WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.220 Hey everyone, this is Paul Jackson from Blackberry 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:04.839 Smoke and you're listening to my weekly mixtape 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:09.000 with my buddy Brian Coburn and don't forget that 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:13.039 music is love and love is music. Always remember 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:27.140 that. Uncle Paul told you that. Welcome to My 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:29.760 Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that takes the classic 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.780 mixtape approach to building a modern playlist. 00:00:32.939 --> 00:00:35.380 I'm your host, Brian Colburn. Joining me tonight 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:38.799 as guest curator is Paul Jackson, guitarist for 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.140 one of my favorite bands of the last 20 years, 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.719 Blackberry Smoke. Paul, thank you so much for 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:46.219 joining me on My Weekly Mixtape. Thank you for 00:00:46.219 --> 00:00:48.479 having me, man. I appreciate it. It's awesome. 00:00:48.859 --> 00:00:50.960 Well, it's awesome to have you. And as a first 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.060 -time guest, I'd like to start by asking you 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:56.729 the question, What does the word mixtape mean 00:00:56.729 --> 00:01:00.490 to you? Oh, God. It reminds me of my youth, you 00:01:00.490 --> 00:01:01.890 know, because we used to do it all the time. 00:01:02.109 --> 00:01:05.250 Hell, we would take our boom boxes. That's right, 00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:08.189 people. Boom boxes. And put it in front of the 00:01:08.189 --> 00:01:10.709 CD when Headbangers Ball came on just to record 00:01:10.709 --> 00:01:12.689 the music because our radio stations wouldn't 00:01:12.689 --> 00:01:14.950 play like Maiden and stuff like that. So we'd 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:17.030 make mixtapes that way. It was terrible sounding, 00:01:17.030 --> 00:01:19.010 but at least my brother had that five -band EQ 00:01:19.010 --> 00:01:23.329 in the car. We could make it work. Hell. Well, 00:01:23.370 --> 00:01:25.069 tonight's topic is one that I've been looking 00:01:25.069 --> 00:01:27.489 forward to diving into for a long time. And that 00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:30.969 topic is the music of Blackberry Smoke. So what 00:01:30.969 --> 00:01:33.310 better way to do this than with a member of the 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:36.769 band? That's right. So let's get down to business 00:01:36.769 --> 00:01:39.109 tonight. Paul and I will be curating the ultimate 00:01:39.109 --> 00:01:41.750 Blackberry Smoke mixtape, and we'll use the old 00:01:41.750 --> 00:01:44.569 cassette deck approach. Paul, as my special guest, 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:46.829 will begin Side A with his first song choice, 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:49.730 and then I'll add a song that I feel best follows 00:01:49.730 --> 00:01:51.969 up his choice. We'll then flip -flop choosing 00:01:51.969 --> 00:01:54.950 songs until we've mapped out 10 songs for Side 00:01:54.950 --> 00:01:57.689 A. We'll then give our mixtape a proverbial flip. 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.099 And we'll map outside. Be only this time, I'll 00:02:00.099 --> 00:02:02.879 kick things off with Paul choosing second. Our 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:05.239 overall goal for the episode is to craft the 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:08.479 best Blackberry Smoke mixtape possible through 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:11.300 only 20 songs. At the end of the show, you can 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:13.939 take our conversation to the next level by visiting 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:17.180 the episode page at myweeklymixtape .com to give 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:20.139 our final mixtape a listen via the embedded playlist. 00:02:20.659 --> 00:02:22.599 And if you like what you're hearing on the show, 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:24.780 you can help me out by either telling a friend, 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:27.039 leaving the show a five -star review wherever 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.460 you're tuning in, or becoming a Patreon mixtaper 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:34.300 at patreon .com forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:36.860 There you'll find ad -free episodes of the show, 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.240 gain access to future episodes, hear exclusive 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:42.939 bonus banter clips, chime in on upcoming show 00:02:42.939 --> 00:02:46.199 topics, become a future guest, and so much more. 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:48.879 And with that, there are a couple of chime -ins 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:51.759 from the Patreon mixtapers, but in a first here 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:54.120 at My Weekly Mixtape, I'm going to hold them 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:57.569 for now. Because I have both of these songs in 00:02:57.569 --> 00:03:01.650 my bank and I want to see how or when or if I 00:03:01.650 --> 00:03:04.229 can find a place for them. Once again, if you 00:03:04.229 --> 00:03:06.370 want to chime in for future My Weekly Mixtape 00:03:06.370 --> 00:03:09.310 episodes, you can join the Patreon mixtaper community 00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:13.430 at patreon .com forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. 00:03:13.979 --> 00:03:16.439 And now, Paul, I'm officially pressing the record 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:19.599 button on the Ultimate Blackberry Smoke mixtape, 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.139 and I'm passing the mic to you. How are you kicking 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:25.780 off the musical festivities this evening? All 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:27.340 right, I'm going to kick it off with Flesh and 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:31.039 Bone, because that, to me, is just a heavy tune, 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:34.759 and Charlie wrote some good lyrics to it. So, 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:37.439 yeah, it's just a heavy song. It is, and there's 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.280 something about a lot of the songs in the Blackberry 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:43.860 Smoke catalog. There's a spectrum. When you listen 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:47.219 to a Blackberry Smoke album, Flesh and Bone was 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:50.500 from 2018's Find a Light. That album has a spectrum 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:53.800 of everything from hard rock to, I want to call 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:58.340 it Americana, a little bit of country. And then 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:00.259 there's also a little bit of Southern gospel 00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:03.780 mixed in the fall. Yeah, it has a lot to do with 00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:06.259 Charlie. You know, he's got that. Personally, 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:09.599 me, I can't see us as an Americana band, but 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:12.590 we are, I guess. I don't know. I like loud guitars, 00:04:12.889 --> 00:04:15.870 man. As long as it's loud and nasty, I like that 00:04:15.870 --> 00:04:18.449 part of it. And what I also like about these 00:04:18.449 --> 00:04:23.610 songs is as heavy as they are, I bet you if Blackberry 00:04:23.610 --> 00:04:26.629 Smoke did an all -acoustic show, you guys could 00:04:26.629 --> 00:04:29.129 somehow find a way to take flesh and bone and 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:32.550 make it work at an acoustic level. I think we've 00:04:32.550 --> 00:04:35.449 done that. Yeah, can you talk about how you take 00:04:35.449 --> 