Blackberry Smoke “Leave A Scar” On North Carolina
Man. If you want to make a live music DVD, get yourself a Southern rock band. And if you’re looking for a Southern rock band, you best be looking in the direction of Atlanta, GA’s Blackberry Smoke. These days you can find all manner of variations on the Southern rock theme, and there’s some damn good ones out there—folks mixing Southern rock with Motown soul, and Southern rock with surf, punk, and so much more. But if you’re looking for the band that defines what Southern rock is in the modern day world, Blackberry Smoke is your poison. They’re the guys taking the torch that was first lit by Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers, then was passed on to bands like The Black Crowes, and are doing one of the South’s most storied subgenres all manner of proud in making sure that sound is passed on to a new generation.
Just look at these bastards. They look like they could make the inside of a tour bus smell like steak and motor oil just by looking at it, or walk into a Southern buffet and bankrupt it in one sitting. These are some long-haired, burly, and badass dudes who drip nothing but cool and authenticity. Lead singer Charlie Starr’s mutton chops are longer than the Florida panhandle. And when all those pop country guys get up there on stage and start trading Stratocaster licks doing their best to be cool, a band like Blackberry Smoke is who they are trying to emulate. But it will never be as real as a Blackberry Smoke show.
Two years after releasing their last studio album The Whippoorwill to critical-acclaim, Blackberry Smoke is back with a double live album and DVD called Leave A Scar: Live in North Carolina. There’s a few ways you can choose to partake in this live experience: You can either hear it on a double disc CD set (or download), or you can get the DVD and watch and listen. Or you can do both. The DVD gives you the option to either watch the entire concert seamlessly, or see it with a series of background spots about the band. The background portions probably don’t go as in-depth as a full-fledged documentary, but offer great insight about the band, their families, their cars, their kids, and how they all fit into the band and help make Blackberry Smoke tick so well both on and off the stage.
Your tour guide is Blackberry Smoke front man and primary songwriter Charlie Starr. He introduces you to the two brothers: bass player Richard Turner and drummer Brit Turner, the latter who also acts as the band’s archivist and avid business man. Piano and organ player Brandon Still tells the story about being hired by Blackberry Smoke, and the only stipulation was he had to give up his ‘new wave’ X-wing keyboard stand for a psychedelic-draped piano stand to join. “I was like ‘You know what? We can get rid of the X-wing stand,'” Brandon recalls, and the rest is history. Brandon and lead guitar player Paul Jackson are good friends outside the band as you see on the DVD. “Brandon hangs out, and he’s like Uncle Brandon to Paul’s kids,” says Charlie Starr.
But the music is what we’re here for, and the performances on Leave A Scar: Live in North Carolina are as tight and entertaining as you would expect for a band who’s been going at it for going on 15 years. They’re beyond road-tested, and can play these songs in their sleep. A good mixture of Blackberry’s catalog is featured in this CD/DVD project, and aside from breaking into Memphis Minnie & Led Zepplin’s “When The Levee Breaks” in the middle of one song, it features all original Blackberry Smoke material.
Hard work and hard play isn’t just a marketing mantra for these guys and their fans. It’s the only thing they know, and that’s what comes through most evident on this project. Seeing some of the shots from the crowd and the fans singing along in the perfect-sized venue for this type of undertaking really captured the relationship and value Blackberry Smoke has with the fandom they’ve earned over the years. The project is keenly shot by Judd Films, with Neltner Creative supplying the cover art, and a great engineering feat by Logan Patton doing the live vibe justice and giving the recording the perfect amount of crowd noise to put you right there in the room.
Though I might still recommend to someone who has never heard Blackberry Smoke to start with one of their studio projects, Leave A Scar: Live in North Carolina is a treasure trove for the hardcore Blackberry fan, including bonus footage on the DVD that shows the band recording with Jamey Johnson and the recently-deceased country legend George Jones.
Blackberry Smoke likes to take their time between studio releases, which can be frustrating for some salivating fans. Leave A Scar: Live in North Carolina is the perfect thing to tide them over, and chronicle what one of the most important modern-day bands in the Southern music realm do on a nightly basis for appreciative fans.
1 1/2 of 2 guns up.
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July 26, 2014 @ 8:21 am
I saw these guys open for Eric Church a few years ago, and they were indeed, badasses. They put on one helluva show and leave it all on the stage!
July 26, 2014 @ 9:54 am
I bought “whipporwill” after I heard of the band here.
I didn’t realize the bass player and drummer are brothers. No wonder they sound so good together.
Every tune on that album is either good, or really good.
They are an outstanding band.
July 26, 2014 @ 10:18 am
The entire library from these guys is phenomenal. They are as down to earth as can be. Any conversation that involves Billy Gibbons and Eddy Shaver is a prelude to a magical night. And what a night it was the first time I heard them live. Maybe 100 people but they played as if they owned the arena. They are the GENUWINE article.
