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BLACKBERRY SMOKE: Little Piece Of Dixie (BamaJam Records)
By Fizz
Rating: 8.5
It’s practically a given that a lot of the music reviewed at D-Day’s Revenge is “not for everyone.” But I think it might need to be restated with particular regard to this release. So if you’re one of those people that likes metal, and only metal, and only very heavy metal, you may want to skip this one. Just so you know.
Blackberry Smoke hail from Atlanta, Georgia, and, as you might guess from the album title, are a southern-rock outfit. In fact, you could even go so far as to call them country-rock. They wade in much more traditional waters than, say, Jackyl, whose Jesse James Dupree discovered the band and produced their first album (2003’s Bad Luck Ain’t No Crime). Hell, these four guys sound like they don’t listen to anything EXCEPT southern-rock. And they do southern-rock extremely well, being tapped to tour with the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Shooter Jennings, and are particular favorites of ZZ Top. And now, six years and a couple of EP’s after their debut, we finally get another full-length release from the band. Little Piece Of Dixie consists of eleven slices of slow-roasted, grade-A prime redneck rock ‘n’ roll.
Four of these songs were released last year on a little teaser EP of the same name, sold exclusively at concerts, and those four are among the best songs on the full-length. “Good One Comin’ On” opens the disc, an infectious party anthem, as singer/guitarist Charlie Starr shares his recipe for good times, beginning with “two six-packs of Shiner, a 99-cent butane lighter, Lucky Stikes and a fifth of Patr`on.” All right, I admit, it’s not the only time Blackberry Smoke veer a little too close to dumbed-down hot-country lyrics (more on that later). But dammit, you listen to this song once, and for the rest of the day, you’ll be singing, “We gonna roll all night, we gonna get the feelin’ right, we gonna keep this party rockin’ ‘til the break of dawn …” and itching to grab a drink and cut loose. And that’s the saving grace of this band: even when they get a little cheesy with the lyrics, the music itself is so damn good, you forgive ‘em.
Anyway, as I was saying, about the other previously-released tunes … “I’d Be Lyin’” is another laid-back, mid-paced rocker, with the band’s signature sly humor. This time, Charlie’s ‘fessing up to all the campaign promises, shall we say, that he made to a woman (“Call you every day wherever I go, promise you’re never gonna hear the word no, swear I’ll never say I told you so, but baby, I’d be lyin’”). But he hopes you’ll understand, and he really means well, as he insists in the gospel-tinged chorus.
Thankfully, the band’s intentions are less innocent on the other two songs from the EP. “Shake Your Magnolia” is a raucous strip-club anthem with a killer twin-guitar riff, putting me in mind of something the Four Horsemen might have done on their obscure second album. “Up In Smoke” is easily the album’s heaviest track, with its rumbling bassline and raising-hell-on-the-road lyrics providing a needed break from all the good-naturedness of many of the other tunes.
Bad Luck Ain’t No Crime was a decent album, and one of its best songs makes an appearance here as well. The re-recorded version of “Sanctified Woman” is tighter, if a little less heavy, but still has the same crunchy riffs, and still hints at looming disaster as Charlie sings about taking up with a chick that’s just plain bad news (he found her “livin’ by the highway in a pink double-wide”). Those choir-like backing vocals make another appearance in the bridge, as he laments, “We got to go somewhere, ‘cause we sure ain’t got no home.” Not only is the song one of the more rocking tracks here, but its lyrics also hearken back to Blackberry Smoke’s somewhat darker, edgier past. I might be wrong, but it seems like on Bad Luck, they weren’t quite so easygoing as they are here.
All right, that leaves seven songs we HAVEN’T heard before. “Like I Am” and “Restless” are grooving, bluesy rockers with a little more of that defiant attitude. The former boasts the better melody and chorus, but again, some of those lyrics that go for cheap laughs (“I drink milk out the carton and juice from the jar”), as Charlie warns some woman not to waste her time trying to house-train him. Once again, the music saves the day. Meanwhile, “Restless” is a little more rowdy, with almost metallic wah-drenched solos and lyrics dealing with the ongoing quest for MORE. More music, louder, for more people, and more whiskey, driving faster, more tattoos, kicking more ass. More, more, more! Gimme!
Other times, Charlie sounds like a working-class dog who’d be just happy to hold on to what he’s got. In “Bottom Of This,” a murky semi-country romp, he just wants to drink a beer after work before dealing with the day’s problems (more of that sneaky BBS wit: “I know you like to bend my ear, and I wanna listen and that’s sincere, but can’t a fella have just one beer?”) Then there’s “Freedom Song,” a slow, wistful song about just wanting to get away. I’d like it better if they were talking about running away for good, but in the second verse, we find out that Charlie just wants to go fishing and be by himself for a while, but don’t worry, he’ll be back. I found that revelation very disappointing, but dammit, those harmonies!