00:04:37.550 these heavier songs and kind of rearrange them 00:04:37.550 --> 00:04:41.240 for the acoustic setting? Well, sometimes we'll 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:44.079 rearrange one or two, but most of all, these 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.300 songs are written on acoustic anyway. Most of 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:50.240 them aren't. So the ones that need to be nasty, 00:04:50.339 --> 00:04:52.560 we make them nasty. It's about the attitude, 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:55.920 how you play it, and how you're dialed in. It's 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:57.639 not rocket science or anything. It's just how 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.959 you feel the song at the time you're doing it, 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.600 while you're doing it acoustic. Well, you also 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:05.920 chose an album opener, which holds a special 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:08.370 place in my heart, because I feel like... That 00:05:08.370 --> 00:05:11.250 is the way you set the tone. And Blackberry Smoke 00:05:11.250 --> 00:05:14.750 definitely knows how to do that. However, I'm 00:05:14.750 --> 00:05:17.910 not going to follow up Flesh and Bone with an 00:05:17.910 --> 00:05:20.129 album opener. I'm actually going to follow up 00:05:20.129 --> 00:05:25.529 with a track two. And this song comes with a 00:05:25.529 --> 00:05:29.129 humble plea along with my thoughts on the song. 00:05:29.250 --> 00:05:31.910 And I'm going to go with the title track from 00:05:31.910 --> 00:05:36.259 2015's Holding All the Roses. Yes! This was a 00:05:36.259 --> 00:05:40.120 huge milestone in music because for Blackberry 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.879 Smoke, this album marked the first time that 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.620 an indie band hit number one on the Billboard 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:49.100 country albums chart. Isn't that a trip? That's 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:51.759 a trip. How did you guys pull that off without 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:54.800 the major label machine behind you? I think we 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.220 released it when nobody else had a record out 00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:02.310 there. That must have been the same case then 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:04.410 with 2016's Like an Arrow, because that hit number 00:06:04.410 --> 00:06:07.250 one as well. A lot of bands, you'd be surprised 00:06:07.250 --> 00:06:11.670 how many bands do that. Now, I'm still flabbergasted 00:06:11.670 --> 00:06:13.850 by it. Every time you just said it, I haven't 00:06:13.850 --> 00:06:16.250 thought about it in a while. It still blows my 00:06:16.250 --> 00:06:19.430 mind. It's like, us? Really? But that's cool, 00:06:19.509 --> 00:06:22.069 you know? And our fans, man. I hate that word, 00:06:22.149 --> 00:06:25.110 fans, but our friends, I guess. It's all they're 00:06:25.110 --> 00:06:27.389 doing, because some of them will go out and buy 00:06:27.389 --> 00:06:31.209 six copies just because. Well, I have actually 00:06:31.209 --> 00:06:33.430 two copies of this album because there is two 00:06:33.430 --> 00:06:36.350 versions, the regular CD. And then I realized 00:06:36.350 --> 00:06:39.290 down the road that the Best Buy version had bonus 00:06:39.290 --> 00:06:42.410 tracks. And I went, son of a bitch. Or I should 00:06:42.410 --> 00:06:45.569 say, son of a bourbon and go get the... Man, 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:47.529 I don't even have that one. I need to get that 00:06:47.529 --> 00:06:49.350 one. I don't even know what's on the bonus track. 00:06:49.629 --> 00:06:52.310 It's Pearls in Ink Out the Blues in a live acoustic 00:06:52.310 --> 00:06:55.550 version. Oh, I definitely need that one. That's 00:06:55.550 --> 00:06:58.250 my boy Brandon. He came up with that riff. It's 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:01.569 a great song. Yeah. Yeah. Going back to the holding 00:07:01.569 --> 00:07:04.209 all the roses riff. When I listened to that song, 00:07:04.269 --> 00:07:07.730 I almost picture what a metal bluegrass band 00:07:07.730 --> 00:07:10.910 would sound like. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You're 00:07:10.910 --> 00:07:12.529 absolutely right. I was going to say the same 00:07:12.529 --> 00:07:15.329 thing. So I feel like following up the energy 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:17.769 of flesh and bone, holding all the roses is a 00:07:17.769 --> 00:07:19.889 great way to do that. And with that, I'm also 00:07:19.889 --> 00:07:22.730 going to drop a plea to the band because. In 00:07:22.730 --> 00:07:25.310 2015, when the album came out, you guys played 00:07:25.310 --> 00:07:28.490 it at least according to setlist .fm over 70 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:30.769 times, but it's kind of fallen off since then. 00:07:30.970 --> 00:07:33.310 I know you got a lot of albums to pull from, 00:07:33.430 --> 00:07:36.310 but I would love to see this one live. Yeah, 00:07:36.350 --> 00:07:40.529 I'll mention it. See what happens. I'll let Charlie 00:07:40.529 --> 00:07:42.670 do the setlist because he's the one singing all 00:07:42.670 --> 00:07:46.430 these. Well, we are back to you now for track 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:49.329 three. What are we going to go do next? I'm going 00:07:49.329 --> 00:07:51.610 to go with Everybody Knows She's Mine. I like 00:07:51.610 --> 00:07:53.430 that one. let me say something real quick so 00:07:53.430 --> 00:07:56.230 everybody knows i don't have a favorite blackberry 00:07:56.230 --> 00:07:58.709 smoke song i like all of them like literally 00:07:58.709 --> 00:08:01.689 all of them so it's hard for me to pick these 00:08:01.689 --> 00:08:04.050 is what we're doing it's kind of hard but but 00:08:04.050 --> 00:08:06.709 um i'm doing everybody knows she's mine just 00:08:06.709 --> 00:08:09.750 it's such a good song man i mean it's everybody 00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:12.769 thought thinks that of their you know the significant 00:08:12.769 --> 00:08:16.009 other oh god yeah or it could be a guitar you're 00:08:16.009 --> 00:08:17.829 talking about or a car or something you know 00:08:18.289 --> 00:08:21.250 Well, you released this album on Southern Ground, 00:08:21.389 --> 00:08:24.209 which was Zac Brown's label at the time. We sure 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:26.810 did. How much involvement did he have in the 00:08:26.810 --> 00:08:30.569 production of The Whippoorwill? Eh, ish, you 00:08:30.569 --> 00:08:32.809 know. We were very fortunate when this band got 00:08:32.809 --> 00:08:35.110 together that we were all old enough. We were 00:08:35.110 --> 00:08:37.129 adults. We weren't teenagers where somebody, 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:38.889 you need to do this. Okay, we were just like, 00:08:38.950 --> 00:08:41.529 no, we're doing it our way. Zac was pretty much 00:08:41.529 --> 00:08:43.570 like, you can make the record you want. It's 00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:45.509 up to you. It's whatever you want to do. And 00:08:45.509 --> 00:08:47.830 that's what we did. And he was cool with it, 00:08:47.870 --> 00:08:50.450 man. I like it. Zach's just a cool guy anyway. 00:08:51.309 --> 00:08:54.149 Well, I think I'm going to follow up a track 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:57.389 from the Whippoorwill with a track from the Whippoorwill. 