Blackberry Smoke to Release the “Southern Ground Sessions EP”
If you didn’t get your fill with Blackberry Smoke’s recent record Find a Light, or it just increased your appetite for their infectious classic Southern rock vibe, well then you’re in luck. On October 26th the Atlanta, Georgia boys will be releasing the Southern Ground Sessions EP as an accompaniment to Find A Light. Featuring acoustic renditions of five songs from Find A Light and a cover of the late great Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky,” it’s a stripped-down addendum to the record that went #1 in pure album sales in country upon its release.
“It felt really cool to come back to Southern Ground Studios and play music with some good friends,” says frontman and songwriter Charlie Starr. “It was like stripping it down and playing in the living room.”
The Southern Ground studio is located on the corner of 17th and McGavock in Nashville. Originally built as a Presbyterian Church in 1903, Fred Foster of Monument Records purchased it in 1968, and converted it into a studio. Then in 2012, Zac Brown bought the building, modernized it, and began hosting recording sessions. At one point Blackberry Smoke was signed to Zac Brown’s Southern Ground record label.
Joining Charlie Starr, bassist Richard Turner, drummer Brit Turner, guitarist Paul Jackson and keyboardist Brandon Still in the sessions is Amanda Shires, reprising her role on the song “Let Me Down Easy,” as well as singing harmony on Petty’s “You Got Lucky.” Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers (who were also once on the Southern Ground label) also lends to “Mother Mountain.”
This isn’t the first time Blackberry Smoke has chased a release with some acoustic sessions. A deluxe edition of their 2015 record Holding All The Roses included a five-song acoustic set. That album is also notable for being the first independently-released record to go #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, opening up the floodgates for others to do it in the coming years.
Ahead of the release, Blackberry Smoke has made the acoustic version of “Run Away From It All” available (listen below).
THE SOUTHERN GROUND SESSIONS TRACK LIST:
1. Run Away From It All
2. Medicate My Mind
3. Let Me Down Easy (feat. Amanda Shires)
4. Best Seat In The House
5. You Got Lucky (feat. Amanda Shires)
6. Mother Mountain (feat. Oliver Wood)
July 21, 2018 @ 8:35 am
Hell yeah.
July 21, 2018 @ 5:08 pm
It’s a great studio with an awesome staff and plenty of mojo. Can’t wait to hear this record.
July 21, 2018 @ 8:18 pm
I just Love these us they make my day.
( every day ) bring me up when I am Blue.. Keep writing and playing your jams I’ll Keep Buying
Thanks Guy’s
July 22, 2018 @ 6:11 am
You neglect to mention the studio was Chip Young’s Young ‘Un Sound then Al Jolson’s Masterlink before becoming Southern Ground. No harm, no foul, just keeping the record straight.
July 22, 2018 @ 7:13 am
Recorded at Southern Ground Studio but infused with the Capricorn Studio spirit.
July 22, 2018 @ 2:49 pm
Love these guys.
I wish this current tour didn’t include seated theaters (at least around me).
July 23, 2018 @ 5:54 am
After 2 days only 6 replies?
I thought Blackberry Smoke are the hottest thing since the Carter Family & with a #1 album on the “country” charts?
Since Billboard Nashville is playing god about what’s country & what’s not (remember 2016 when Billboard said a Green River Ordinance album was not country enough?)
But BS (on one end of the pendulum) & Sam Hunt (on the other end of the pendulum) are?
For my ears Blackberry Smoke are not-so-country (to be diplomatic).
July 24, 2018 @ 8:21 am
They continue to be excellent. They don’t stir a lot of discussion here probably due to them being a little less country and also I would say they are stagnating a bit as far as their recording output since Whippoorwill.
They could put out one hell of a country album if they wanted to. That would definitely blow my skirt up.
July 24, 2018 @ 8:22 am
Hey OlaR,
I like BBS as well as anyone. Country? Ehhh…not so much. I see them primarily a Southern Rock band with a country influence. Lynyrd Skynyrd wasn’t a country band either, but they appreciated country as much as anyone else and ended up with an audience that liked rock n roll and country. Others in the southern rock category seem to ride the line between the genres. Look at Charlie Daniels for example. I have made it known in my comments that I’m into other genres and southern rock is one of them. To me , southern rock is country music’s raucous cousin, so to speak.
July 25, 2018 @ 5:53 am
Smoke and mirrors.
July 26, 2018 @ 8:12 am
They have never claimed to be a country band. They’re a rock band who happens to play country songs in a very cool way Not biased here ha
July 23, 2018 @ 7:04 am
This is a good example where an EP works.
July 23, 2018 @ 9:44 am
Agreed. As an addendum to an existing record or for extra tracks for dedicated fans is the perfect reason to release an EP.
July 25, 2018 @ 8:37 am
Another great example is Ride This by Los Lobos. Seven cover songs written by some of their favorite artists (e.g., Tom Waits, Richard Thompson, Elvis Costello) and recorded during the same sessions that produced their 2004 album The Ride. A real treat for this long time fan.
July 23, 2018 @ 10:53 am
Good music
July 24, 2018 @ 4:44 am
How can we preorder it??
July 24, 2018 @ 9:38 am
Preorder doesn’t appear to be up yet, but knowing Blackberry Smoke, it will be soon.
July 24, 2018 @ 9:49 am
Right On!