Interview
Interview
My Greatest Hits: Chris Robertson of Black Stone Cherry
The Black Stone Cherry frontman picks his own career highlights, from emotional nights at the Royal Albert Hall to sensational secret sets
Taking the unmistakable sounds of their Southern rock roots to arena-filling hard rock heights, it’s been over two decades since Black Stone Cherry first formed within their humid-yet-cosy practice space in Edmonton, Kentucky.
Since signing their first record contract in 2005 the four-piece have become unrivalled hometown heroes – in a city with a total population below 2,000. Retaining the same line-up until 2020 (the departure of founding bassist Jon Lawhon met with the recruitment of Steve Jewell Jr.) over the last 23 years Black Stone Cherry’s thundering riffs and anthemic melodies have united to spawn some of the rock scene’s most powerful singalongs.
Frontman Chris Robertson’s distinctive drawl has whipped up a frenzy in crowds of all shapes and sizes, and over the course of eight studio albums they’ve elevated the rock ‘n’ roll spirit to unbelievable heights. Resonating in more places across the world than they ever dreamed, Robertson’s penchant for honest, open songwriting on love, life, and the things we do to get by has led them to sharing stages with countless rock icons – converting thousands to their soul-baring cause.
With the release of the band’s 2023 album Screamin’ At The Sky boasting some of their most rambunctious moments to date, Black Stone Cherry sure know how to bring the party. As the band make their return to UK shores for a huge arena tour, we sat down with Robertson to talk through his career highlights; from their first headline show in London to their long-standing love affair with Download Festival.
Returning home after signing our first record deal
“We had been away recording, and when we got home, we decided to do a show to commemorate everything. We did it at our old middle school, and we packed the place out. It was insane to see that the community and the people from our hometown were behind us, and the whole thing was awesome. We’re from a small town where most people go straight from school into college or the workforce. Not many people choose a path in the arts, so to know that they were behind us and rooting for us was so special.”
How much of a role has growing up in Kentucky played in Black Stone Cherry’s journey?
“I feel like if we were from anywhere else, everything would be different. I’m a firm believer that you’re a product of your upbringing and your surroundings, and there are obviously wildcards to that theory, but it’s largely true. We would have sounded completely different if we had been from anywhere else. I think if we had been from a bigger city, we would have been trying to compete with the sounds that were going on there. Luckily for us, we had the ability to play whatever style of rock ‘n’ roll we wanted to.”
Playing the London Astoria in 2007
“We had done some headline shows in the States, and we were playing to a few hundred people each night. Coming over to the UK though, we weren’t sure how that would translate. We came over for a headline show and we ended up selling out the Astoria. We recorded the show, and we sold the copies live. Those original recordings… people pay crazy money for them now. It was on Halloween night, and I remember going, ‘Holy shit, we’re playing the Astoria’. There was a ton of anxiety because it was our biggest show ever at that point, but it was one of those moments where you can sit back and go, ‘We did this, man’.”
You seem to have always had a special relationship with UK crowds…
“What always amazes me about UK crowds is that they seem to know so much more about us. In the UK, we’d stop at a gas station to get a drink and a pack of smokes, and we’d see several rock ‘n’ roll magazines on the newsstands. We would see ourselves in the magazines, and then we would get to the shows where people would know all about us. They were singing songs that were never released as singles, and we immediately felt a special connection with the UK. I still don’t understand it, because we’re probably one of the most American sounding rock ‘n’ roll bands to ever exist! It’s the most beautiful relationship our band has ever blossomed.”
Playing Download Festival over the years
“We made our return this year, but the last time we had played before that was in 2018 when we were direct support to Guns N’ Roses. We’ve headlined the second stage a couple of times too, but one of my most memorable Download moments is when we did the secret set in 2014. There were rumblings about who it was going to be, but it was never 100% confirmed until we went on stage. There had been a little bit of a buzz growing throughout the day, and the tent was probably two thirds full before we went on. When they went to change the equipment over from the band before us, our guitar cabinets had our band’s logo on them. When they rolled those cabinets out, the noise was deafening in that tent. We walked out onstage, and people were going crazy trying to get into the tent. It was one of the coolest experiences we’ve ever had as a band. We only played seven songs, but it harkened back to when we first came over to the UK as a support band. During those sets, we would only have 30 or 40 minutes to go out and prove everything. I’d love to do a secret set again somewhere, sometime.”
