Southern Rock has a new name. It’s called Blackberry Smoke. They’re not your average rock band, but one that exceeds their own expectations when it comes to defining who they are, whether they’re playing live or recording in the studio. Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, the five members have been together nine years and touring all of that time. They come from musical families and give credit to their parents, respectively, as a major impact on their lives. They always knew that music would stay with them forever.

Blackberry Smoke is comprised of lead vocalist Charlie Starr, who also plays banjo, pedal steel, mandolin, and guitar, bass player Richard Turner, guitarist Paul Jackson, drummer Brit Turner, and keyboardist Brandon Still, who claims he plays “white keys and the black keys.”

A friend of producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts) originally discovered Blackberry Smoke by attending a few of their live shows. Later, Dann Huff had the opportunity to see them live in Atlanta. According to one of the band members, “Dann Huff said ‘I wanna record an album exactly like you just played that show, with that gear, that way, 1-2-3-4 play the song live,’ and that’s what we did.”

With their sophomore album called “Little Piece Of Dixie” due out in spring 2010, these guys are ready to rock like they only know how. They wrote seven out of the eleven tracks on the album and are real proud of the outcome. One of the songs is a cover of “Yesterday’s Wine,” which was written by Willie Nelson and recorded in 1982 by George Jones and Merle Haggard. The new track was recorded with Jamey Johnson and George Jones. Charlie Starr recalled, “That was unbelievable. I’m still giddy. It was just an eye-opening experience to watch George Jones work and just standing back thinking what this man has seen and done. It took us a long time to understand it all.”

Blackberry Smoke’s major musical influences include The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rolling Stones, Steve Earle, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, and Little Feat, just to name a few. Some of their local Georgia influences they claim don’t get enough credit are The Black Crowes, Drivin’ ‘N’ Cryin’, and The Georgia Satellites. Though Blackberry Smoke has their own unique sound, you can definitely recognize their influences in their music. Their fans find it refreshing to hear them do justice to the countrified, southern rock genre by melding those influences into one.

When asked how Blackberry Smoke got their name, they said, “We kept trying to come up with names and were not successful. We needed to play some gigs. We needed to put a demo out, and we kept, you know, running the names up the flagpole, and they were coming back taken. We’re like ‘call it this, call it that,’ you know. Finally, we were just so frustrated, we started asking our friends that had been in more successful bands. We were like, maybe since they had been successful and couldn’t change the name of their band, they might have thought of something cool since then, you know. And we would take that name. So we started asking them and you know, once you get through the funny names, then they started coming up with good ones. Chris, from The Black Crowes, came up with Blackberry Smoke.”

Blackberry Smoke’s first single from their forthcoming album is titled “Good One Comin’ On.” Request it at your local radio stations.

For more information on Blackberry Smoke, visit their website at www.blackberrysmoke.com.