00:08:57.429 --> 00:08:59.909 I'm going to stay there for a while. And I'm 00:08:59.909 --> 00:09:02.269 going to go with one that is a staple of the 00:09:02.269 --> 00:09:04.610 band since it was released. I'm going to go with 00:09:04.610 --> 00:09:08.110 Pretty Little Lie. Ooh, nice. There's something 00:09:08.110 --> 00:09:11.269 about this song that just, you could feel the 00:09:11.269 --> 00:09:14.049 tension in the lyrics, in the story that's being 00:09:14.049 --> 00:09:19.009 told. And there's such a staying power to this 00:09:19.009 --> 00:09:22.129 song. It always usually ends up being early in 00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:24.769 the set of a Blackberry Smoke show. And it kind 00:09:24.769 --> 00:09:26.809 of seems to bring the crowd together. What is 00:09:26.809 --> 00:09:31.230 so unifying about this song? I don't know, man. 00:09:31.289 --> 00:09:35.090 That one really hits people too, you know? But 00:09:35.090 --> 00:09:38.029 probably the high harmony vocal that I have to 00:09:38.029 --> 00:09:41.549 hit every night. I'm just kidding. I don't know, 00:09:41.629 --> 00:09:43.929 man. We do it. Thank God we do it at the beginning 00:09:43.929 --> 00:09:45.210 of the set because I don't think I could sing 00:09:45.210 --> 00:09:48.789 that high part at the end of it. It's just one 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:50.929 of those tunes that, what am I always looking 00:09:50.929 --> 00:09:53.490 for? I always say, tell people, my mother told 00:09:53.490 --> 00:09:54.710 me this actually when I started playing music, 00:09:54.850 --> 00:09:57.710 simplicity sells. It's not a hard song to play. 00:09:58.149 --> 00:10:00.570 It's got a good melody to it, a good hook to 00:10:00.570 --> 00:10:04.029 it, and everybody can relate to it. That's what 00:10:04.029 --> 00:10:08.049 I think it is. And people can really, they just 00:10:08.049 --> 00:10:10.139 understand it. You know, I mean, it's a good 00:10:10.139 --> 00:10:12.019 song. I love that song. Good pick, actually. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:15.159 I appreciate that. Well, following up Pretty 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:17.419 Little Lie, we're back to you for track number 00:10:17.419 --> 00:10:21.240 five. All right. All right. Track five. So I'm 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:24.779 going to go back to the first record. And I don't 00:10:24.779 --> 00:10:30.259 know, man, this is hard for me. God, it's hard. 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:38.299 I like Scare the Devil. It's a live cut, but. 00:10:38.669 --> 00:10:40.409 That's a good heavy song, too. I like the heavy 00:10:40.409 --> 00:10:43.309 stuff, man. I can't help it. And that's such 00:10:43.309 --> 00:10:45.590 a cool riff that Charlie has to the beginning 00:10:45.590 --> 00:10:48.190 of that, you know, down, down, down, down. I 00:10:48.190 --> 00:10:50.929 love that riff. So cool. It's a killer riff. 00:10:50.990 --> 00:10:52.929 And I was always wondering why the band decided 00:10:52.929 --> 00:10:55.230 to kind of do the half studio, half live for 00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:58.629 this album. Well, I'll give you the right answer. 00:10:58.789 --> 00:11:04.669 I have no clue. Don't ask me. I have no clue, 00:11:04.710 --> 00:11:08.960 dude. Now, are there any studio versions of the 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:11.080 second half? Well, Scared the Devil Out of You 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:13.600 is the bonus track on the CD, at least. Right, 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:16.279 right, right. Oh, yeah, it is on there. See, 00:11:16.460 --> 00:11:17.539 that's what I'm shouting there. I can't remember 00:11:17.539 --> 00:11:19.200 everything on there. Yeah, we did record that 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.279 one, and it did get on there. See, I didn't even 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:22.860 notice that was on there until you said something 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:27.200 about it. All right. Well, following that up, 00:11:27.299 --> 00:11:31.580 I'm going to jump us back to 2018's Find a Light. 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:35.250 All right. Because there are certain songs that 00:11:35.250 --> 00:11:37.470 I listen to Blackberry Smoke that I want to get 00:11:37.470 --> 00:11:40.570 down and dirty, loud and obnoxious. And Blackberry 00:11:40.570 --> 00:11:42.669 Smoke definitely does that for me. But there's 00:11:42.669 --> 00:11:45.929 also a side of the band that brings a level of 00:11:45.929 --> 00:11:48.429 joy to the music. And it's a completely different 00:11:48.429 --> 00:11:50.909 vibe. And I love that part of the band as well. 00:11:51.470 --> 00:11:54.809 And I feel like Best Seed in the House is the 00:11:54.809 --> 00:12:00.559 song that truly gives you a feeling of joy. when 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:03.500 you listen to it. And I know earlier you mentioned 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:07.559 vocal harmonies. They are such an important part 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:11.100 of Blackberry Smoke's sound. How much time and 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.179 effort do you guys actually put into locking 00:12:13.179 --> 00:12:16.740 in the harmonies for any particular song as you're 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:18.879 working out the kinks before recording it or 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.700 playing it live? Well, I'll just give it to you 00:12:22.700 --> 00:12:24.539 straight. It didn't take us long to do that because 00:12:24.539 --> 00:12:27.159 I understand how Charlie sings. We've been doing 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:30.539 this for so long. I've watched him sing before 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:33.539 we even started Blackberry Smoke. And that's 00:12:33.539 --> 00:12:36.360 just our thing. We can figure out the harmony 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:40.259 pretty easy. If I know where he's heading, I'll 00:12:40.259 --> 00:12:42.620 take care of it. And sometimes we do. Sometimes 00:12:42.620 --> 00:12:45.580 there's something that I can't hear. And Charlie 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:47.259 will come into the studio and go, it's this part, 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:50.480 la, la, la. And then I'll nail it. But I don't 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:52.299 know. It just works. I don't know how to explain 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:55.059 it. And that's the good thing. And to me, Best 00:12:55.059 --> 00:12:57.840 Seed in the House could either be a song that, 00:12:58.330 --> 00:13:00.909 You could take literally, you know, from a concert 00:13:00.909 --> 00:13:04.029 perspective, but then you could take the lyrics 00:13:04.029 --> 00:13:07.509 and almost apply it to life itself. That's exactly 00:13:07.509 --> 00:13:10.690 where I just assume, I never asked him, but I 00:13:10.690 --> 00:13:12.230 think that's where Charlie was coming from, about 00:13:12.230 --> 00:13:14.470 life itself. We have the best seat in the house, 00:13:14.529 --> 00:13:17.710 no matter where you're at. Amen. All right, so 00:13:17.710 --> 00:13:20.230 now we are tossing it back to you for track seven. 00:13:20.450 --> 00:13:23.470 Where do we go from here? All right, back to, 00:13:23.549 --> 00:13:26.129 I'm going to do a little piece of Dixie record. 00:13:27.099 --> 00:13:34.080 Shaker Manoa is fun. The ladies like it. So I'm 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.740 basing a lot of my picks on the heaviness and 00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:39.940 what the fans dig and like and request and stuff 00:13:39.940 --> 00:13:42.340 like that. But that's another cool riff that 00:13:42.340 --> 00:13:44.539 Charlie had. He's had that riff, I mean, God, 00:13:44.580 --> 00:13:51.000 since he was a kid. Here I am singing it, which 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:55.879 I shouldn't do that. Anyway, that riff is just... 00:13:56.139 --> 00:13:58.860 It grabs you as soon as it starts. That always 00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:01.840 gets in the ladies dancing. It does. And I feel 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:06.559 like Little Piece of Dixie is the one Blackberry 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.700 Smoke album that leans a little bit more towards 00:14:09.700 --> 00:14:12.120 the traditional countryside where a lot of the 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:15.879 albums either pre. talking about Bad Luck Ain't 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:18.919 No Crime or anything after Little Piece of Dixie, 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:22.259 it seems like the spectrum was a lot wider. And 00:14:22.259 --> 00:14:24.080 it seems like on Little Piece of Dixie, you guys 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:26.659 were trying to hone a particular sound, at least 00:14:26.659 --> 00:14:28.779 in comparison to the rest of the discography. 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:33.820 That was Dan Huff. He produces a lot of people. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.440 Tim McGraw, Kate Dill, Keith Urban, all that 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.320 stuff. He was producing that. And then he found 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:41.659 that, you know, he liked our band. And then I 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:44.129 want to lose the record. And he kind of. directed 00:14:44.129 --> 00:14:48.250 that kind of vibe to it and yeah that's got a 00:14:48.250 --> 00:14:52.269 lot of dan on it and i love dan dan is one of 00:14:52.269 --> 00:14:54.870 my favorite guitar players on planet earth to 00:14:54.870 --> 00:14:57.129 begin with but he's really good producer and 00:14:57.129 --> 00:14:59.129 knows what he's talking about oh the album has 00:14:59.129 --> 00:15:01.250 such a great sound to it i mean it still sounds 00:15:01.250 --> 00:15:03.830 like modern country now and the album is what 00:15:03.830 --> 00:15:07.230 16 years old at this point i think so god i'm 00:15:07.230 --> 00:15:11.289 old yeah So from the sound of Little Piece of 00:15:11.289 --> 00:15:14.289 Dixie that's kind of honed in, I kind of want 00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:16.870 to balance the scale by completely throwing things 00:15:16.870 --> 00:15:20.549 off balance. Okay. And I'm going to jump to 2016's 00:15:20.549 --> 00:15:24.429 Like an Arrow. And I want to bring in the oh 00:15:24.429 --> 00:15:29.409 so funky Believe You Me. Yeah. Which is, I don't 00:15:29.409 --> 00:15:34.330 know, soul, R &B. Like there's this 70s stank 00:15:34.330 --> 00:15:37.750 on the song that. To me, it feels like kind of 00:15:37.750 --> 00:15:41.129 an outlier in BlackBerry Smoke's catalog, yet 00:15:41.129 --> 00:15:44.850 when you play it live, it just sounds like it 00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:48.090 was always meant to be there. Yeah. It almost 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:50.789 fools people to show how multifaceted the group 00:15:50.789 --> 00:15:53.970 is. Yeah, it's, you know, with those kind of 00:15:53.970 --> 00:15:56.309 things, and especially with that tune, we just, 00:15:56.350 --> 00:16:02.250 there was that tiny bit of... Charlie came in 00:16:02.250 --> 00:16:03.919 with that, and we just... knew what was going 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.980 to go on immediately. I mean, cause we, we all, 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:07.600 we've been playing so long together. We just, 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:09.899 you know, I know what I'm going to do. I know 00:16:09.899 --> 00:16:11.299 what I'm going to do. You know what I'm going 00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:13.480 to do. And it just fell right in. Nobody's going, 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.000 well, let's change this. You know, Charlie comes 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.220 in with the song complete 99 .9 % of the time. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:23.679 It's finished to me. Really? So there's not a 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:26.299 lot of tweaking after the writing stages? Not 00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:29.870 much. A producer may say something. you know, 00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:32.169 and give us some ideas and stuff. But that one 00:16:32.169 --> 00:16:34.870 was pretty kind of dry. We played it, I mean, 00:16:34.889 --> 00:16:37.350 most of the time in the studio with these songs, 00:16:37.529 --> 00:16:40.049 it was our first time playing them. Really? Like 00:16:40.049 --> 00:16:42.210 as a band. Yeah. Yeah, we just kind of hear it 00:16:42.210 --> 00:16:45.549 and go, okay, let's hit to it. That's extremely 00:16:45.549 --> 00:16:48.309 interesting because the songs sound so polished. 00:16:48.490 --> 00:16:50.389 It's as if you've been playing them for years. 00:16:51.269 --> 00:16:53.309 Nah, it's just, like I said, man, we've been 00:16:53.309 --> 00:16:55.370 doing it together for so long. I hate to ruin 00:16:55.370 --> 00:16:58.039 the fantasy. Not ruining it at all, man. That's 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:00.960 a testament to how you guys approach music. Yeah. 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:03.100 That means Blackberry Smoke, Blackberry Smoke 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:06.420 to me. All right. With that, I'm throwing it 00:17:06.420 --> 00:17:08.799 back to you to follow up Believe You Me with 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:13.240 track nine. What record was that from? That was 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.700 Like an Arrow. Okay. All right. I think I have 00:17:16.700 --> 00:17:19.759 that record here. Like I said, I cannot remember, 00:17:19.940 --> 00:17:23.839 folks, all the tracks. So I think All to Know 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:27.710 is on that record. That it is. That one. That 00:17:27.710 --> 00:17:30.690 has got such a cool, cheap trick feel to it. 00:17:31.049 --> 00:17:34.089 We don't play it a lot, but it's just got such 00:17:34.089 --> 00:17:37.430 a cool feel to that song, man. Brit honed right 00:17:37.430 --> 00:17:39.650 in on that one. It was awesome. It's funny you 00:17:39.650 --> 00:17:41.890 bring up cheap trick because to me, this was 00:17:41.890 --> 00:17:44.069 always a Blackberry Smoke song. But now that 00:17:44.069 --> 00:17:47.289 you mention it, I do hear a hat tip in that song. 00:17:47.730 --> 00:17:50.289 There ain't nothing wrong with that. I mean, 00:17:50.329 --> 00:17:52.789 you don't have to take it to an extreme. You 00:17:52.789 --> 00:17:56.130 don't want to sound like... I don't know Zeppelin 00:17:56.130 --> 00:17:58.710 completely, but you definitely, if you're into 00:17:58.710 --> 00:18:00.910 it, put something in there that reminds, you 00:18:00.910 --> 00:18:02.309 know, that you're tipping your, you're like you 00:18:02.309 --> 00:18:04.690 said, tipping your hat to. And to me, that's 00:18:04.690 --> 00:18:07.490 probably, that's the way I see it. I'm quite 00:18:07.490 --> 00:18:09.849 proud of that song. As you guys should be. It's 00:18:09.849 --> 00:18:14.069 a killer tune, but now to close out side a, I'm 00:18:14.069 --> 00:18:16.569 actually going to close out with an album closing 00:18:16.569 --> 00:18:21.390 track. And it's one of my favorite songs from 00:18:21.390 --> 00:18:24.049 the band that. for a while wasn't being played, 00:18:24.109 --> 00:18:27.869 but was brought back in 2022 as the band celebrated 00:18:27.869 --> 00:18:31.730 the 10th anniversary of the Whippoorwill. And 00:18:31.730 --> 00:18:34.130 I'm going to close out Side A with Up the Road. 00:18:34.410 --> 00:18:37.809 Ooh, yeah. That song, it's gotten me through 00:18:37.809 --> 00:18:40.569 some rough times over the last decade. There's 00:18:40.569 --> 00:18:44.509 something about the lyrics and the melody of 00:18:44.509 --> 00:18:47.970 it that's just so inspiring, so fulfilling, and 00:18:47.970 --> 00:18:51.690 it's such a perfect... cherry on top of this 00:18:51.690 --> 00:18:55.509 sunday of songs we put together for side a there's 00:18:55.509 --> 00:18:57.509 just something that's so affirmative about it 00:18:57.509 --> 00:19:01.730 and i'd love to know after that 2022 run where 00:19:01.730 --> 00:19:04.589 you celebrated the 10th anniversary of the whippoorwill 00:19:04.589 --> 00:19:07.509 were there any songs that you guys played where 00:19:07.509 --> 00:19:10.470 you're like man we need to break that out more 00:19:10.470 --> 00:19:12.589 often because of just the kind of the reception 00:19:12.589 --> 00:19:18.099 they got that one i mean That one for sure, because 00:19:18.099 --> 00:19:20.299 I think we play the other ones a little often. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:23.119 I'm looking at the songs. Yeah, we play. We do 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:26.259 most of those, and that one gets, we sometimes 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:31.359 forget. We're old people. I mean, I'm just throwing 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:33.460 this out in the universe, but next time you're 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:35.799 in New Jersey, which just happens to be a week 00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:39.039 from this very night, and you decide you wanted 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.940 to break out up the road and holding all the 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:43.940 roses, I'd be a pretty happy guy. I'm not going 00:19:43.940 --> 00:19:46.740 to lie about that. All right, cool. I'll mention 00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:48.660 it. I don't make up a set list, but I'll definitely 00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:51.539 mention that. Rock and roll. I got to go back 00:19:51.539 --> 00:19:52.819 and learn both of those. We haven't played them 00:19:52.819 --> 00:19:57.160 in so long. Well, that mixtapers concludes side 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:00.720 A of the ultimate Blackberry Smoke mixtape, which 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.200 consists of Flesh and Bone from Find a Light, 00:20:03.380 --> 00:20:06.079 Holding All the Roses from the album of the same 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:09.279 name, Everybody Knows She's Mine and Pretty Little 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.059 Lie from the Whippoorwill, Scare the Devil from 00:20:12.059 --> 00:20:15.000 Bad Luck Ain't No Crime, Best Seat in the House 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:17.980 from Find a Light, Shake Your Magnolia from Little 00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:20.900 Piece of Dixie, Believe You Me and Ought to Know 00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:24.019 from Like an Arrow, and Up the Road from The 00:20:24.019 --> 00:20:27.700 Whippoorwill. Head over to myweeklymixtape .com 00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:30.019 to hear all the songs we've discussed in this 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:33.559 mix through the playlist embedded on the episode 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:37.559 page. And now to flip things over for Side B, 00:20:37.619 --> 00:20:40.559 Paul, I'm going to kick things off. And we talked 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:43.460 earlier about ought to know being a little bit 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:47.140 of a hat tip to cheap trick. And I'm going to 00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:49.380 go back to like an arrow and I'm going to go 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:53.960 to an album opener and go with a dirty riff waiting 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:57.200 for the thunder. Yeah. I was thinking the same 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:01.420 thing. This song has an AC DC level of power 00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:04.339 to it, even though it's a Southern rock song 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:07.720 at the end of the day. I mean, right there, you 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:10.670 said it. To me, that's exactly what I think. 00:21:11.250 --> 00:21:14.049 Is that a song that you guys know is like kind 00:21:14.049 --> 00:21:16.150 of one that it's easy to pull out of your pocket 00:21:16.150 --> 00:21:18.869 at any given time? Because I feel like that song 00:21:18.869 --> 00:21:21.849 can open a set and close a set with just as much 00:21:21.849 --> 00:21:25.869 authority. Yeah, we do it on the reg quite often. 00:21:25.890 --> 00:21:28.650 And it is always fun to hear the people sing 00:21:28.650 --> 00:21:31.670 it back to you. And, you know, some people may 00:21:31.670 --> 00:21:34.009 think it's political, but it's not at all, period. 00:21:34.650 --> 00:21:36.849 It couldn't be, I think, if people wanted it 00:21:36.849 --> 00:21:39.319 to. That's not the intention of that song, period. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:42.619 It's just got, you know, it's pretty much what 00:21:42.619 --> 00:21:47.099 people think most of the time. You don't need 00:21:47.099 --> 00:21:49.700 to overthink it, right? Yeah, you don't at all. 00:21:50.119 --> 00:21:52.200 All right. Well, now I'm throwing it back to 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:56.440 you for track two on side B. All right. Let's 00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:01.859 go with you here, Georgia. I do like Morningside. 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:03.920 That's a good one. We'll put that in there. Nice. 00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:07.160 Nice. That was a little bit of Charlie Starr 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:09.279 and Nick Perry. You know, they came up with that. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:13.299 And yeah, it's just the guitars in that are raunchy 00:22:13.299 --> 00:22:16.119 too, you know? And so, you know, Brandon killed 00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:18.900 it on that one. Now, given the fact that you 00:22:18.900 --> 00:22:22.579 like the heavier side of the band. Yeah. If going 00:22:22.579 --> 00:22:25.019 by the picks here, do you ever say to Charlie, 00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:27.259 like, hey, for, you know, the next album, why 00:22:27.259 --> 00:22:29.160 don't we lean into some of the heft a little 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:31.839 bit? Or is that more of just kind of where he 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.579 goes with the songwriting? Sometimes. he goes 00:22:35.579 --> 00:22:37.299 you know like i said i can't speak for him but 00:22:37.299 --> 00:22:40.380 he's got all kinds of different things you know 00:22:40.380 --> 00:22:42.980 spices to put in and like i said we could pull 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:44.740 those kind of things off doing a heavy song and 00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:47.940 then the next one be fairly folky you know because 00:22:47.940 --> 00:22:52.140 it's us and we don't care you know and i'm sure 00:22:52.140 --> 00:22:55.019 i speak for a lot of the fans when i say we don't 00:22:55.019 --> 00:22:57.720 mind that at all yeah you know it's like it's 00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:00.440 funny like we do uh some songs sometimes i don't 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:03.450 look at the set list And I walk out and go, oh, 00:23:03.470 --> 00:23:05.970 maybe I should have ran over that, you know, 00:23:05.970 --> 00:23:08.329 because I get I get surprised all the time. I 00:23:08.329 --> 00:23:11.910 mean, that's when I was had my own band. I hated 00:23:11.910 --> 00:23:13.910 writing the set list. And Charles, he had a pretty 00:23:13.910 --> 00:23:17.109 big job doing that. Now, is there any time that 00:23:17.109 --> 00:23:19.349 you guys pull audibles on stage where you're 00:23:19.349 --> 00:23:22.210 just feeling like we need to go here next? Yeah, 00:23:22.309 --> 00:23:24.329 he'll you know, like I said, he's singing these 00:23:24.329 --> 00:23:28.349 songs. So and we play quite often. So four shows 00:23:28.349 --> 00:23:30.410 in a row with a day off and four shows in a row. 00:23:31.079 --> 00:23:34.099 that could be tough on any human being yeah vocal 00:23:34.099 --> 00:23:38.599 cords so i usually just stay out of his way when 00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:42.559 it comes right to set list well i think i'm gonna 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.400 stick with you here georgia for another track 00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:48.220 here and i'm just gonna go right to the album 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:50.759 i'm a sucker for album opening tracks so i'm 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:52.759 going right to the album opener live it down 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.720 because as far as i'm concerned anytime that 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:00.519 sherry and sharita murphy Get onto a track otherwise 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:03.859 known as the Black Bettys. They make their presence 00:24:03.859 --> 00:24:06.460 felt. I'd love to know how that relationship 00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:08.940 came together with Blackberry Smoke and the Black 00:24:08.940 --> 00:24:12.339 Bettys. Well, back when we were cutting records, 00:24:12.619 --> 00:24:15.539 we just always thought about getting a couple 00:24:15.539 --> 00:24:19.220 backup singers just to do the studio stuff. Just 00:24:19.220 --> 00:24:22.680 to do it outside of my stuff. Just to have that 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:27.569 different flavor on some of the tracks. I don't 00:24:27.569 --> 00:24:29.730 know who found them. I think maybe Brit or Charlie. 00:24:29.849 --> 00:24:31.910 I don't know. We asked them if they'd come in 00:24:31.910 --> 00:24:35.049 and do some harmonies. And they said, sure. Which 00:24:35.049 --> 00:24:36.970 is, who with me and these, I don't have to sing 00:24:36.970 --> 00:24:40.869 all of them. And you've also brought them out 00:24:40.869 --> 00:24:42.990 at shows like the Homecoming show that you put 00:24:42.990 --> 00:24:45.609 out on Blu -ray and DVD. Is there ever a point 00:24:45.609 --> 00:24:47.690 that you would want to have them on the road 00:24:47.690 --> 00:24:51.349 for the entire tour? I mean, I'm down with anything. 00:24:51.930 --> 00:24:56.039 You know, I'm just that guy. But it's expensive 00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:58.380 to be out on tour. That's what I figured. Two 00:24:58.380 --> 00:25:04.559 buses, one semi. It can get pretty pricey. And 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:08.039 they're usually busy a lot. But when we can get 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:10.900 them, we're always like, let's do it. Hell yeah. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.799 Hell yeah. All right. Well, we are on to track 00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:17.319 four now. Throwing it back to you. All right. 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:19.299 Well, I'm going to have to say One Horse Town 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:24.480 because that is definitely a fan favorite. And 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:27.180 that was our, I always thought that was our, 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:32.660 um, uh, what is the song? Small town by, um, 00:25:32.740 --> 00:25:35.160 John Cougar, Mellencamp, John Cougar. Yeah. John 00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:37.799 Mellencamp. And I was like, man, that'd be cool 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:40.440 to have a song like that, you know? And because 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:43.599 that's a great song. Oh, and then, um, yeah. 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:46.200 And then Charlie introduced that song to us and 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.799 I was like, Ooh, and everybody loves that song. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:51.920 Kids love it. Grandparents love it. Because it's 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:54.140 true, dude. I mean, if you listen to the lyrics 00:25:54.140 --> 00:25:55.779 to that song. That's what I was just going to 00:25:55.779 --> 00:25:58.400 ask you. Is that all firsthand people that Charlie 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:02.700 knew? Well, I don't know. I didn't grow up around 00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:05.400 his area, but I did live there for a while. Okay. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:08.140 Pretty much. There's not one false thing in that 00:26:08.140 --> 00:26:11.599 song. Because I've been around his little bitty 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:14.170 town. Believe me. Well, I mean, aside from the 00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:17.769 fact that I love the melody and just the entire 00:26:17.769 --> 00:26:20.930 vibe that the song has, the storytelling that's 00:26:20.930 --> 00:26:24.569 going on, you really feel the emotion and the 00:26:24.569 --> 00:26:27.869 realness of the stories that are being told about 00:26:27.869 --> 00:26:30.349 this song. So it's by far one of my favorite 00:26:30.349 --> 00:26:32.450 songs from the band. It's one that I always look 00:26:32.450 --> 00:26:35.150 forward to seeing live. It's one that I've played 00:26:35.150 --> 00:26:38.430 live when I've done gigs. So it was an easy scoop. 00:26:38.509 --> 00:26:40.529 I had it in my list. And if you didn't pick it, 00:26:40.589 --> 00:26:43.410 I was going to. But to follow that up musically, 00:26:43.470 --> 00:26:45.089 I'm going to do a little bit of a shift here. 00:26:45.210 --> 00:26:48.630 We talked about acoustic on side A, and I want 00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:52.509 to really lean into the acoustic here. Blackberry 00:26:52.509 --> 00:26:54.710 Smoke, like I mentioned at the top, one of my 00:26:54.710 --> 00:26:57.710 favorite bands for the last 20 years. And one 00:26:57.710 --> 00:27:00.730 of my favorite bands, when they cover my favorite 00:27:00.730 --> 00:27:04.890 artist of all time, you have my frigging attention. 00:27:05.549 --> 00:27:09.940 And on 2018's The Southern Ground Sessions. You 00:27:09.940 --> 00:27:12.559 remade Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, You Got 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:18.440 Lucky with Amanda Shires on violin. Now, to me, 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:21.960 this is more than a cover because you guys completely 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:25.460 reimagined it. And I'd love to know kind of the 00:27:25.460 --> 00:27:28.779 thought process behind taking this kind of synthy 00:27:28.779 --> 00:27:32.680 1980s track and turning it into a beautiful acoustic 00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:37.460 ballad. Man, first of all. That was a hard session 00:27:37.460 --> 00:27:39.940 to do because it was hard to not stare at her 00:27:39.940 --> 00:27:44.400 all day. I'm just saying. And, you know, she's 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:47.019 super cool and can play the hell out of that 00:27:47.019 --> 00:27:49.720 fiddle. Yeah. And got a great voice. Now, she 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:54.180 came in and did that. It was just, it blew me 00:27:54.180 --> 00:27:56.700 away. So I don't, there might be video of that. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:01.339 I'm probably just laying my mouth open. But that 00:28:01.339 --> 00:28:03.779 just happened right there. Right there when we 00:28:03.779 --> 00:28:06.390 recorded it. Now I have to follow up on this 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:08.210 one because I've seen you guys live and I've 00:28:08.210 --> 00:28:10.509 seen you break out sleeping dogs. And when you're 00:28:10.509 --> 00:28:12.970 in the middle of the song, you sometimes pivot 00:28:12.970 --> 00:28:15.869 into don't come around here no more and you don't 00:28:15.869 --> 00:28:19.190 know how it feels. So who's the petty fanatic 00:28:19.190 --> 00:28:21.930 in Blackberry Smoke? I think all of us are. But 00:28:21.930 --> 00:28:24.609 Charlie, you know, whatever he's feeling at the 00:28:24.609 --> 00:28:27.509 moment, he is whatever he's playing. We'll just 00:28:27.509 --> 00:28:29.549 follow him. Cool. We're doing this one. Oh, we're 00:28:29.549 --> 00:28:32.269 doing that one. You know, like, oh, my God, what's 00:28:32.269 --> 00:28:36.829 that core? And you guys obviously wear your cover 00:28:36.829 --> 00:28:40.410 songs on your sleeve as you had the, in 2021, 00:28:40.470 --> 00:28:44.390 you guys did a studio album that was live to 00:28:44.390 --> 00:28:46.750 tape of nothing but Rolling Stones songs for 00:28:46.750 --> 00:28:49.430 a record store day. Yeah. How did that all come 00:28:49.430 --> 00:28:53.009 together? Well, it was, you know, COVID and we 00:28:53.009 --> 00:28:55.809 were chomping at the bits to play. And then somebody, 00:28:55.890 --> 00:28:58.789 I think it was our management at the time. They 00:28:58.789 --> 00:29:00.849 came up with the idea of doing that. We were 00:29:00.849 --> 00:29:03.109 like, wait a minute, we get to go to the studio. 00:29:03.130 --> 00:29:06.599 Cool. We'll do it. And the process was cool. 00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:11.140 We played, I think we ran that set twice, you 00:29:11.140 --> 00:29:13.640 know, just so they can get sounds. And the second 00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:15.940 take of that whole record was that. Oh, wow. 00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:18.619 You could hear a little bit of, pay attention, 00:29:18.759 --> 00:29:20.980 some bum fuzzleness in there. Somebody's like, 00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:23.519 oh, wrong chord. But the Stones wouldn't care. 00:29:24.220 --> 00:29:26.960 No. That's rock and roll, baby. Rock and roll 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:30.180 is meant to be perfectly imperfect. That's right. 00:29:30.900 --> 00:29:32.900 That's a shirt right there. Make many bucks. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:35.880 All right. Hey, if you make one, just put my 00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.700 weekly mixtape on the back of it. That's great. 