I don’t drink or party anymore a lot, but when Joshua told me he bought some tickets to the Blackberry Smoke New Years Eve show LAST year in Macon Georgia, i HAD TO accept that offer. To be honest, I’m so inundated here in the office that I don’t NEED MORE work to do…but you don’t say NO to Blackberry Smoke or any of the other things we did today in Macon. I think that many people are turned onto ( and off ) of my articles because it’s more of a blog than a click bait and gossip music site.
Here’s the deal folks…I’m not trying to be Rolling Stone or any of that crap. I want to tell YOU about places I eat at I love, while seeing shows. Because maybe YOU will try their business or hotel or whatever I post. Festivals I cover, I include vendors and places for YOU to try when you go. AND HEY PLEASE drop me a line with ANY suggestions on places. History. Music History means a lot to me, and I enjoy going places where music took roots, and Macon is one of those places.
There are a plethora of OG bands I love from ALL genres, you follow me? I mean, is Aretha Franklin not cool? Wanda Jackson? Public Enemy? Yes. It doesn’t matter what the genre or direction of music business it is…I LOVE IT and I soak it all in like a sponge. You can damn sure bet I love the Allman Brothers and bands like Grinder Switch.
We went down into the area to eat at H and H diner, which was a local diner that all of the bands of this era would hang out in, much like Linebaughs was on Broadway in the 70’s. Inez Hill opened the diner in 1959 and formed an iconic friendship with all of the Southern Rock bands that Macon bore fruit. After she passed away in 2013, it closed. However in 2014 another large business group that cared about the diner itself, reopened it in 2014.
I chose the often talked about fried chicken, and let me tell you…the batter is delicious. The sides and everything else was amazing, I highly suggest you go eat, the catfish pieces are HUGE! I did include some of the artwork on the walls here, but I don”t want to ruin it for any of you.
Overall, my entire experience downtown was amazing and we enjoyed ourselves. The ambiance of H And H Diner set the tone for the day that Joshua had planned for the website. After we left the diner we drove a few more blocks over to main downtown Macon. We got lucky that the weather was nice and we could enjoy outside more than usual, and overall this entire trip was fun.
This venue has enough parking if you go earlier than the mass crowd, and there is a lot of parking there for free. The theater is only a few blocks away form where we parked. Plenty of small stores and places to check out to shop and eat. Right around lunch time at H And H many of our fellow Blackberry Smoke fans filled the diner and the did the same other two things we did first.
i’m sure every city has its crime and it’s issues and we’re used to that to be honest. We go to a plethora of cities and states across America, so we see all the good and bad really. It was charming and quiet during the day, and some cities its like “Just go 2 blocks over”. But to be honest the downtown area was quite festive and welcoming. Plenty of opportunities to take pictures of the area.
We then went to Fresh Produce Records where we spent about 2 hours digging through their selection. Their Metal section was small, but had a few gems I saw, and the prices were reasonable to be sure. I bought the Old Crow Medicine Show live at Third Man Records and Joshua found the second Emily Nenni album called “Long Gone” and he got others too.
Then we went a block over and toured the Capricorn studio and museum, where you can sit and listen to all of the albums that were recorded at the studio in the past. Many of the Allman Brothers albums were recorded there, as well as other Southern Rock classics. There are old tour jackets and old contracts from days of old.
There is a bar and lounge area that connects the two rooms of stuff, and if you get there a little early you can sit and relax and have drinks. Then at a certain time they open the studio and Bob starts the tour. They take you into the first room which is also a small venue and screening area. Then they take you into the back where the magic happens and they show you the mixing boards and house equipment.
So much music was recorded here, and it was truly fun for me as a music fan to see all of this. Then after we looked at everything, we went down to Fatty’s for some calzones….that place is amazing. It’s reasonably priced and the ingredients are fresh, with some tasty crust. I had heard from many other people that the food there was amazing, and it’s very close to the theater and all else I mentioned.
I might have skipped around on the pictures in this article but the museum and the studio were the same building and I just wanted to tell Bob how wonderful of a host he was, how friendly he was and how his knowledge was admirable to me. I have music knowledge and theory knowledge and what information he gave was accurate.
It’s an entirely different world when the studio door closes and the world is shut off behind you, you don’t have any sunlight or windows or any conception of time. Completely soundproof and dark inside, they even let you play the house instruments if you like.
We then let our food settle and little and walked over to the theater, and man was the excitement building up for this show here. This was my sixth Blackberry Smoke show in my illustrious career as a music fan and blogger. As I previously stated the weather wasn’t bad compared to now where as I write this it is ice rain and slop outside.