July 26, 2014 @ 12:08 pm
God I love Blackberry Smoke. Saw them open up for none other than Zac Brown Band. Talk about one hell of a show overall. I promptly got a hold of their catalog (The Whippoorwill) was released a few weeks after the show. Little Piece of Dixie is just a fantastic, fun Southern Rock CD. Their rock, especially on songs like ‘Good One Comin’ On’ is what these modern dudes tried to be before the EDM shift. Blackberry Smoke is authentic and great.
July 26, 2014 @ 12:28 pm
Been a fan since first hearing them 5-6 years ago. Last 2 albums were great!!
Ordered couple T-shirts off there site & EP…gotta see em live in the future 🙂
July 26, 2014 @ 1:11 pm
Off topic but this is a heads up for Trigger:
Jake Owen has remixed Beachin’ with T-Pain and Mike Posner.
http://tasteofcountry.com/jake-owen-beachin-remix-t-pain/
Why can country artists only get washed up pop artists to collaborate with them? Anyways I just wanted to give Trigger this tip.
July 26, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
First – who combines Southern Rock and surf? That I gotta hear.
Second – Blackberry Smoke have finished recording their next album so we won’t have to wait too much longer. Yay! They are hands down the best Southern Rock band out there today.
July 26, 2014 @ 7:52 pm
I had heard “Pretty Little Lie” a while ago somewhere and wondered who these guys were.
Totally reminded me of good times, awesome bar bands, and real music.
Now I know! Thanks Trigger : )
July 27, 2014 @ 1:19 am
Love this band. One band who has been on my “Need to see live” list for a while. Hopefully soon.
July 27, 2014 @ 1:53 am
I love BBS! I did see these guys in Nashville last summer and they where as good live as I was hoping they would be. To bad though that they had to play same time as Nelson was playing.
Another thing that makes this guys so wounderful is that they are one of the few american bands that I listen to that actually travel to europe to play. Im going to see them in November in Gothenburg. THANK YOU BBS FOR COMING TO EUROPE. Please tell Jamey Johnson to jump on an airplane sometime.
July 27, 2014 @ 6:08 am
Great band. Saw them open for Zac Brown in Peoria IL a few years back, wish they’d played longer. Surprised at just 1.5 guns up, Trig, this deserves higher, like maybe 3 guns or something.
July 27, 2014 @ 5:43 pm
2 guns up for ‘Dirt’. 1 1/2 for Smoke.
Fuck that. Fuck all of that.
I know, it’s just a live album. No new material. Blah blah blah.
But Jesus tap-dancing Christ, man! The WORST song on this release is TWICE the song Dirt is. C’mon, man. You are better than that.
BBS is a damn sight more likely to Save Country Music than FGL, too.
NRN. Just sayin’.
July 27, 2014 @ 6:25 pm
“Dirt” is a song.
This is a 2-disc live album and 2-hour DVD with extras.
It is completely unfair to compare the two.
If you’re going to make a side by side comparison, it would only be fair to judge my grade with a Florida Georgia Line album. I gave their album two guns down. So there’s that.
The idea that somehow through this review and the song review I did for “Dirt” that I am discounting Blackberry Smoke or saying that Blackberry Smoke is worse than Florida Georgia Line is beyond erroneous. I have run Florida Georgia Line into the ground more than any other living soul, and this is the second positive review I have given to Blackberry Smoke.
Some perspective please.
July 27, 2014 @ 7:32 am
Have seen them live three times, all as the headliner and they absolutely smoke on stage. Last month saw them at the world’s largest music festival (Summerfest in Milwaukee) and the crowd kept growing as their show went on. Their relentless touring seems to be paying off.
July 27, 2014 @ 9:40 am
I discovered BBS from seeing them open for ZBB blew them outta the water now BBS is one of my favorite modern bands nice review cant wait to get my hands on it
July 29, 2014 @ 5:28 pm
i say this as often as i am given the opportunity and sometimes without opportunity at all… â¤ï¸.this.band from ATL … “turn on ray wylie hubbard, sing a long to redneck mother… i can feel a good one comin’ on…” the first time i heard them i said to myself, “these boys could single-handedly bring back southern rock” and i still say that… you can close your eyes at one of their shows and swear it’s a recording your’re hearing… they are THAT tight… as a treat for myself i saw them play in charlotte on a thursday night then drove to myrtle beach and saw them saturday night in the same week… and heard two different shows… charlie makes a new set list most every night… happily, we agree again, trigger!
August 5, 2014 @ 7:17 am
I finally listened to this live album and it is great. I like these guys more and more each time I listen to them. Know that I say this an extreme compliment: they are like vintage Black Crows.
December 8, 2023 @ 11:20 am
THe live album is so great! I agree that they grow on you as you listen more!