Charlie Starr from Blackberry Smoke brings the thunder to Shred With Shifty!!

Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr joins Shred With Shifty to deconstruct his solo on the Smoke’s 2016 track, “Waiting for the Thunder.”
Starr, whom Shifty credits with owning one of the best vintage guitar collections he’s ever seen, explains how he got into guitar at age six thanks to the influence of his dad, who was a bluegrass rhythm player. But he turned to his mum, the rocker in the family, to help him get his first electric guitar: a Mosrite copy which he played through his sister’s stereo with some old-school technical finessing. (He eventually blew the stereo, which didn’t go over well with his sibling.) Starr and Shifty swap stories about getting their kids into guitar-Starr’s son wasn’t interested until he played guitar hero, when he discovered Allman Brothers and Van Halen.
Starr says his playing has never been too bogged down in theory-“I know what sounds good to me and what feels good to me,” he says-and he details how he came to his hybrid picking, middle-finger “crutch” style of lead-playing. For the scorching solo on “Waiting for the Thunder,” off their 2016 record Like An Arrow, Starr messed around until he found the right shape and sound. He used a 50-watt 1976 Marshall JMP, running through a 4x12 cab with Celestion Greenback speakers, and the same guitar he’s playing in this episode: a 2014 Gibson Custom Shop Southern Rock Tribute Les Paul, an homage to the smooth riffing of Duane Allman, Gary Rossington, and Dicky Betts.
You can hear those southern rock pioneers in Starr’s solo, which starts in the low register before slinking its way up the neck to a blistering crescendo. “Tom Waits said, ‘Our hands are like dogs, and they go to familiar places,’” says Starr.
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Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

[@MillerThriller66]

I can’t believe I didn’t know about Charlie and BlackBerry Smoke. Totally awesome band and what a great guy. Definitely a fan.

[@Andy22882]

Charlie is the man, and he gave Uncle Larry a shout out!

[@markm668]

Charlie is one of the unsung hero’s of both songwriting and guitar. It puzzles me to this day why his band isn’t more successful. Thanks both, enjoyed that.

[@majorcornell3799]

I don’t think they care about Popularity. They have an extremely large following. They’re not radio friendly but that means nothing nowadays. It’s about the music and nothing else.

[@mineralt]

They are too cool for the modern world friend

[@flyingburritobro68]

They are highly successful and sell out 1500-2000 seaters all over the world and have had multiple Billboard #1 albums. They play 150 plus dates a year and have a strong merch line too- all done in house

[@s.trottier3239]

Charlie is da man!

[@pennymarlow9695]

Big fan of Charlie!

[@scottme6615]

Charlie has the magic touch for sure

[@davidsummerville351]

Really loving this channel. Thanks 😎🤓

[@christianmeza4529]

Great podcast.

[@robwarren4425]

Good to hear Tom B mentioned

[@mattaakre3644]

Been waiting for this one!! So cool to see you guys together!

[@richardchiapperini2527]

Just incredible talent

[@toneydavis9802]

I was so tuned in to this I forgot to comment. This was great. I learned my licks from wearing out a needle on an LP. I hope everyone appreciates what we have today.

[@EamonBJWyse]

Repping the Arsenal shirt :) Have that with 8 and Odegaard on the back. Hopefully we get our hands on a trophy this year. Sorry...guitar stuff now. Great video, as always.

[@monday6524]

I love Charlie and BlackBerry Smoke! They have such a great sound and songs that really grab my attention.

[@CyberManor]

Hey Chris, big fan. Just making a request for you to have Aaron Marshall from Intervals on your show. I think he'd be a great guest. Insanely talented guitar player and his band just dropped a new song called "mnemonic". I think it would be a great conversation between you two.

[@bluzzjazz]

Love Charlie's laid-back way of playing guitar. He can throw a little smoke too with tasty licks. I saw BBS not far from my house a couple summers ago at an outdoor venue. It was pretty awesome, and they sounded so tight.

[@user-et2fj8xm5l]

Hey Chris!! Where’s the rest brother???

[@devoredl]

Smear