The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blackberry Smoke drummer dies from cancer at 57
Georgia rockers just released new album.
After bandmate Benji Shanks recounted to Blackberry Smoke drummer Brit Turner the misery of showing up late and shorthanded for a recent, rainy cruise performance, Turner leaned forward and whispered with a smile: “(expletive) crew. Can you believe them?”
Turner, off the tour and less than three weeks away from death, could still crack a joke. The founding member of the Southern rock band died March 3 after battling glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, for nearly two years. The 57-year-old Atlanta musician left behind fans and a line of musicians he had befriended and mentored, as well as his wife, Shannon, and daughter, Lana. Turner’s brother, Richard, plays bass for Blackberry Smoke.
Turner was described by bandmates and friends as a highly creative musician and artist, a shrewd businessman, and a nonconformist with no pretense. He had a unique sense of style and a sharp sense of humor.
Zac Brown Band guitarist Coy Bowles called Turner “the king of cool.”
Friends also described Turner, who played on a little kit, as an authoritative drummer with a heavy metal background, and as Blackberry
Smoke’s indisputable leader.
Charlie Starr, the band’s lead singer, said Turner “was the most driven human I’ve ever met.”
Preston Holcomb, the percussionist, said Turner was an extraordinarily generous “genius” who, according to Holcomb’s wife, could “print money.”
“People like myself grew up such loudmouth extroverts. All the obnoxious things that I said, did, or fashion choices that I regret like you would a high school yearbook photo, he never made me feel like a jackass for being that way,” said Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and musician Butch Walker.
He met Turner in his early 20s and eventually owned a recording studio next door to Turner’s. “And he never was that way. He just always has been mellow and cool. That’s how he vibrated through life,” he said.
Turner, a Michigan native who grew up in Smyrna, formed Blackberry Smoke with his brother Starr and guitarist Phil Jackson in 2000. The band, which added keyboardist Brandon Still in 2009, released two studio albums and an EP before reaching the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 with “The Whippoorwill” in 2012. The band’s 2015 album, “Holding All the Roses,” climbed to the top of the Billboard Country Album chart, making Blackberry Smoke the first small, independent act to do so.
Walker called Blackberry Smoke’s rise a “Cinderella story.” The band built a fan base playing in bars in front of a handful of patrons and rose to performing sold-out shows at the Fox Theatre and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
“And they did it without ever conforming to the norm, never swaying from their course musically, without the help of disposable pop radio songs or anything like that,” Walker said. “And you got to hand the lion’s share of that to Brit Turner for keeping the vision.”
In a 2017 interview with Echoes And Dust, a digital music publication, Turner said: “People say, a lot of times, ‘Hey, I really love it that you guys did it your way!’ I said, ‘Well, we had no other choice, there were no other options!’”
Turner was so hands-on with the band that he designed all of Blackberry Smoke’s album covers and its merchandise. A graphic designer, Turner, who’d run a T-shirt business, founded Merch Mountain, a Scottdale, Georgia-based company, that sells everything from art to guitar pedals to rare collectibles.
“He always had an idea going for something, whether it was for the band, for art, or for a product for another band or just all kinds of stuff,” said Holcomb. “He was a very smart guy.”
When his daughter was struck with cancer as a toddler, Turner created the Lana Turner Foundation, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through a variety of charitable events. The nonprofit’s work continues even though his daughter has long been cancer-free. Helping other people spilled into his business and musical endeavors. In 2018, when the band was seeking to beef up its sound, he turned to Holcomb, a fellow alumnus of Campbell High School, to round out the rhythm section during tours. The group also enlisted Shanks. Holcomb and Shanks became permanent members of the band in 2021.
Holcomb said he was working in a picture framing shop when Turner asked him to join the band and work for his company.
“Because of all that, it allowed me to be able to buy the house that I’m living in,” said Holcomb as he held back tears. “There are just all kinds of things he ended up doing that were positive for me by being my friend. And there’s countless other people he affected the exact same way.”
On Feb. 16, two days after Turner’s 57th birthday and Shanks’ last visit with him, Blackberry Smoke released “Be Right Here,” the drummer’s last album. The record jumped to No. 1 on Billboard’s Americana/Folk Albums, Current Country, and Current Rock Albums charts, as well as No. 4 for Bestselling Current Albums. The album was recorded after Turner had suffered a heart attack, but before his cancer diagnosis.
“It seemed like these sessions were a little more precious, because he was still with us,” Starr said. “And when I listen to it now, I’m like, geez, this might be his best drumming. It’s our eighth album, and like, he saved the best for last.”
killing has mixed with anger, political opportunity has come along, too. Former President Donald Trump, who never met Riley, held a news conference at the Southern border of Texas and said he’d never forget her. U.S. Rep. Mike Collins invited Riley’s parents to Thursday’s State of the Union address. When they declined, he publicized their decision on social media and blamed Biden for Riley’s death.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene handed out “Laken Riley” pins on the House floor ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday and the two had a spontaneous back-and-forth after Greene yelled during the speech, “It’s about Laken Riley!”
It has all led to something Riley and her family surely would not have wanted: finger pointing, bitter divisions and furious personal attacks. Local lawmakers say they’re getting threatened by callers incensed by news reports and blaming them for her death. The diverse and eclectic college town of Athens, one lawmaker told me, is getting ripped apart at the seams.
This is no way to honor a young woman whose friends described her as a light in the dark.
State Rep. Marcus Wiedower, R-Watkinsville, has been one of the few in the General Assembly to also acknowledge the student who died by suicide and ask for a moment of silence for both students.
“While these two situations are woven together by grief and a shared community, they’re unique in the shortcomings and failures that they highlight for this body,” he said. “It’s evident there’s work to be done.”
Wiedower told me that members of his family and staff have been students at UGA, and his community has been devastated by previous suicides among young people. It all hits close to home. Along with the immigration measure he voted for, he said House members continue to “carry the torch” of the late House Speaker David Ralston by pushing for mental health funding to help young people in crisis.
“Our focus needs to remain on meeting these kids where they are and finding more and more avenues to reach out to them,” he said.
State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, said she appreciated Wiedower’s comments on the House floor.
“The Laken Riley case is so tragic and so horrific,” she said. “But it’s also true that very often my colleagues are aware of suicides among their children’s contemporaries. I don’t believe we’re blind to these issues.”
The state Senate cut out key pieces of funding for mental health services from the proposed state budget last year, she said. But they can pass the
mental health funding in this year’s budget that the House approved on Thursday. It includes money for in-school support and peer-topeer counseling. Other portions of the state’s now years-long mental health overhaul need to be pushed forward as well.
Lawmakers should also look for more ways to keep students at Georgia State and other campuses safe. Addressing pervasive gun violence is a place to start.
Legislation to address Riley’s tragic death is well underway. But another student died at UGA last month, as have other young people around the state. They deserve their leaders’ attention and action, too.