The Playlist

Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr recalls being raised on bluegrass and Skynyrd, and Travis picking obsession

The first song I remember… Wreck Of The Old97 “It’s an old bluegrass song and my dad would sit and play it. He’d sing tons of songs but that was the most interesting to me because the train conductor dies in the song and I was spellbound by that: ‘Somebody died?! Holy shit!’, so I would ask him to sing that one over and over.” The song that inspired me to play… Honky Tonk Women – The Rolling Stones “I think this made me want to play rock ’n’ roll. My dad was a traditional country and bluegrass music lover but my mum loved The Beatles, the Stones and Bob Dylan. They were divorced so I spent time between them but I remember thinking when I heard HonkyTonk Women at about 11 years old, ‘That’s the same thing as the country music I’m listening to. It’s just louder and more exciting.’ And that riff [hums riff]… I was just instantly in love.”

The song I remember covering with my first band… Gimme Three Steps – Lynyrd Skynyrd Roadhouse Blues, RedHouse, Foxy

Lady... and GimmeThreeSteps and Sweet Home Alabama – where I’m from, you had to play Skynyrd. Most people that I knew, friends of mine as a young teenager, we were forming ‘bands’ but we never had a singer. So we would just play these riffs to songs and instrumental versions of them. It was no big deal but then later we thought, ‘Well, who do we know that could sing Misty Mountain Hop or The

Immigrant Song?’ Nobody. ‘We’ll have to get a girl to do it!’” I’ve never got to grips with… Merle Travis – The Sheik Of Araby “Just recently this has been one for me. I’m obsessed with the Travis picking thing and I’ve learned it to a point and stopped. When it gets to the bridge part I give up. It would probably be that type of playing for me – the Merle Travis and Chet Atkins [picking] because it’s just so difficult. I’m a thumb picker and a fingerpicker – I love that – but that stuff is just very difficult.” I wish I wrote this riff… Combination – Aerosmith “Adam’s Apple by Aerosmith is another great one too. That will change from week to week, month to month, according to what I’m listening to, I think. There’s always Out On The Tiles and Ten Years Gone too.” The song that reminds me of home when I’m out on the road… FortWorth Blues – Steve Earle “My wife and I are huge Steve Earle fans and it gets to me, it gives me goosebumps and chokes me up.” The guitar solo that moves me… Melissa – The Allman Brothers “I don’t think that song can exist without the stuff Dickey [Betts] played. And he’s playing it with the vocal. When you sit down and dissect it, he’s soloing through the whole song but it’s so complementary to what Gregg Allman is singing.” The song that came easily... Waiting ForT he Thunder – Blackberry Smoke “I had been playing that riff for a year, just the repetitive thing, and I wanted it to roll over the 4/4 to where it gets a little cattywampus for a second [a brilliant word meaning askew – grammar Ed] but it continues to repeat. I thought it was cool and I liked the riff, then one day it was like, ‘Well, here comes some lyrics.’ And it just fell out.” A song that was difficult to write… One HorseTown – Blackberry Smoke “My friend Travis Meadows and I had pretty much finished the lyrics and I played the little riff with it, but that was a time when I think we were both drinking pretty heavily. And we knew it was good but it took some playing. Then one day there it was. Less is more; the simpler the better.” Blackberry Smoke’s latest album Like An Arrow is out now on Earache Records