00:29:40.180 --> 00:29:42.640 So what are you going to follow up? You've got 00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:51.920 lucky with. Oh man. Um, yeah, Lee. Oh, I like 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:56.200 off of, uh, be right here. Let's go with, uh, 00:29:56.359 --> 00:30:01.880 Ooh, this is hard. Let's see. Be so lucky. Let's 00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:05.190 put that on me. That's got a really cool, and 00:30:05.190 --> 00:30:07.529 this is the problem with me. I'm always thinking 00:30:07.529 --> 00:30:09.829 about the music part of it. It's got this really 00:30:09.829 --> 00:30:12.809 cool riff in it. And like I said, I like all 00:30:12.809 --> 00:30:14.869 of our songs, and this is terrifying for me to 00:30:14.869 --> 00:30:19.990 do, just saying. Terrifying? Oh, no. Excuse me. 00:30:20.009 --> 00:30:21.789 I just don't want to leave any of them out, but 00:30:21.789 --> 00:30:24.190 we got to. That's the fun part of the mixtape. 00:30:24.430 --> 00:30:26.430 Yeah, that makes the challenge. But guess what? 00:30:26.670 --> 00:30:29.329 There's always a volume, too, my friend. That's 00:30:29.329 --> 00:30:32.640 right. That is right. All right. Well, this album, 00:30:32.740 --> 00:30:36.200 I'm not going to lie, Be Right Here is a little 00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:40.000 bit of a bittersweet listen for me. Just knowing 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.480 it's the last album that Brit was on for the 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:45.200 band. And I know this is a little bit of a tough 00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:48.740 topic, but I'd love to talk about and celebrate 00:30:48.740 --> 00:30:52.500 Brit for a moment here if we could, because I 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:55.380 feel like his light still shines through the 00:30:55.380 --> 00:30:57.539 band to this day. And I'd like to know kind of. 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:00.220 how you guys are keeping that light alive through 00:31:00.220 --> 00:31:04.500 the music now. You know, it's for just personally 00:31:04.500 --> 00:31:09.440 for me, Brit is always here. They didn't go anywhere. 00:31:09.579 --> 00:31:14.059 You know, I know he moved on, but, um, for, you 00:31:14.059 --> 00:31:16.140 know, when I miss him, all I gotta do is run 00:31:16.140 --> 00:31:19.599 to the turntable and drop a needle, you know, 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:23.319 and he's right there. He'll be with us forever, 00:31:23.539 --> 00:31:27.240 you know? So, and he, he was such a, you know, 00:31:28.759 --> 00:31:31.180 A driving force of us not killing ourselves. 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:38.019 And I mean that sincerely. I mean, he just, he 00:31:38.019 --> 00:31:41.700 did some crazy stuff for us to keep us from not 00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:43.420 killing ourselves out on the road, you know? 00:31:44.259 --> 00:31:47.339 So, and he was one of the funniest people I've 00:31:47.339 --> 00:31:49.279 ever met. I was telling somebody the other day, 00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:52.200 it's hard sometimes when I'm thinking about him. 00:31:52.700 --> 00:31:56.849 I don't, I don't. It's hard for me to get sad 00:31:56.849 --> 00:31:59.609 because I think of all the crazy, funny crap 00:31:59.609 --> 00:32:02.869 he did. So I immediately go to that and start 00:32:02.869 --> 00:32:08.589 cracking up. Even at his memorial, we had his 00:32:08.589 --> 00:32:10.509 wife and daughter and everybody put on. They 00:32:10.509 --> 00:32:13.430 had a crap ton of photos. And I remember every 00:32:13.430 --> 00:32:16.150 one of those photos. And I remember what we were 00:32:16.150 --> 00:32:18.829 doing and how we were talking and making cracking, 00:32:19.009 --> 00:32:22.529 stupid jokes. So I sat there with a smile on 00:32:22.529 --> 00:32:23.910 my face. And I hope people weren't like, look 00:32:23.910 --> 00:32:26.170 at that fool over there. but it was just funny 00:32:26.170 --> 00:32:28.170 i was like oh my god i remember that he just 00:32:28.170 --> 00:32:30.730 i remember what he was saying to me and now he 00:32:30.730 --> 00:32:34.509 was saying it but i'm missing i miss him a lot 00:32:34.509 --> 00:32:38.410 we all do we all do and he was a huge piece of 00:32:38.410 --> 00:32:42.849 the legacy and i i apologize for going to a heavier 00:32:42.849 --> 00:32:45.670 subject but But I feel like anyone that listens 00:32:45.670 --> 00:32:48.210 to this episode, I want to know that Brit lives 00:32:48.210 --> 00:32:50.069 through this show, through the band, through 00:32:50.069 --> 00:32:52.450 the music, through the fans. He's always going 00:32:52.450 --> 00:32:54.349 to be a part of the Blackberry Smoke legacy. 00:32:54.890 --> 00:33:00.849 Right. Always. 100%. So I think to tap into what 00:33:00.849 --> 00:33:03.910 you were just talking about there, I think I'm 00:33:03.910 --> 00:33:06.109 actually going to pivot. I had a song in mind 00:33:06.109 --> 00:33:09.250 to follow up Be So Lucky, but you were talking 00:33:09.250 --> 00:33:12.859 about kind of the... sense of humor and the smiles 00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:17.119 and the laughter. And I can't think about that 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:20.720 without my mind going to one of my favorite Blackberry 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:24.339 Smoke lyrics that even though the song is not 00:33:24.339 --> 00:33:26.960 meant to be a humorous song, this line always 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:30.779 puts a huge smile on my face. When my life is 00:33:30.779 --> 00:33:34.119 over and my time has come to pass, bury me upside 00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:38.039 down so the world can kiss my ass. Son of a bourbon 00:33:38.039 --> 00:33:41.630 from the new Honky Tonk Bootlegs EP. Oh, I forgot 00:33:41.630 --> 00:33:45.109 about that one. Bootleg. My God, I love when 00:33:45.109 --> 00:33:47.269 you guys break this out live because that line, 00:33:47.349 --> 00:33:50.190 I think, perfectly sums up the spirit of this 00:33:50.190 --> 00:33:53.930 song and obviously the crowd feels it. Yeah, 00:33:53.950 --> 00:33:56.990 that was a good one. I remember when we were 00:33:56.990 --> 00:33:59.309 playing that song for the first time and my old 00:33:59.309 --> 00:34:02.650 man, when he was alive, he did a painting company. 00:34:02.710 --> 00:34:04.630 He had his paint company outside the fire department. 00:34:04.970 --> 00:34:07.289 A lot of firefighters, they have extra jobs because 00:34:07.289 --> 00:34:10.280 the pay's not really well. But anyway. His business 00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:13.539 card said that on the back of it. Really? Those 00:34:13.539 --> 00:34:15.780 exact lyrics. I had them somewhere in the house, 00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:17.500 but that's not where Charlie got the lyrics. 00:34:17.940 --> 00:34:19.980 He just came up with that. That's an old saying, 00:34:20.119 --> 00:34:23.099 pretty much. From our parents' era. Yes, yes. 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.300 Well, now we are back to you for track eight. 00:34:26.360 --> 00:34:28.860 You have two songs left and I have one, so we're 00:34:28.860 --> 00:34:32.539 getting to kind of the encore, if you will. Yeah, 00:34:32.539 --> 00:34:39.420 yeah, yeah. That's a hard one. I got it. Holding 00:34:39.420 --> 00:34:43.820 all the roses, wishing one hand. Yes. That's 00:34:43.820 --> 00:34:45.820 a good jam too. Probably because it says the 00:34:45.820 --> 00:34:49.940 S -H -I -T word. I don't know. I mean, you can 00:34:49.940 --> 00:34:51.820 kind of listen to some of these songs and learn 00:34:51.820 --> 00:34:53.860 a lesson from them if you want to take it there. 00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:56.460 But I mean, who hasn't? My parents said that 00:34:56.460 --> 00:34:59.800 to me all the time. Exactly. But I want this. 00:35:00.019 --> 00:35:02.280 I can't. My mom was there. Wishing one hand. 00:35:02.539 --> 00:35:07.099 You know, see what first. Mm -hmm. Yeah. It's 00:35:07.099 --> 00:35:10.349 hilarious. Well, we are down to one song left 00:35:10.349 --> 00:35:13.429 each. Okay. And I want to take a quick moment 00:35:13.429 --> 00:35:15.849 to give a quick shout out to two of the Patreon 00:35:15.849 --> 00:35:19.349 mixtapers because they chimed in with some songs 00:35:19.349 --> 00:35:21.969 that we haven't talked about yet. Sans my little 00:35:21.969 --> 00:35:25.510 Tom Petty aside a few minutes ago. Okay. First, 00:35:25.510 --> 00:35:29.070 we had Patreon mixtaper Chad LaMassa who chimed 00:35:29.070 --> 00:35:32.909 in with Sleeping Dogs off the Whippoorwill. And 00:35:32.909 --> 00:35:36.170 then... mixtaper jason donch has chimed in first 00:35:36.170 --> 00:35:39.949 by saying that blackberry smoke is the best live 00:35:39.949 --> 00:35:43.590 band in the land oh thank you but nothing gives 00:35:43.590 --> 00:35:47.010 him the feels more like the opening to shaking 00:35:47.010 --> 00:35:49.889 hands with the holy ghost also from the whippoorwill 00:35:49.889 --> 00:35:52.730 i'm going to be perfectly honest this is a coin 00:35:52.730 --> 00:35:55.489 flip moment for me because i love both of these 00:35:55.489 --> 00:35:58.519 songs equally So I'm going to try something different 00:35:58.519 --> 00:36:00.719 tonight, and I hope you're okay with this, but 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:03.800 I am going to ask you, as a member of the band, 00:36:04.059 --> 00:36:07.380 which one of these songs should I pick for this 00:36:07.380 --> 00:36:10.900 last song of the evening? I'm going to go with 00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:13.739 Shaking Hands with the Holy Ghost. All right. 