Blackberry Smoke have premiered a new acoustic version of “Mother Mountain,” featuring the band’s longtime friend Oliver Wood.
The song comes off the band’s new EP, The Southern Ground Sessions, which will be released October 26. Created as an accompaniment to their recent full-length studio effort, Find A Light, the 6-song EP was recorded live at Southern Ground studio in Nashville and features acoustic versions of five album tracks as well as a rendition of Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky,” featuring Amanda Shires.
Lead singer Charlie Starr comments, “It felt really cool to come back to Southern Ground Studios and play music with some good friends. It was like stripping it down and playing in the living room.”
Speaking to Guitar World earlier this year, Starr discussed how Blackberry Smoke approaches each new release, explaining that the band’s intention is to “continue to evolve and let the music go where it’s gonna go, rather than just creating a commodity or another product to sell. I mean, the bands that we grew up listening to and loving so much—Zeppelin and the Stones and Aerosmith and the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd— that’s the way they approached it. They just kept growing musically, and that’s what we always want to do.”
Starr continued: “It baffles me how some artists can just follow a formula, like in those videos you see online where someone takes two songs from a certain band and then plays ’em side by side and it’s exactly the same shit. It’s like, “Okay, that’s very formulaic…” I guess it works, because a lot of those bands have sold millions and millions of records. But how boring, you know?
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)
Blackberry Smoke upcoming tour dates:
August 24—Fort Wayne, IN—Sweetwater Pavilion*
August 25—Du Quoin, IL—Du Quoin State Fair*
August 30—Montgomery, AL—Montgomery Performing Arts Center†
August 31—Pelham, AL—Oak Mountain Amphitheatre‡
September 1—Atlanta, GA—Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood‡
September 2—Jacksonville, FL—TIAA Bank Field‡
September 7—New York, NY—Irving Plaza
September 8—New York, NY—Irving Plaza
September 11—Ridgefield, CT—The Ridgefield Playhouse+
September 13—Concord, NH—Capitol Center For The Arts-Chubb Theatre+
September 14—Orono, ME—Collins Center for the Performing Arts+
September 15—Fredericton, Canada—Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival
September 16—Webster, MA—Indian Ranch Amphitheatre+
September 18—Toronto, Ontario—The Danforth Music Hall+
September 19—Buffalo, NY—Town Ballroom
September 21—Stroudsburg, PA—Sherman Theater+
September 22—Cleveland, OH—House of Blues+
September 23—Louisville, KY—Bourbon & Beyond Festival
October 4—Mobile, AL—Saenger Theatre Mobile
October 5—West Helena, AR—King Biscuit Blues Festival
October 12—Frankfurt, Germany—Batschkapp
October 13—Bonn, Germany—Harmonie Club
October 14—Basel, Switzerland—Z7 Pratteln
October 16—Zurich, Switzerland—Kaufleuten
October 17—Munich, Germany—Tonhalle
October 18—Milan, Italy—Alcatraz
October 20—Berlin, Germany—Huxleys
October 21—Hannover, Germany—Capitol
October 23—Stockholm, Sweden—Cirkus
October 24—Gothenburg, Sweden—Pustervik
October 25—Oslo, Norway—Sentrum Scene
October 27—Weert, Netherlands—Bosuil
October 28—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Melkweg
October 29—Brussels, Belgium—Ancienne Belgique
October 31—Paris, France—Le Caberet Sauvage
November 2—Newcastle, U.K.—02 Academy§
November 3—Glasgow, U.K.—02 Academy
November 4—Nottingham, U.K.—Rock City
November 6—Belfast, Ireland—The Telegraph Building
November 7—Dublin, Ireland—National Stadium
November 9—Cardiff, U.K.—Tramshed§
November 10—Birmingham, U.K.—02 Academy§
November 11—Bristol, U.K.—02 Academy§
November 13—Southampton, U.K.—Guildhall
November 15—London, U.K.—02 Shepherds Bush Empire
November 16—London, U.K.—02 Shepherds Bush Empire
November 17—Manchester, U.K.—02 Apollo
November 23—Atlanta, GA—The Tabernacle
December 6—Philadelphia, PA—The Fillmore#
December 7—Port Chester, NY—The Capitol Theatre
December 8—Clifton Park, NY—Upstate Concert Hall
January 6-12, 2019—Tampa, FL—2019 Southern Rock Cruise
*with Steelwoods
†with Channing Wilson
‡with Lynyrd Skynyrd
+with The Quaker City Night Hawks
§with Junkyard
#with Karl Densons Tiny Universe
For more information visit BlackberrySmoke.com
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