Back in September 2013, Blackberry Smoke joined Bob Weir over two days of performances at his TRI Studios. The highlights of that collaboration have just been released on the new DVD _ Blackberry Smoke with Bob Weir_: An Evening at TRI. In the following conversation, Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr reflects on his collaboration with Weir and the experience as a whole.
While Starr never saw the Grateful Dead perform, he’s listened to their music throughout his life. When he saw Dead & Company perform last year, “They would play a particular song and I would think about how many times I’d listened to that song, in my car, or in my house, and then how important it was to my very being.”
The DVD was directed by Justin Kreutzmann, who originally filmed the performances. Starr notes that Kreutzmann took an active hand throughout the process and that “his role was huge.” He elaborates, by way of example, “we had played ‘Willin’’ in a little soundcheck type situation, and he came and said, ‘That is my favorite song of all time. Please play it again and let’s film it.’ I love Justin, he’s great. I think we all were pretty much sympatico.”
Blackberry Smoke is currently on the road, supporting the group’s latest studio album, Like an Arrow.
How did you originally come to play at TRI with Bob?
We share some mutual friends, and so the introduction was made. Bill Kreutzmann’s son Justin was working there at TRI studios as well and we knew him through Skynyrd, so it was a funny little aligning of the planets. Bob was into it, so we set up the date, and we contacted Bob a bit later to talk about a setlist.
I don’t know if anyone was sure about what might happen, if we would just jam or if we would hit it off. Nobody was making assumptions. But everybody was so gracious and Bob was so cool. It was an incredible experience. As it turns out, nothing was off-limits, which, that was great. We got there in the morning and we set up in that amazing studio and we played music all day, for like 12 hours. Then we stayed another day and went in and did it again and played more songs and more of our material.
Initially when we spoke, he told us about his love for the Allman Brothers and for Southern music and that kind of thing. He said he always enjoyed playing shows with the Brothers back in the early 70’s, and we talked about some of that—Watkins Glen and RFK stadium. He told us, “I always loved it when Dickey would get up and play with the Dead” and when Jerry and Bill Kreutzmann got up and jammed with the Brothers. He also talked about Jerry’s love for Duane Allman, in particular. Then we put together a loose little setlist.
Looking back on it now, what’s your take away?
It was just an incredible experience. And to look at it after the fact, and to go back through it now, wow, what a great thing we have here. Our experience with Bob Weir, saved forever, thanks to incredible technology.
It was such an enlightening experience. I’m a huge Dead fan of course. And listening to Steve Parish and Bob tell stories…There was one segment when we all sat on a couch, and Bob sat behind his desk and it was sort of the interview portion of the experience, and they told stories and jokes and reminisced about Dead experiences and I was blown away. I think about that whole counterculture movement and they spearheaded so much of that stuff. They were right there at the forefront. Here we are sitting with them, and I was like, “You were ahead of it all and you can still tell these stories with a grin on your face and such positivity. You guys are the guys.”
You mention the countercultural element and I think to some degree these days that element is a little lost on listeners.
I never saw a Dead show. My wife did, she went to 38 shows one year when she was going to the University of Georgia. She took off on the road with the Dead with some friends. We went to see Dead & Company last year, which was fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but she said to me, “Musically, obviously, it’s great, but it’s just so much different.” And she told me, “I can’t explain what it was like that summer. You can’t describe it to someone and have it be accurate, you really had to be there.”
To some degree, though, that cultural impact also came with some baggage in terms of the way the media sometimes used dismissive language as a shorthand to describe the Grateful Dead and their fans. To what extent have you experienced that in Blackberry Smoke?
I obviously don’t like it when people are short-sighted and don’t see past the southern rock tag or label because that obviously brings to mind rebel flags and long ponytails and whatever else goes along with the Southern Rock tag. I don’t exactly know how to put it, but I would hate it if somebody hears the term Southern Rock applied to our music and then they closed their ears, just because of that. I definitely want people to listen to the songs, to the lyrics, the playing and the production. I just don’t want people instantly closing their minds and deciding that we’re not making music for them based on that southern rock tag.
Turning back to the DVD, you mentioned the experience of looking back and revisiting that collaboration. As you did so, what were your personal highlights?
I have two. One is “Ramble on Rose,” I think that’s my favorite song that we played that day. Then a close second was “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo.” We actually did that twice, we did it with Bob and then we did it without Bob. Those two were definitely my favorite.
Both of those are Jerry Garcia compositions and one thing Bob Weir was conscious of after Jerry passed away was to keep those songs alive by adding them to his own reptertoire.
I think that nobody loves and respects Jerry Garcia’s music more than Bob Weir. That was the feeling that I got, talking to him and playing those songs. He loves Jerry and he loves the legacy, and he loves those songs. One thing that really got me was when we started to play the songs with Bob and he was playing those Bob guitar parts. It was a mind-blowing experience just to be playing with him and hearing him do that. I think it made us play better. I hope so.
But he was very specific as well. I’ve got a very Southern accent and obviously Jerry did not. There were a couple of lyrics that I would slur a little, and Bob scolded me a little on that. He said, “Diction, you gotta watch that diction.” So he doesn’t take that lightly. It’s important to him that he’s a part of that legacy, and I would never do anything to disrespect that.
But that was a great experience, and he was very involved. He didn’t just come in the room and go, “All right, we’re playing ‘Ramble on Rose,’ here we go.” He’s very specific about tempo, for instance. But we had a blast. There was no pressure, it was really a treat.
In hindsight, I’m curious what, if anything, you took away from that experience and then applied to Blackberry Smoke?
I think it was just a continuation of letting the music breath, and being open-minded. And one thing that I can personally take from it and talking to Bob and Steve Parish and everybody that was involved with the Dead, is that they’re such a closely knit family-type organization. They’ve been doing it for so long together, it’s just unending. And that kind of thing gives hope for people, because obviously the industry is changing and people complain about streaming and there are so many things that can be a pain in the ass. But then you look at these guys and they were here way before any of these problems. They had problems of their own. They had the original rock and roll problems. They might have helped invent a few of them. But they can still sit there and tell stories about it with smiles on their faces because they just love it. They don’t have to continue to do this, but they do because they love it.
Do you think your time with Bob at TRI had any direct musical impact on your latest record?
I think that the Grateful Dead’s influence shows on a lot of our records, not just the new one. Obviously as a guitar player, if you’re a fan of the Dead, you will pick up Jerry licks. I think I’ve borrowed nuances from Jerry’s guitar playing over the years. As a fan of the Grateful Dead, there are many things I love about the Dead but I think what I love most are Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, the song albums. There was obviously no jamming on those records, just their really great songs. There’s a ton of country songs on those records and that was not far removed from the music I learned as a Southern kid: Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, and then moving on to George Jones and Merle Haggard. So it’s very similar, coming from the same place.
