such a hurry I was back to the same thing again. So it was my picking that would frustrate me more than anything.
Being that you’re like the rock guy in the band, what was it like going out with Jackyl in those early days?
Well, I can just tell you straight up – a freaking blast! (laughs). I had so much fun. Those guys are awesome to be around. They’re hilarious. I love the music to begin with and when I found out we were going out with them, I was like, “No way!” And those guys are so funny too. We laughed constantly.
Who was the first real rock star you ever met?
Slash and Duff McKagan opening for Motley Crue on the Girls Girls Girls tour. When Appetite For Destruction came out I saw them open for Motley Crue, like the original Guns N Roses, and they were walking around the audience. I think I was fifteen or something and I had Slash sign my arm. I had his shirt on but he wouldn’t sign my shirt so I said, “Sign my arm!” (laughs)
What happened to that autograph?
My mom took a photo of it and she’s got the picture still. But him and Duff were really nice. Duff was super tall. I was real short back then, I’m still short (laughs). But he was like a giant. So I met Slash back then and he was really nice to us and then we played with him. We did a Guitar Hero thing, and this was before Brandon was in the band, and when Guitar Hero was released, or Guitar Hero II, he was on the cover of the game, his likeness was, and we went to Austin, I believe, to play a couple of songs when they were releasing it and he got up and jammed with us. That is still on YouTube. You should go see it. And I was blown away. He was using my Les Paul, my 79, and I said, “Hey man, if you want to go over there and whittle on that guitar, cause you’re probably using that one I guess.” And he’s like, “Nah, it’s cool.” And I was like, cool, no worries, and I walked off and I went and sat down and he come up to me and said, “Hey, I hope I didn’t sound mean when I said that.” No dude, it didn’t even cross my mind. He was just really nice.
You guys play a lot of festivals. Is that always fun for you?
I love it cause I can go see other bands. I’m usually out front watching the bands. I got to see Slayer for the first time when we did the Sweden Rock Festival and I called my mother and was like, “I’m at a Slayer concert!” (laughs) Cause she refused to let me go to that when I was a kid. She was like, “Good Lord.” (laughs) I saw Megadeth headlining in Pensacola, I saw Anthrax headlining in Pensacola. But it’s funny cause this morning I was taking my son to school and we were listening to, I believe it was Ozzy’s Boneyard, and Megadeth’s new song came up and, I forgot the name of it, but me and my son were like, whoa. It was crazy.
Was it Megadeth or Metallica?
It was Megadeth. I know it was Megadeth cause I heard the new Metallica song too and it’s pretty trippy. I saw them on the Black album tour twice and I have not been able to see them since.
And Blackberry Smoke don’t usually play those hard rock festivals
No, it’s usually when we go to the UK or someplace like that. We saw stuff like Meshuggah. We were leaving right after their set and me, Doc, our guitar tech, and Brandon went out and sat in the audience and were like, Yeah! (laughs). We like all kinds of stuff. A lot of people think we listen to one type of music but we all listen to all kinds of stuff. We play what we play cause that’s how we feel and we love it but we listen to all kinds of crazy stuff. It’s insane.
What did you love about Meshuggah?
The music. If a band gives off a good energy, I’m into that. That was the first time I ever heard them and they were pretty right on the money. I don’t know a lot about them but that concert, I dug it. But metal is something I personally couldn’t play twenty-four hours a day all day. My hand would fall off. I don’t know how they do it. I’ve tried that but, like I said, my wrist would completely fall off. I’m a musician so I’m intrigued by it but how do people play that fast? It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard. When I’m outside doing work in the yard or want to take a walk and chilling a little bit, I listen to metal. I can’t help it.
Then when I met Charlie years ago, I was blown away listening to some of these mandolin players doing the same thing on that little tiny thing. There’s eight strings on a mandolin as far as I know but they’re playing two strings at once and man, they’re insane. And I like the feeling of a slower, blues guitar, that kind of vibe. I love that. I love bluegrass music. I got turned onto that through Charlie bigtime. As a vocalist, they are so on point, those bluegrass singers. All the harmonies are so beautiful and that stuff is like stone cold live. There is no, wait, wait, let me do it over. It’s them, guitar, stand-up bass, a fiddle, banjo, mandolin and a microphone. And that is amazing.
Speaking of Charlie, he told me one time that the band caught on up north before you caught on at home.
It was crazy. We had people who would drive three hundred miles to come see us play and we get home and we couldn’t get our friends to drive three miles to see us (laughs). I mean, it wasn’t they disliked us. We were a new band and stuff like that. And most of our friends that would’ve come seen us play were probably playing themselves somewhere else that night (laughs).
What’s going on with Blackberry Smoke for the rest of the year?
We’re continuously touring. We’re never completely off the road. That’s not our style. We got into playing music when we were kids to play music out on tour. I find it a good thing being busy. If you’re busy, that’s a good thing. And we are constantly busy. Of course, we like our moments at home, to be with our children and watch the kids grow up, but ultimately in our DNA, it’s doing this and that’s pretty much what is happening – playing and getting the record out there to the people.
Charlie Starr interview = https://glidemag.wpengine.com/17794/blackberry-smoke/
