Blackberry Smoke
You Hear Georgia
(3 Legged)
8/10
By Decibel Report - May 27

When so much Southern rock music is about texture and feel coupled with groove-some swagger, it’s easy to be swamped by the many groups old and new who purvey this classic sound. However, quality cuts through like a rip in the fabric of time and, on this new recording, Blackberry Smoke continues to update this genre’s 70s sound for a newer generation of fans; and for those whose faith still burns as strong as it ever did.

Recorded live at the famous RCA Studio A, Nashville, and produced by fellow Georgian, Dave Cobb, there’s a moreish Nashville flavour to the hooks catching the ear especially on the title track You Hear Georgia, Hey Delilah, and Ain’t The Same all of which are loaded with southern fried delights found right across this seventh album release.

Opening tune Live It Down is the gateway - as album openers should be - to the road map of the band’s evolving southern and country rock hybrid; which they have honed and roughly polished with confidence and panache on this album.

Dusting their double denim musical approach with rhinestone, country hot shot Jamey Johnson features on the forlorn Lonesome For A Livin’. With waves of whining pedal steel, combining with lower register vocals, it proves to be a stone-cold country rock classic.

There’s another notable cameo from long-time Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes who plugs in and delivers the heavy riffs on All Rise Again. This partners well with Morningside's slabs of guitar on which Charlie Starr earns his surname twice over. The ‘Smoke further reveal their musical range on ballad Old Enough To Know that preaches wise words about innocence lost and experience gained via crepuscular hedonistic pursuits that, with the aforementioned Lonesome For A Livin’, finely balances an album of strutting southern charms.

With more bottleneck on show than the M1 on All Over The Road, Old Scarecrow - co-written with Rickey Medlocke - and pretty much throughout, it’s the laid back grooves that ensure that You Hear Georgia simmers with a tasty recipe of exquisite southern country rock. Having announced a much-anticipated European tour, this cocksure album contains an arsenal of stonewall live classics in the waiting.

It’s also a record that rewards the listener on repeated play, and just like the title track that affirms the resilience of the residents of the Georgia state, Blackberry Smoke prove themselves not to be underdogs anymore on this upbeat, smart, and rangy well worth the three year wait release.