Blackberry Smoke played the Diamond Ballroom on October 2nd, 2019 with special guests The Record Company. The show was part of the bands Till The Wheels Fall Off Tour that began on September 19th in Asheville, North Carolina. Blackberry Smoke has been together since their debut in 2004, and since then, the band has independently released six full-length records and has toured relentlessly, building a strong and loyal community of fans. Those fans showed up for a remarkable set at the Diamond Ballroom.

The Record Company is a three-piece blues and rock infused band hailing from Los Angles, California. Members include Chris Vos (vocals, guitars, lap steel, harmonica), Alex Stiff (bass, vocals), and Marc Cazorla (drums, vocals). The Record Company played a high energy, badass, forty-five-minute set that included tunes off their first full-length album, Give It Back To You, from 2016. The album spent forty-two weeks on both the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart and the Nielsen Alternative New Artist Chart. Give It Back To You was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2017. The band also played “Baby, I’m Broken,” a single that reached number six on the Adult Alternative Songs Chart and “Life To Fix,” the lead single off their second studio album, All Of This Life. Go see this band. One of the best opening sets that I have seen to date. The Record Company will get the blood pumping and got the night started off right.

As the “Brothers and Sisters” gathered closer to the rail, Blackberry Smoke took the Diamond Ballroom stage. The set was on fire right out of the gate with “Six Ways to Sunday,” “Fire In The Hole,” and “Payback’s a Bitch.” The twenty-song set also included the bands most popular tunes, “Let It Burn,” “Best Seat In The House,” and from the band’s acclaimed 2012 album, The Whippoorwill, “One Horse Town.” The set also included “You Got Lucky,” a Tom Petty rendition, that was fitting for the anniversary of the late, great singer/songwriter’s death, and is off of the bands most recent, six song EP, The Southern Ground Sessions. The sessions were a follow up to Blackberry Smoke’s most recent, critically acclaimed, full length record, Find A Light. The album debuted as the best-selling Country and Americana/Folk album in the country, entered at number three on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and number two on the Billboard Americana/Folk Albums chart.

Blackberry Smoke has been on the touring circuit for just under twenty years and that experience can be seen and heard from the audience’s point of view. The band is one of the best on the road today, in any genre, and are releasing a brand-new live album/DVD package next month. The performance video comes from the band’s new project Homecoming: Live In Atlanta, a live album and concert film, which will be released on November 15. The show was recorded at their annual “Brothers and Sisters Holiday Homecoming” show at Atlanta’s Tabernacle last November and is now available for pre-order. OKR will have a full review of the album before the release. Blackberry Smoke is Charlie Starr (vocals, guitar), Richard Turner (bass, vocals), Brit Turner (drums), Paul Jackson (guitar, vocals), and Brandon Still (keyboards).