Blackberry Smoke Reveals New Album “Be Right Here” & New Song
Those who are generally timid of nature, go ahead and turn back now. But for the rest of you who love their music loud and Southern, it’s time to celebrate the announcement of a brand new album from the Southern rock overlords from Georgia, Blackberry Smoke. Be Right Here is on its way, and a new song “Dig A Hole” is here right now.
Produced by Georgia-native Dave Cobb, and recorded at the historic RCA Studio ‘A’ along with Cobb’s Georgia Mae studio in Savannah, Be Right Here captures Charlie Starr (vocals, guitar), Richard Turner (bass, vocals), Brit Turner (drums), Paul Jackson (guitar, vocals) and Brandon Still (keyboards) once again, with appearances by Preston Holcomb (drums), Benji Shanks (guitar), and background vocal group The Black Bettys as well.
“We always track live together, but this time we had all our amps and drums and everything in the same room,” says frontman, guitarist, and primary songwriter Charlie Starr. “It’s just as natural and as real as possible. The last album was very raw too, but with this one I remember different times I would say, ‘I think we should redo that,’ and Dave was like, ‘No, leave it that way. That way it’s magical.’”
If there is a theme to the upcoming album, it is to “Be right here” in the moment and live life to the fullest, because you never know when it might end. You can hear this in the debut song from the album, the funky and sludgy “Dig A Hole” co-written by Charlie Starr and keyboardist Brandon Still. “We each have a finite amount of time on this earth, so you probably want to make the most of it. Eventually for all of us, they are going to dig a hole, so make it count.”
This message especially hits home after Blackberry Smoke’s founding member, drummer, and big brother Brit Turner had a heart attack, and later a serious brain tumor issue. But he’s been battling through it all to continue to appear live with the band, not only beating out the dirty rhythms behind the kit, but inspiring everybody to “be right here” everyday instead of giving up when bad things come our way.
The only bone to pick with Be Right Here is we’ll all have to wait all the way until February 16th, 2024 before it arrives via Blackberry’s 3 Legged Records and Thirty Tigers. It’s almost like they’re trying to torture us. It’s gonna take longer to get here than Christmas, but hopefully it’s worth the wait.
Be Right Here is now available for pre-order.
TRACK LIST
1. Dig A Hole
2. Hammer And The Nail
3. Like It Was Yesterday
4. Be So Lucky
5. Azalea
6. Don’t Mind If I Do
7. Whatcha Know Good
8. Other Side of the Light
9. Little Bit Crazy
10. Barefoot Angel
August 25, 2023 @ 11:24 am
Love BBS! Sure, they’re not country, but they’re keeping real Southern rock alive.
August 29, 2023 @ 7:21 am
I know what you mean, but sometimes, they’re very country, such as in ‘Lonesome for a Livin'”.
August 25, 2023 @ 11:34 am
Geez…these guys never disappoint.
August 25, 2023 @ 11:38 am
Let’s get a petition started to get this released sooner!!
We need it now.
August 25, 2023 @ 11:40 am
These guys kick so much ass
August 25, 2023 @ 1:37 pm
Looking forward to it for sure. Saw Them Dirty Roses the other night and was thinking about BBS and how I needed to listen to them.
August 25, 2023 @ 2:48 pm
I heard an interview of Paul Jackson sometime back and he was talking about this album ( at that time he expected a late this year release) The long delay is because they like to do a global release in all formats at the same time. So there’s a lot of pieces that have to come together before release.
I am a huge fan and really like this song. The song list has me excited as well, but I don’t know why they officially announced it 6 months in advance.
August 25, 2023 @ 2:54 pm
F-Yeah!
August 25, 2023 @ 11:48 pm
A new BBS album is always a sign that southern rock will never die. Love to hear Brit is fine. Welcome back guys!
August 26, 2023 @ 12:16 am
BBS + Dave Cobb = i’m on board!
August 26, 2023 @ 7:42 am
Dig a Hole sounds great. But six months to wait? I’m not getting any younger, fellas.
August 26, 2023 @ 9:56 am
Saw bbs for the first time this year I had tears in my eyes and lump in my throat they were that good I’m 60 ffs
August 26, 2023 @ 11:47 am
Judging by the attendees at the shows I’ve been to, you/we are thier target audience.
August 26, 2023 @ 2:45 pm
Love BBS! Dig a hole, my sentiments exactly. Get it in while you can. Fell more and more that way as I get older and older. Bravo guys.
August 27, 2023 @ 5:52 pm
Dave Cobb is like Microsoft in the 90s “its not a bug its a feature”
August 28, 2023 @ 11:16 am
Surely one of the most under appreciated bands in the world. I attend, at least, one BBS show per year and have dang near all their albums on vinyl; love how they use colored vinyl in most cases. These guys know their fan-base for sure.
Can’t wait for the new album, but it looks like we will all very truly have to wait. February seems so far away especially as Summer winds down. Their contribution to my daily driving has made the road much more enjoyable. Smoke ’em if ya’ got ’em!
September 6, 2023 @ 4:22 pm
Love the BB Smokes!
That lead singer has one hell of a set of “pipes”!
September 8, 2023 @ 5:51 am
This song, like pretty much all BBS songs, freaking rocks.
Trigger, have you listened to any of The Weathered Souls. They’re a young rock/southern rock band from the Dallas area and I think they’ve got a really bright future.