Returning home to work on our 2016 album Kentucky
“We haven’t recorded anywhere other than around home since we decided to do it again for that record. We did our first record in Kentucky, for the second record we went to Nashville, and then for the next two we went out to LA. All those experiences were amazing, and we went to some of the biggest studios in the world, but we realised that we could get the same quality of sound at home. We studied the workflows of people like Joe Barresi, Bob Marlette, and Howard Benson whilst working on those records. If you treat everything as a learning experience, sometimes the most liberating thing you can do is go back and do it on your own. For us, that’s what Kentucky was, and we’ve self-produced every record since.
“Being older now and having a kid, there’s something special about being able to pour your heart and soul into the music you’re working on, but then come home at the end of the night. You’re sleeping in your own bed, you wake up the next morning and see your family, then you go back and do it again. It lets you add every single ounce of yourself into that music, because nothing’s pulled away. It’s hard when you leave for three weeks to record music because you’re in one stagnant place. It’s not like being on tour where you’re in a different place every day and it’s 100 miles an hour, you’re just stationary. Having the comfort of home allows you to be truly vulnerable.”
Playing the Royal Albert Hall in 2021
“That was a big one for all of us because we’ve all watched the Hendrix footage and the Zeppelin footage. Anybody who’s anybody in rock ‘n’ roll hopes to play that venue at least once. That one was special for me, not only for that reason, but because my dad and I had talked about us playing the Royal Albert Hall non-stop. Unfortunately, my dad passed right before we came over to the UK that year. We filmed a live DVD of the show, and you can see that I have a piece of paper on my monitor. That was my dad’s obituary, because I told him I’d take him with me. Being in that room, with those people, in that moment and playing ‘Things My Father Said’ is something that I’ll hold close to my heart forever. The crowd carried me through that night.”
Sharing the stage with my musical heroes
“Some of the biggest moments for me are anytime we get to do stuff with the Lynyrd Skynyrd camp because they’re my favourite band of all-time. My second favourite band of all-time is Nirvana, and we’re never going to get to play with them but sharing a stage with your heroes is incredible. We toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad Company in 2013, and the fact that they needed an opener for those shows and picked us is still unreal. More recently, I remember getting a phone call from Johnny Van Zant asking if we wanted to go out with them and ZZ Top for the Sharp Dressed Simple Man tour. I was like, ‘Let me think about it… Are you kidding me? Hell yeah!’
We have been fortunate to tour with bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Alice Cooper, ZZ Top, and Nickelback over the years. The main thing you learn about those bands is that they’re all the most genuine, sweet people you’ll ever meet. They’re very busy people, but they are the sweetest people on the planet. When you see how they treat other human beings, it gives you hope. In this business, it’s easy to get caught up in the bullshit and to have bad days, but those guys are always there with a smile.”
Working on our eighth studio album, Screamin’ At The Sky
“I don’t even know if we had a specific vision for the record, the songs just started coming out. We were on the road for the first of several tours with Steve [Jewell Jr., bass], and it was the first line-up change we’d had in 20 years. We wanted to make sure that this new album was the absolute best it could be, because people love to scrutinise things that change. One of the biggest successes we had with this record is that there wasn’t any of that, and it was received with open arms. I’ve had a lot of people tell me that it’s their favourite Black Stone Cherry record, which is amazing. We finished The Human Condition right as the pandemic kicked off, and our last four days in the studio were right after the nationwide lockdown was announced. Because of that, there was a lot of pent-up aggravation and frustration going into this one. That sparked a lot of the honesty in the music, and these songs are very special to me.”
Black Stone Cherry bring their Screamin’ At the Sky Tour to the UK this November. Find tickets here
Photo credit: Shirlaine Forrest/Getty
