Blackberry Smoke ride album success to Toadlick Festival

ATLANTA — A couple of weeks ago, when Music City woke up to Blackberry Smoke’s “Holding All the Roses” atop the Billboard Country Album Chart, one question was on everyone’s mind.

How did this happen?

“People who have been supporting us for years went out and bought our music, that’s how it happened,” BS singer/guitarist Charlie Starr said in an interview with The Albany Herald. “It’s like Jason Isbell said, ‘Nashville hasn’t completely ruined country music yet.’

“It’s weird to wake up and be one of those 14-year overnight successes, and it’s probably a little weirder that this breakthrough comes on the country chart, especially if you listen to the album. But we don’t care what people call it, it’s just nice to see the reaction.”

Blackberry Smoke, road warriors who play as many as 250 shows a year, recorded “Roses” with super producer Brendan O’Brien. And it’s easy to hear the influences of the man who recorded some of rock music’s most beloved albums.

“Working with Brendan was everything we hoped it would be and more,” Starr said. “I’d always wanted to work with him after hearing some of the early albums he produced, but then I kind of lost track of what he was doing. When we decided to work together, I looked into his work. Man, he did those great records with Audioslave, Korn, Springsteen and all the Pearl Jam records.

“The best thing about working with him is that he understands our music. He saw us at a show in LA and telephoned us afterward. We gave him some demos we had, and he said, ‘You should do the songs just like that.’ The process was pretty simple, but we wanted to change up from (the 2012 album) ‘The Whippoorwill.’ That one was raw, recorded live. It was maybe a little under produced. We decided with this one, we wanted some of the bells and whistles.”

Starr said BS, whose first release since signing with Rounder Records also debuted at No. 7 on Billboard’s Rock Album Chart and at No. 29 on the magazine’s Top 200, used some of their favorite records as a working blueprint for “Holding All the Roses.”

“We went into the studio thinking about records we love: ‘Led Zeppelin III,’ (Zeppelin’s) ‘Physical Grafitti’ and Aerosmith’s ‘Rocks,’” the singer said. “I mean, look at ‘Rocks,’ which had these big rock and roll, vibey kind of songs. It was produced beautifully with drums, guitar and vocals and then the textures were added.”

Starr declares the success of “Roses” will not greatly alter BS’s already full schedule. The band will continue its extended road trip with a performance at this year’s Toadlick Festival in Dothan, Ala., April 24. In fact, Starr says, having a No. 1 album will only make Blackberry Smoke work harder.

“The only change we expect to see is that we’ll probably sell a few more tickets,” he said. “We’ve got shows booked through the rest of the year. Our schedule actually gets a little tougher, but our goal remains the same: to go out and give the best show we can every night.”

Starr said he and the band don’t expect country radio to jump all over BS because of its success on the album chart.

“The record business today is ridiculous,” he said. “Sure, some of the songs on the new album sound like what’s being played by some country artists today; it has more of a Southern vibe than it does a Metallica vibe. But I don’t know if it will be accepted by country radio. I mean, if Lynyrd Skynyrd put out ‘Pronounced’ today, who would play it?”

Starr said Blackberry Smoke didn’t particularly celebrate the success of their first No. 1 album.

“We had a cup of coffee and high-fived,” he laughed. “Look, we got really excited when ‘Whippoorwill’ charted and we celebrated that. We celebrated a sold-out European tour and selling out a House of Blues show. But reality has a way of keeping you grounded. After ‘Whippoorwill’ charted, we stopped to get gas at a truckstop. This old dude was pumping our gas and he asked us, ‘Are y’all a band?’ When we told him we were, told him we were Blackberry Smoke, he said, ‘Never heard of you.’

“We were doing a show in Indianapolis the other night, and I looked out at the 2,000 people who were very into what we were playing and thought, ‘Each and every one of those people paid good money to come see us play.’ Man that’s amazing. I can’t imagine anyone having the gall to give a half-assed performance for people who paid to see them play.”

The lineup for the April 23-25 Toadlick Festival:

Thursday: Battle of the Bands Winner, Craig Wayne Boyd, Bret Michaels, Lee Brice

Friday: The Vegabonds, JJ Grey & Mofro, Blackberry Smoke, Styx, Hank Williams Jr.

Saturday: Sweet Tea Trio, Anthony Orio, Craig Campbell, Ronnie Milsap, Sam Hunt, Randy Houser, Alabama