Pushing play on Blackberry Smoke’s “Six Ways to Sunday” is like cracking open a time capsule buried about 35 years or so ago in the neighborhood of Jacksonville , Fla., and having the music of the most popular local band come streaming out of it. And that’s a very good thing.
From their forthcoming album The Whippoorwill, due in August from Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Artists label, the song is a juke joint-jiving, old school Southern rocker that would do the Skynyrd boys proud. And the band’s got the bell bottoms and sideburns to go with the sound. Watching the video of the live performance, you can almost imagine they’re an outfit that stepped, perfectly preserved from the mid-’70s, right out of that time capsule.
[SOMETHING ELSE! REWIND: Celebrating “Son of the Bourbon,” the centerpiece of Blackberry Smoke’s 2008 deeply traditional country EP ‘Honky Tonk Bootlegs,’ their best record.]
The chorus of the song is instantly addictive. One listen, and I was singing it over and over in my head for a couple of hours until I finally had to give in and go back for a few more runs. The guitars of Charlie Starr and Paul Jackson definitely nail the tone, and that little riff right after the chorus could be pulled straight off of Street Survivors.
But don’t get the wrong idea. This isn’t a glorified Skynyrd cover. The boys put their own spin on it, tossing a little more modern rock sound into the interlude before the guitar solo, which will definitely also put you in a Gary Rossington frame of mind.
Being a fan of much of the Atlanta-based band’s previous work, I was wondering how the higher profile of being on Brown’s label and touring with some big Nashville acts would affect them. If this song is any indication, I shouldn’t have been concerned. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the record.
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B008DVJMAW” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B00531U7KY” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B0074XZWTK” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B0058XAZH2″ container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B0059YXM34″ container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /]
- The ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ Song That Confirmed Queen’s Metallic Genius - November 8, 2024
- Blackberry Smoke – ‘Be Right Here’ (2024) - June 10, 2024
- Why That Self-Titled 1994 Album Is the Best Motley Crue You Never Heard - March 18, 2024
