Black Stone Cherry with guests Shaman's Harvest, Rainchild, American Swindle BLACK STONE CHERRY BIO The Kentucky-bred hard rockers in Black Stone Cherry have had their music blared from speakers large and small, toured relentlessly with the likes of Nickelback and Motörhead, and debuted at #1 on the UK rock chart with their sophomore release, 2008's Folklore and Superstition. In the face of these successes, the band members decided to put themselves to the ultimate test for the creation of their third full-length, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: they took a year off from touring and focused all their energy on songwriting. Holed up in their rehearsal space, dubbed The Practice House, which in actuality is a rundown farmhouse, the quartet—vocalist Chris Robertson, guitarist Ben Wells, bassist Jon Lawhon and drummer John Fred Young—crafted almost 50 songs of soaring, Southern-fried hard rock about everything from being proud of where you come from and true to who you are, on lead single "White Trash Millionaire," to songs like the rip roaring "Blame It On The Boom Boom," that will make you want to jump up and shake what your mama gave ya. The album that Black Stone Cherry emerged with is a blistering set of intoxicating anthems, much like a modern version of their heroes in Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Marshall Tucker Band, whose 1975 country-rock classic "Can't You See" has been revamped by the band for this go 'round. They poured everything they could into building the strongest hooks and the most passionate lyrics, both of which come through stunningly in songs like "Won't Let Go" and "Like I Roll." And they found inspiration in the pictures of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cream, Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters that Young's dad, Richard Young, and uncle, Fred Young—founding members of classic country rockers the Kentucky Headhunters—pinned to the walls of The Practice House when they formed the band as teenagers over a decade ago. For as hard as Black Stone Cherry worked, the most difficult part was taking off a year from touring. "This past year was the longest break from touring that we've ever taken, since forming the band," Wells says. "Being in one place for so long was something we had to readjust to, but looking back, it gave us a chance to reflect, re-bond as brothers and craft the best songs we absolutely could." Young adds, "It took being home with all these great people we love to create kick ass rock n roll like we do!" Armed with an impressive arsenal of tracks, Black Stone Cherry pulled off another first-time personal feat: they recorded Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (an Old English euphemism for choosing between two undesirable situations) thousands of miles from home, in Los Angeles. Under the friendly watch of producer extraordinaire Howard Benson (Theory of a Deadman, Daughtry, Three Days Grace), the bandmates tightened up their oeuvre in the studio. In fact, being on the opposite coast with Benson was how "In My Blood" came about. The song is a heartfelt auto-biographical tale about being drawn to living life on the road, despite missing family and friends. "Howard said he was missing one more song from us, one that came from our hearts," Wells says. "We sat at his house and he just pulled it out of us. We wrote it in 20 minutes." During the recording of the album, Benson guided them to play nontraditional instruments like mandolins, banjos and drums bought from an old high school marching band.