March 24, 2018: Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr plays a Gibson ES-345TD at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia. When Guitar World catches up with Charlie Starr, the Blackberry Smoke singer and...
March 24, 2018: Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr plays a Gibson ES-345TD at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia.
When Guitar World catches up with Charlie Starr, the Blackberry Smoke singer and guitarist is in Charlotte, North Carolina, and in good spirits. The previous night’s gig, in nearby Greensboro, was the kickoff to the band’s tour in support of their new album, Find a Light, and Starr is excited about finally getting out and playing the new material for fans.
Of course, there’s always the question of just how much new material a band that is six albums and close to 20 years into their career can get away with performing.
“It’s always funny to start a tour for a new record, because we wanna play the entire thing,” Starr says. “And fans, you don’t know if they’ll be cool with that or not, ’cause they’ve got their favorites and stuff. And it’s like, ‘What do you take out of the set list?’ ”
In the end, Starr reports that the band decided to go with three new ones—Find a Light opener “Flesh and Bone,” a dark, churning rocker with a coiled verse that explodes into an anthemic chorus; the Tom Petty–esque (and deliberately so, as Starr will later explain) “Best Seat in the House”; and the laidback acoustic picker “Medicate My Mind”—which seemed like a good compromise. “But of course, on social media this morning there was the one dude who was like, ‘Why aren’t you playing all the new songs?’ ” Starr says with a laugh. “And it’s like, ‘Settle down, fella, it’s only the first night. We’ll get around to it!’ ”
He laughs again. “You can’t fucking win, you know? Not that I’m complaining…”
These days, Starr doesn’t have