00:36:13.900 --> 00:36:17.780 Awesome. Because that song is another, I mean, 00:36:17.860 --> 00:36:21.719 it's an ass -kicking riff. Sorry, I don't know 00:36:21.719 --> 00:36:23.099 if I'm supposed to say that. Oh, you can say 00:36:23.099 --> 00:36:25.550 that all you want. It is. I knew when we played 00:36:25.550 --> 00:36:27.690 that the first time, I was like, ooh, damn, people 00:36:27.690 --> 00:36:31.769 are going to dig this for sure. Then we put it 00:36:31.769 --> 00:36:34.190 on a record and cut the video in London somewhere. 00:36:35.090 --> 00:36:38.010 That's definitely still a fan favorite. Certainly 00:36:38.010 --> 00:36:41.010 is. So at track nine, shaking hands with the 00:36:41.010 --> 00:36:43.690 Holy Ghost. And with that, a huge thank you to 00:36:43.690 --> 00:36:46.090 both Chad and Jason for chiming in over on the 00:36:46.090 --> 00:36:50.050 Patreon boards. And now, Paul, you have the pleasure 00:36:50.050 --> 00:36:53.260 or pain, depending on a lot of people. Don't 00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:55.420 like to spot, but you get to close out the evening 00:36:55.420 --> 00:36:57.780 with the final song of the night, the closing 00:36:57.780 --> 00:37:01.559 number. I'll find the light. Right. Let me make 00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:03.039 sure I got the right record. I'll find the light 00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:05.880 since we're closing it till the wheels fall off. 00:37:06.380 --> 00:37:09.659 Nice. That's what we do. We always on tour and 00:37:09.659 --> 00:37:12.099 we'll do this thing until the wheels completely 00:37:12.099 --> 00:37:16.280 fall off of it. That's not happening. I was just 00:37:16.280 --> 00:37:19.360 going to ask, what does 2025 have in store for 00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:23.099 Blackberry Smoke in terms of touring? Busy. Well, 00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:24.900 given the last few years, I'd say it's a given 00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:27.559 at this point. I mean, last year, last year, 00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:31.980 that was a long year, you know, and we love to 00:37:31.980 --> 00:37:34.860 play. I mean, it's, you know, as you get older, 00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:37.119 you know, you want to be with your family and 00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:39.579 stuff, but there's something about that two hours 00:37:39.579 --> 00:37:42.800 and you just can't beat it. It's hard being away 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:45.280 from your wife. It's hard being away from, I'm 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:46.599 not trying to be off on the rails. I'm just trying 00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:47.519 to tell you how this all works. No, no, by all 00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:49.980 means. Yeah. It's hard being away from your children, 00:37:50.099 --> 00:37:52.690 you know, when. something's wrong and they need 00:37:52.690 --> 00:37:55.309 you and you're looking through a phone and and 00:37:55.309 --> 00:37:56.849 you can't get your hands on them to choke them 00:37:56.849 --> 00:38:01.269 you know what i mean but the road life is rough 00:38:01.269 --> 00:38:03.449 but we we love the place that's the reason we're 00:38:03.449 --> 00:38:07.369 we're still at it and uh i've been home for almost 00:38:07.369 --> 00:38:10.409 two months and i'm ready to rock and roll you 00:38:10.409 --> 00:38:12.900 know what i mean And my wife's ready for me to 00:38:12.900 --> 00:38:16.639 rock and roll too. If I could put this in Blackberry 00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:19.679 Smoke terms, let me help you find the door. Yeah, 00:38:19.719 --> 00:38:22.579 she always tells me, she's like, oh my God, I'm 00:38:22.579 --> 00:38:28.159 getting poster phobic. You've got to go. Well, 00:38:28.199 --> 00:38:31.139 there you have it, folks. Side B of the ultimate 00:38:31.139 --> 00:38:34.139 BlackBerry Smoke mixtape, which consists of Waiting 00:38:34.139 --> 00:38:37.000 for the Thunder from Like an Arrow, Morningside 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:40.079 and Live It Down from You Hear Georgia, One Horse 00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:42.880 Town from The Whippoorwill, You Got Lucky from 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:45.969 the Southern Ground Sessions. Be So Lucky from 00:38:45.969 --> 00:38:48.650 Be Right Here, Son of a Bourbon from the new 00:38:48.650 --> 00:38:52.170 Honky Tonk Bootlegs EP, Wish in One Hand from 00:38:52.170 --> 00:38:54.730 Holding All the Roses, Shakin' Hands with the 00:38:54.730 --> 00:38:57.150 Holy Ghost from The Whippoorwill, and Till the 00:38:57.150 --> 00:39:00.250 Wheels Fall Off from Find a Light. Head over 00:39:00.250 --> 00:39:03.030 to myweeklymixtape .com to hear all the songs 00:39:03.030 --> 00:39:06.050 we've discussed in this mix through the playlist 00:39:06.050 --> 00:39:10.900 embedded on the episode page. 2024 was the last 00:39:10.900 --> 00:39:13.300 time Blackberry Smoke put out an album. About 00:39:13.300 --> 00:39:16.260 a year old now, be right here. Is there anything 00:39:16.260 --> 00:39:19.840 that's brewing for any new Blackberry Smoke music 00:39:19.840 --> 00:39:24.079 in 2025? Yeah, we always are, you know, it's 00:39:24.079 --> 00:39:26.159 just trying to find the time to do it is the 00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:27.940 thing. There's always new music. That's not the 00:39:27.940 --> 00:39:29.480 problem. It's just trying to find the time to 00:39:29.480 --> 00:39:31.679 do it. So we're looking, you know, who knows, 00:39:31.780 --> 00:39:33.400 maybe near the end of the year, we'll hit back 00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:36.380 in and have something for 2026. I mean, who knows? 00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:38.880 Or there might be something before that. We'll 00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:42.619 see. I'm not at liberty to say it. Which is a 00:39:42.619 --> 00:39:45.039 good thing, I guess. I'll just leave it at that. 00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:47.639 Paul, this has been an absolute honor. Thank 00:39:47.639 --> 00:39:50.320 you so much for joining me on my weekly mixtape. 00:39:50.920 --> 00:39:52.380 Well, thanks for having me. And thanks for all 00:39:52.380 --> 00:39:54.710 the hard questions. And to all the mixtapers 00:39:54.710 --> 00:39:57.530 listening, remember, you can find My Weekly Mixtape 00:39:57.530 --> 00:40:00.630 on almost all the social media haunts at My Weekly 00:40:00.630 --> 00:40:03.230 Mixtape. You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape 00:40:03.230 --> 00:40:06.010 .com to check out the full catalog of My Weekly 00:40:06.010 --> 00:40:08.449 Mixtape episodes. And finally, if you like what 00:40:08.449 --> 00:40:10.369 you're hearing on the show, you can help me out 00:40:10.369 --> 00:40:12.530 by either telling a friend, leaving the show 00:40:12.530 --> 00:40:14.329 a five -star review wherever you're tuning in, 00:40:14.429 --> 00:40:17.969 or becoming a Patreon mixtaper at Patreon .com 00:40:17.969 --> 00:40:21.250 forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. There you can 00:40:21.250 --> 00:40:23.929 find ad -free episodes of the show. gain early 00:40:23.929 --> 00:40:26.570 access to future episodes, chime in on upcoming 00:40:26.570 --> 00:40:29.690 topics, become a future guest, and so much more. 00:40:29.989 --> 00:40:32.210 That's all for this week. Thanks again for listening. 00:40:32.309 --> 00:40:34.389 And until next time, enjoy the tunes.