ONSTAGE
Charlie Starr and Benji Shanks The Foundry, Athens, GA January 3, 2019
Every year during Blackberry Smoke’s
Christmas break, Charlie Starr and his good friend Benji Shanks do a short run of acoustic shows. Last year (2018) was my first experi- ence at one of these shows and it was so good that when I got home from that first show I searched out and bought tickets to attend the last one. This year, no dates had been an- nounced and my wife and I decided to book the southern rock cruise for an early anniver- sary trip, not ever thinking that might cause me to miss my goal of doing all three acoustic shows.
Once the cruise was booked and we had
planned to leave for Florida a few days early and spend some time with family, the acoustic show dates were announced and as fate would have it I was going to miss all three of these amazing shows. My wife, being the outstanding woman she is, saw my distress and asked what was wrong. I explained every- thing, and without batting an eye, she said to buy the tickets, call the family and change the plans - we were going to Athens! We met up with some of our Georgia
Tribe, and went into the Foundry. It’s a small, quaint building with a upper and lower level that makes every seat "the best seat in the house." Levi Lowery opened the show, telling stories and playing some songs from through- out his amazing career. I love to hear about the songs and the stories behind them, and Levi was perfect in his delivery of both his music and his story telling. Be sure to check out Levi’s music at
leviloweryoffical.com, or on Facebook or on any of the streaming serv- ices. We hope to have an interview with Levi coming in a upcoming issue. Charlie seems to love doing these
Scott and Vicki Greene with Charlie Starr.
shows as much as we the fans love him doing them. It’s the interaction and the stories I love the most. You just can’t get that in a full- on rock and roll show. I also love it when we get hear songs as they were written before Charlie brings them in to the whole band and they get rocked up. Hearing how a song sounded on just an acoustic guitar changes how I hear it in its final released version. A perfect example of that is the song “Wish in One Hand.” Hearing this song in its stripped down, naked, simple sound changed how I now hear that song when I play the record. I wish I had planned ahead enough to get a set list, but I wasn’t even thinking about a review, I was just enjoying time with my honey, our Georiga tribe and the beauty of the simple, stripped down, pure musical talent that is Charlie Starr, Benji Shanks and Levi Lowery. If you ever get the chance to see one of these rare acoustic evenings with Charlie, don’t hes- itate, buy the ticket I promise you won’t be disappointed. The whole Blackberry Smoke band is preparing for a run of acoustic shows, so be sure to check out the tour dates at
blackberrysmoke.com and grab your tickets before they are all gone.
-Scott Greene
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