The theater itself is absolutely gorgeous inside and we sat right in the balcony front row almost dead smack looking at the stage. One of the things that impressed me was both bands began promptly and they ended promptly, and the sound in there with the ceiling being concave and copper is amazing. Such a clean and clear sound, it was mixed superbly.
I like to listen to certain instruments and segregate the sounds and observe them, I like to learn and I like to hear all of the tones and chords used. I love to study rig rundowns and how they all play differently , there is none other better band to do that with then Blackberry Smoke. Charlie and his boys always bring the heat, and brother Britt Turner is always there.
Now, I am not really that familiar with the first band tonight, so I had to do some studying about them to be able to enjoy their set fully. Robert Jon And The Wreck is a five piece Blues/Southern Rock band from Orange County, California consisting of Robert Jon Burrison, Warren Murrel, Henry James, Andrew Espantman and Jake Abernathie.
They have a bunch of albums out now, and I will be digging into them further in the future. Most likely I will be writing them their own article soon. It’s quite evident that they are rapidly rising above the others in their respected genre, as I witnessed many people wearing their merch tonight.
Their 2024 album called “Red Moon Rising” boasted the first song I recognized called “Trouble” , and another great song called “Ballad Of A Brokenhearted Man”. That song spoke to me more then the rest because I too, have been in those situations where your relationship feels like its just spinning and going nowhere.
From their 2020 album called “Last Light On The Highway” they played the songs Oh Miss Carolina. From the same album they played “Do You Remember” , and from their 2015 debut album they played ‘Cold Night”. Overall, I was impressed with the amount of support from their loyal fans and the connection they have with them.
Right now I want to take the time out to once again talk about one of my personal favorite bands that started out as one of my local bands from Georgia called Blackberry Smoke. Come on now friends, how many times have I wrote articles about Blackberry Smoke? This is my sixth time seeing this band live, and I have spent a lot of my life studying this band.
My personal favorite album that they have ever made was “Whippoorwill” however the “You Hear Georgia” album was the album that contains my favorite song called “Hey Delilah”, which was played 6th or 7th. I basically enjoy the overall tempo and flow of this song, and how it fits into the entire set list of all of their shows. To my absolute delight, they play this song almost every show.
One of the many things that I like to study are the mechanics of the show itself, who does them and why and when. The lights..even the lights The entire show began with some of their more rowdy songs with that amazing well known Blackberry Smoke sound. For their entire time since they played small stages, I have loved Charlie Starr and what he does. I could go on for many years. ..his signature “Hey ya’ll on his black 57 (which reminds me of Ernest Tubb).
They come out to many of their upbeat songs like the ever popular ‘Good One Coming On'” from their “Little Piece Of Dixie” album from 2009, which I believe was their second album and the very first song I heard from them as this was the first album of theirs I found. “Hammer And Nail” was a new one from the 2024 “Be Right Here” which I am sure will adorn many a Top 2024 lists.
The Whipporwill is the album that gave us “Pretty Little Lie” where Charlie gets out that Bender and goes to town upon an audience along with the rest of the band who is Charlie Starr, Paul Jackson, Richard Turner, Brandon Still, Benji Shanks and Kent Aberle, and I’m going to mention Preston Holcomb who retired from touring last year.
You see here how the lights and lasers push along the initial show with colors? Colors mean things, and many times I can almost tell what song will come next that fit the narrative of the mood. Well, i have studied this band from the guitar side for a while now and I see so many set lists that I can easily tell ( within a few titles ) what the next song will be.
Right as the lights came out to accent songs like “Waiting For The Thunder, you know it is going to be a red and orange theme to represent “Like An Arrow” album from 2016. “Let It Burn” was played tonight along with “Best Seat In the House” …..Did you ever get the feeling you ain’t been dealt a good hand? I get you Charlie. I do. I get Blackberry Smoke.
After they played “Azalea” from the new album ( which is what I wanted more of live, because I have seen these live ), they did “Ole Scarecrow” and another called ” The Whipporwill” off that album. …I mean these songs are almost classic status to me. “Ain’t Got The Blues” with you guys and we love you so much brother Britt. Hey here are more pics.
I’m almost positive they were performing “Run Away” because Charlie has the black Jr. model. Like I said before, you notice how the blue lights embellish the middle of the flow of the entire show. Blue ( to me, and it may not be for you ) means a flow, and a place to gain an overall direction the set list takes you.
As we approached the end they concluded with ‘Up in Smoke” and “Little Bit Crazy” ( which I believe was the first single off the new album)? Their three encore songs were “Ain’t Much Left Of Me” and “Other Side Of The Light”, and they closed with “Jessica” to leave us in the spirit of the Allman Brothers.
