For the first time in a decade-and-a-half, Blackberry Smoke is on the road with a new musician in the band’s lineup. Kent Aberle has taken over on drums for Brit Turner, who passed away in 2024.
READ MORE: In photos: Blackberry Smoke at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
Alongside fellow members Charlie Starr (singer/guitarist/main songwriter), Paul Jackson (guitar) and Richard Turner (bass), Blackberry Smoke formed in 2000. Brandon Still (keyboards) became the “new guy” when he was added to the band in 2009.
The arrival of Aberle was necessitated by tragic circumstances, after Turner was diagnosed with glioblastoma — cancer of the brain. Turner underwent brain surgery in November 2022 and stayed active in Blackberry Smoke, recording and touring through December 2023. Sadly, Turner succumbed to his illness on March 3, 2024, at the age of 57.
Blackberry Smoke have carried on, maintaining their usual busy tour schedule, which will have them stopping at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater on Friday, Oct. 10. Still, Turner’s absence is felt by his long-time bandmates.
“He was my best friend, first and foremost,” Starr said in a recent phone interview, calling Turner “tirelessly dedicated” to the band. “He was the most driven person I ever met, so that was a really good combination for Blackberry Smoke because he did not leave a single stone unturned when it came to anything to do with our business, with our career trajectory”
Turner lived life to the fullest extent, according to Starr, and for the band that went further than being a mere drummer. Also a graphic designer, Turner handled the art direction for all of Blackberry Smoke’s records and albums, merchandise and more. It was a passion project for Turner, always the consummate collaborator.
“I would write a new song and send it to him,” Starr explained. “He would have an idea for some sort of merchandise or some sort of visual — he’s a visual guy — and he’d send it to me. So that’s kind of the teamwork that we had going for 23 years, and it really worked. I’m going to miss him.”
Turner also played all of the drums on the current Blackberry Smoke album, “Be Right Here,” recorded in early 2023 and released in February 2024. Starr called it Turner’s best playing on any record.
“He had not been diagnosed with glioblastoma at that point, but he had just survived a heart attack,” Starr recalled. “That was the first medical scare that he experienced.”
After taking a little time off, the band came back together to record “Be Right Here.” Starr said the whole experience made all of the band understand the vulnerability and preciousness of life.
“It kind of brought us closer together,” he said. “I have very, very fond, vivid memories of Brit being himself in those sessions, which is constantly like a mischief-maker and laughing and giggling. He was his ever-so-irreverent self at every moment. So I don’t know, it might be my favorite (album) session.”
Starr’s the chief songwriter and played a key role in the band’s Southern-tinged mix of rock, rootsy, mid-tempo tunes and ballads (think the Black Crowes with a bit more twang). Turner contributed significantly as Blackberry Smoke gradually grew their profile through extensive touring and the release of eight studio albums.
“Be Right Here” is another strong effort. It has a healthy share of rockers, including “Don’t Mind If I Do” (a swaggering Stonesy tune with a loping beat), the stout “Dig A Hole” and “Little Bit Crazy” (which injects some soul into its rowdy sound). Those high-octane moments are balanced by the snaky, unhurried “Whatcha You Know Good,” the robust ballad “Barefoot Angel” and the pretty, largely acoustic “Azalea.”
For “Be Right Here,” Blackberry Smoke went into the legendary RCA Studio A in Nashville, now operated by Dave Cobb. The A-list producer first worked with the band on 2021’s “You Hear Georgia.”
Starr called Studio A “a little museum.”
“You go upstairs to go to the restroom while you’re tracking and it’s like it’s still Chat Atkins’ office — all this old décor, all of the mid-century modern stuff, and with photographs of him recording with Jerry Reed, Waylon (Jennings), Porter Wagoner and even Elvis,” he described. “It’s incredible. You sort of lose sight of all that, or your focus is taken off of that, once you start working. But then just the great sounds that continue to happen in that place, that really takes over. You’re like: ‘Oh man, the drums sound like a million in this room.’ It’s incredible.”
For “Be Right Here,” Blackberry Smoke and Cobb took a different approach to recording. They placed Turner and his drums in the same room with the other musicians and used small amps for the other instruments — an old-school approach to recording, if ever there was one. Starr said it was more like a rehearsal or a big jam.
“And we played through little vintage Fender amps, Magnatone, Gibson, and all of these little amps, and it was really a cool sound with bleed,” he described. “It’s funny, when you do that you’re like: ‘Oh, man, we’re going to get so much bleed into the drum mic, and you listen back and you’re like we’re really not getting that much bleed. This is great.”
Beyond liking the sonic quality Cobb and the band achieved, Starr said the recording approach became looser and provided the album “a different feel” from its predecessors.
It was like a live album, with “Be Right Here” tracks translating more easily to the concert stage. The band, as has been a tradition for some time, will rotate various songs around its mainstays from show to show.
“There are, I guess you could say, favorites the people definitely want to hear and they might run us out of town at the end of a sharp stick if we didn’t play those,” Starr said.
The band has a greatest hits release, “Rattle, Rumble and Roll,” set for November. It will celebrate 25 years of Blackberry Smoke’s output and will be dedicated to Turner as well.
Tickets to Blackberry Smoke’s Greenfield Lake Amphitheater show are here.
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