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The Latest Breaking News from Charlie Starr

“Legend has it that, while recording, Clarence said, ‘Hey, I need another finger to play this chord!’” Charlie Starr on the origins of the B-Bender – and how you can play those licks without one

No B-Bender, no problem, as the Blackberry Smoke frontman shows us 9 licks for that faux pedal-steel sound

Guitar World

“Many guitarists are wary of getting into slide playing. This is a great way to dive in”: How to play slide guitar in standard tuning

Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke demonstrates how slide playing in standard and drop D tuning can be the best of both worlds

Guitar World

“The chord shapes are a little different than normal, but therein lies the beauty of an open tuning”: Charlie Starr’s open G slide soloing masterclass

In his latest GW column, the Blackberry Smoke guitarist shows us how open G frees us up from the same tired old note choices

Guitar World

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Watch Blackberry Smoke pay tribute to Gary Rossington with the guitar used during the recording of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird

Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr plays Free Bird and Tuesday's Gone on 1961 Gibson Les Paul/SG guitar in pro-shot video

Louder

Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: July 28, 2025

Eight songs you need to hear right now, from Tuk Smith, Blues Pills, The Vintage Caravan and more

Louder

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears, some people sound better than all of us playing a cheap Squier Stratocaster”: Charlie Starr on guitar collecting, his vintage Juniors theory – and the time he was gifted a ’58 Les Paul

The Blackberry Smoke guitarist reveals his greatest guitar triumphs, the pitfalls and blessings of his Les Paul Junior addiction, and his outright disdain of “bad amps”

Guitar World

“And so the first thing I do is put it in the middle position and play Oh Well”: Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on that time he brought Duane Allman’s 1957 Les Paul to a Metallica show and ended up playing Kirk Hammett's Greeny

Starr's first Metallica show was in 1989. His second was in 2019, and involved two of the most iconic Les Pauls of all time, and it was the day he learned Hetfield sounds the same through a Princeton

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The best new rock songs you need to hear right now

Featuring Joe Bonamassa, Mark Morton & Charlie Starr, The Darkness and five other tattooed beat messiahs

Louder

“He only really ever played Free Bird on that guitar. I broke rank”: Charlie Starr on the spiritual moment he played Gary Rossington’s famed ‘Free Bird’ 1961 Gibson SG

Starr had the chance to use Rossington’s iconic Gibson to perform a Lynyrd Skynyrd medley last year, after it was announced the Les Paul/SG would be loaned out to a host of players for live use

Guitar World

“No one has ever played these instruments live other than Gary”: Gary Rossington’s ‘Free Bird’ Les Paul/SG will be loaned out for a series of A-list gigs – and Blackberry Smoke have already used it for a Lynyrd Skynyrd medley

The Chicago Music Exchange is working with Rossington’s family to help put the iconic guitar in the hands of big-name players, in a new initiative that aims to honor the late Southern rock icon’s legacy

Guitar World

“The Black Crowes got thrown off the ZZ Top tour. We picked up where they left off…Every night the tour manager warned us when the explosions were going to go off”: Michelle Malone gave up sax for guitar – and had John Mayer “begging” to join her shows

With her 20th album looming, the raw Americana player looks back on working with Albert King and Blackberry Smoke members, her ever-loving vintage gear and running her own label

Guitar World

"We're taking a step back from the soap opera": The ongoing saga with The Quireboys ends as the Black Eyed Sons emerge from the wreckage

Members of The Quireboys and Down n' Outz combine for an all-star album featuring Joe Elliott, Ryan Roxie, Charlie Starr and more

Louder

"Nobody wants a reggae or a hip-hop record from us": How Blackberry Smoke keep moving forwards

Still dealing with the sad loss of their drummer, southern rockers Blackberry Smoke are gearing up for a European tour

Louder

“It’s beaten, and it’s a Frankenstein. It’s got a lot of modifications and changed parts…This guitar is a recreation of that idea”: Gibson launches the Charlie Starr Les Paul Junior

Available in Dark Walnut or Ebony, limited to 250 units, with an adjustable wraparound bridge as an intonation fail-safe, the Blackberry Smoke frontman's new model is a primo rock 'n' roll guitar

MusicRadar

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Guitar World

“Dave Cobb had just done the last Slash record with walls of Marshall stacks, which got ungodly loud – I don’t think we used anything bigger than an 8” speaker!” Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on why downsizing his backline made for bigger tones

Blackberry Smoke’s frontman, guitarist and compulsive gearhead explains why using little amps “creates a whole different experience”

MusicRadar

"It was love at first feel, to quote Bon Scott": Charlie Starr is getting a signature Gibson Les Paul Junior – and it's a stunner

Two finishes and based on the neck profile and spec of Starr's mainstay modded 1956 Junior

Louder

"We walked into the control room to listen to the first track, and everybody was grinning, like: 'Okay, this will work'": Charlie Starr on music, life, and two decades of Blackberry Smoke

Album number eight Be Right Here is a rebirth for the southern country rock family of Blackberry Smoke as they reflect on almost a quarter of a century of keeping their dream alive

MusicRadar

"Brit was Blackberry Smoke’s True North, the compass that instituted the ideology that will continue to guide this band": Blackberry Smoke drummer Brit Turner dies, aged 57

Atlanta stalwart's death following cancer battle confirmed by band

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Louder

Blackberry Smoke drummer Brit Turner dead at 57

The death of Blackberry Smoke's founding drummer Brit Turner after a battle with cancer has been confirmed by the band

Louder

"I love those memories. The ten thousand hours that we spent together being crazy, being wild": As Blackberry Smoke release their eighth album, Charlie Starr looks back on the band's early days

Blackberry Smoke's new album Be Right Here is out today

Louder

The best new rock songs you need to hear right now, including Blackberry Smoke, The Answer, Crossbone Skully and more

Eight new songs that are better than eight other new songs we could have picked because there were a helluva lot of new songs this week make no mistake

Louder

Blackberry Smoke announce new album Be Right Here, launch Dig A Hole single

Southern rock lynchpins Blackberry Smoke will release their eighth album Be Right Here next year

Chicago Sun-Times

Blackberry Smoke anniversary show revisits ‘The Whippoorwill’

The band has been touring relentlessly, drawing fans to the flames of their melting-face medley of blues rock, outlaw country, honky tonk jams and rootsy R&B.

Boston Herald

Blackberry Smoke keeps classic Southern rock thriving

BOSTON — The Georgia band Blackberry Smoke never set out to be the standard-bearers for classic-model Southern rock. It just wound up happening that way.

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