Now, I hear ya cryin’. And you’re saying, “Fizz! Why are you concentrating so much on the lyrics?” A good question, I thought you’d never ask. Usually, I’m not overly concerned with lyrical content as long as the music’s good. But this is where Blackberry Smoke lose a point, and seem more country-like. Like a lot of country music, the lyrics are sung, and the album is produced, in such a way that you can’t help but understand them. Which can be a good thing, because Blackberry Smoke can be pretty clever. But at the same time, they tend to go with the “stop and smell the roses,” “simple pleasures of life,” and “proud to be a redneck” themes that pollute so much of modern country music. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t listen to that shit except when I have to. And when I have to, I usually hear a song that really tightens my jaws. It’s usually some dumbass singing about his tractor, or how he doesn’t want to leave his small town for any reason (except, maybe, for a rodeo). I tend to only like country music when it deals with some form of self-destruction, and Nashville today is scared shitless of that kind of thing. I suppose I can’t blame them, when you consider their audience is largely made up of housewives, grandmas and people who still think Jeff Foxworthy is funny. So instead, artists try way too hard to make their music “relatable” to the listeners, in the process watering it down and insulting the intelligence of the fans and taking away the element of danger and escapism. Maybe it’s just me, but I have to have some edge, and unfortunately, Blackberry Smoke seem to have lost some of the edge they had on their first album. Compare LPOD’s “Who Invented The Wheel” with the earlier “Angeline.” One is a bland tear-in-your-beer number about a woman leaving you because you took her for granted; the other tells of a woman leaving you in search of adventure and winding up turning tricks in New Orleans. You get the idea. It just seems like the band are dumbing themselves down, and songwriters as good as they are shouldn’t have to do that. Shit, now they’re singing about drinking milk out of the carton and wanting to go fishing! I also would’ve liked a few more uptempo songs, which would’ve helped create a more aggressive sound.
But you know what? As I said at the beginning, the music itself is so good that I can’t really fault the band that much. Jesse James Dupree isn’t the world’s greatest producer, which may have hampered my enjoyment of the first album. That problem is corrected this time around, as Blackberry Smoke enlist Nashville producer Dann Huff, who’s quite the in-demand guy these days in country circles. (Interesting trivia: not only did Huff produce Megadeth’s Cryptic Writings, he was also the singer and guitarist in the band Giant, of “See You In My Dreams” semi-fame, circa 1990, and also played on several albums by the Christian-rock band Whitecross). On Little Piece Of Dixie, the drums smack crisply, and the guitar tones are good enough to eat. Charlie Starr doesn’t have the best voice, a little raspy and slurred, and frankly, he doesn’t sound like a young man (nor is this exactly a young man’s music), but he carries a tune well enough, and on slower songs, he and guitarist Paul Jackson can pull off some harmonies that are almost shocking in their out-of-nowhere clarity. At the same time, I wonder if it wasn’t Huff who might be responsible for sanding the rough edges of the band a bit too much.
Something else I wanted to mention: in 2008, Blackberry Smoke put out a little EP called New Honky Tonk Bootlegs. Essentially, those songs were pure country, but “Son Of The Bourbon” and “Lesson In A Bottle” are two of the band’s best songs ever, and I think deserve a place on this album, more so than maudlin ballads like “Prayer For The Little Man” or “Who Invented The Wheel.” Yeah, I know, that would be even more songs we’ve already heard before, but those are terrific songs, and would’ve added some much-needed rebel spirit to an album that is at times too amiable for its own good. Plus, they really show off some fantastic vocal harmonies.
Again, this record is not for everyone. They’re not as rowdy as Jackyl, and nowhere near as hard-edged as somebody like American Dog. The hardest songs are reminiscent of the Four Horsemen or Sister Whiskey, but a better reference point would be some of the original southern-rockers like Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, and of course Skynyrd, and maybe somebody like the Kentucky Headhunters. But in all honesty, Little Piece Of Dixie has not strayed far from my CD player since I got it a few months ago, and when I pop it in, it tends to stay there for days at a time. You can put it on at a gathering of people who like country music, but who aren’t necessarily fans of hard rock, and stand a fighting chance they’ll enjoy it too. And that means they won’t start clamoring for Kenny Chesney. So yeah, Little Piece Of Dixie has its faults, but in the end, just like the guy in “Like I Am,” you just have to accept it for what it is. And what it is, is a very well-written, well-performed, well-produced highly-enjoyable southern-rock record with strong country leanings.
Best songs: “Good One Comin’ On,” “Up In Smoke,” “Shake Your Magnolia”
Worst songs: “Prayer For The Little Man,” “Who Invented The Wheel”
For more info on Blackberry Smoke, go here:
