Once again working with
Dave Cobb
, the producer who is the gold standard for roots music in the 2010s,
Blackberry Smoke
don't attempt any new tracks on
Be Right Here
, their eighth studio album. Settling into a Dixie-fried groove created from equal parts soul and album rock,
still sound recognizably Southern, but they're not adhering to the gospel of
Skynyrd
and the
Allmans
as closely as they once did. On
, the band is relaxed and sunny, threading in enough overblown bloozy guitar to recall the heyday of
the Black Crowes
, when the group unabashedly brought the sounds of the '70s into the '90s.
aren't upstarts at this stage, nor do they have any of the underground pedigree of
the Crowes
: they're traditionalists through and through, happy to revive and sustain the weathered, rugged sounds of rock into new generations.
Cobb
helps capture the group's easy chemistry -- they can slide into a slow-burner after a rave-up without missing a beat -- but the trick to the group's success is that they can write songs as well as riffs. "Dig a Hole" has a big, funky swagger, "Be So Lucky" rides its chunky tremolo riff into the sunset, and "Other Side of the Light" is a sunkissed open-road anthem worthy of the
Marshall Tucker Band
. These tunes provide
with a solid foundation to endure multiple plays, but it's immediately appealing upon first spin thanks to that burnished
production. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine