- 4/23/2025
Talkin' Rock with Black Stone Cherry's Chris Robertson
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00:01Rock, metal, prog, and everything in between.
00:04If you're into rock, you've come to the right place.
00:07Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown.
00:11Don't forget to follow the audio-only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms.
00:15And now, it's time for today's conversation.
00:18Here's Meltdown.
00:20Hey, Chris, good to see you. Thanks for joining me.
00:23Yeah, man, glad to be here. How you doing?
00:24I'm doing well. You guys have a lot of stuff going on this year.
00:27We're going to talk about as much of it as we can,
00:29but you just mentioned before we started that you head out to Shiprock.
00:32Not a bad life.
00:34No, man, it's going to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to it.
00:37You know, the last cruise we got to do was early 2020,
00:41and then the world shut down.
00:43So we're hoping for a better outcome this time.
00:45Yeah, it's funny because I think that my wife and kids went on a cruise.
00:48It was around Valentine's Day 2020, right before that.
00:51So that was probably around this time. Was it also Shiprocked?
00:54I think it was. It was Shiprocked or a Southern Rock cruise.
00:59Those are one of the ones. Those are the ones that we've done the most.
01:02So it would have been one of those two, most likely.
01:04How many cruises have you done?
01:07Dude, I couldn't even tell you right off.
01:09I'm so bad with memory. It's not good.
01:13Well, I could tell you I've been on two.
01:15Nice.
01:16When you're up here in Detroit, you've got to get down to the south somehow,
01:19and, you know, you hop on these cruises.
01:20But you've got the show coming up here after your cruise at District 142
01:24of San Antonio. That comes up on Sunday, February 25th.
01:27So tell me what's going on with Blackstone Cherry.
01:29You've got the record that dropped last year.
01:31What's happening with you guys?
01:32Yeah, dude, new record out.
01:34We just dropped a new single called When the Pain Comes.
01:37So we're excited about that.
01:39Dude, look, we're a long time into this thing now.
01:44So the fact that we're still putting out new music
01:46and people still get excited about it,
01:48you can't really ask for much more than that at this point.
01:51You know, eight records deep.
01:53And people seem to be latching on to the music now as much as ever.
01:57So that's a great thing.
01:58The touring for the year is wide open.
02:01So everything seems to be looking good, man.
02:04Yeah, and I was just looking up you guys' stuff.
02:07You're from Edmonton, Kentucky, which is I think we're used to here for now.
02:10That looks like my kind of place.
02:12I might have to take a swing by there next time I drive down in Nashville.
02:15How far away are you from Nashville?
02:16A couple of hours?
02:17About two hours.
02:18We're kind of out in the middle of nowhere.
02:21But, you know, I love it, man.
02:22I've lived here my entire life.
02:25You know, we got a couple of little local restaurants,
02:28a McDonald's, a Pizza Hut, and six gas stations.
02:30But, you know, we got it going on.
02:34It's all right.
02:35Yeah.
02:35How does a kid growing up in the middle of nowhere become a rock fan?
02:39Man, you know, music, I think that's just the power of music.
02:42It speaks to everybody on its own terms, on its own time, and in its own way, you know.
02:48I grew up mainly around country music, honestly, you know, country and bluegrass stuff.
02:52My dad played, you know, in country cover bands around his whole life,
02:56and my grandpa played bluegrass.
02:58But I was the first guy to, you know, play rock and roll much in my family.
03:05And I don't know.
03:07I guess it just, the music that I fell in love with kind of took a hold of me,
03:11and I wanted to sound more like that than the country records that I liked.
03:15Yeah, I grew up in the sticks myself as well.
03:18And I think, I've talked about this before, but Ozzy's Crazy Train changed my life.
03:22That one song.
03:24Yeah, dude.
03:25I mean, I remember, you know, I was a kid in the MTV generation.
03:29So, you know, all through the 90s, you had great rock and roll being played on TV.
03:33And it was, it was something that was, you know, even though I lived out in the country,
03:38when we had cable, the times that we did, it was, you know, it was pretty awesome
03:43because music was easily accessible back then in a different way.
03:48You know, it was on TV in front of your face to where now you just pick up your phone
03:51and find whatever you want.
03:52Yeah.
03:53Yeah, my brother is a little bit younger than me.
03:54He taught himself how to play guitar by pausing where the guys, he'd pause the videos
03:59and he would see where they put their fingers.
04:01That's how he taught himself how to play all these years later, he's still playing.
04:04Dude, I, if YouTube would have been around when I was a kid, it would have been a game
04:08changer.
04:09Yeah.
04:09You know, I had to sit around and just pause records and start them over again or rewind
04:14cassettes.
04:15You know, it was, I wouldn't trade it for anything though.
04:18Yeah.
04:18Yeah.
04:19What was the first video that you remember seeing?
04:22Man, music videos.
04:24I'm trying to think.
04:26I mean, I don't know.
04:28I'm sure the first music video I ever saw was a CMT video, you know, something on country
04:34music.
04:36I don't remember specifically the first one.
04:40I guess the first memory I have that would have been probably the Kentucky Headhunters
04:44because they're from the same town, you know, and everybody around here knew who they were.
04:50And in the late eighties, early nineties, you couldn't turn on CMT without seeing them,
04:54you know, and so I would probably say the, probably the Dumas Walker video because it
04:59had the bouncing ball with the lyrics and stuff like that.
05:02It was, that was the one that stuck with me as a kid.
05:05And being from Kentucky and I, I feel embarrassed to even say this, but I was playing Jeopardy
05:09with my wife the other day, as we do all the time.
05:11And one of the questions came up about where the most whiskey is made or something.
05:15And I said, Tennessee, and she said, Kentucky.
05:17And I'm like, damn it.
05:18That's right.
05:19And I drink a lot of whiskey.
05:19But you guys have teamed up with Three Cord as well, haven't you?
05:24Yes, sir.
05:25Yes, sir.
05:25We've got our own Blackstone Cherry bourbon through them and it's pretty damn good stuff.
05:29I got to say, you know, it's nice on those cold winter nights.
05:34Yeah, for sure.
05:34Now, did you guys, did that just come about recently?
05:37Yeah, we just did a signing of bottles.
05:41I think it's only been out since the first of the year.
05:44Because we did a signing at a local liquor store a couple of weeks ago and it was a lot
05:47of fun, man.
05:48A lot of people come out and sold out of the bourbon and it was a good day.
05:52Now, that's the bourbon with Pat Benatar's husband, right?
05:57Yes, sir.
05:57Yes, sir.
05:57He's the guy that runs that whole thing, which is a really cool thing.
06:02You know what I mean?
06:02You can't get much more rock and roll than the queen of rock and roll herself.
06:05That's right.
06:06And it's like nowadays, it's like there's so many bands out there that have their own
06:10bourbons or beers or something like that.
06:11What prompted you guys to get into this?
06:14I mean, you know, we're from Kentucky and we all enjoy a little bit of bourbon every
06:18now and then.
06:20And it was something that we were approached with via our management and we really liked
06:25the idea of it.
06:26We liked the concept and the way it all came together.
06:29So it seemed like a no-brainer for us.
06:32Yeah.
06:32How important is it for you to remain kind of local?
06:36You're still there after all these years.
06:38I don't know anything else.
06:40As much as I enjoy traveling and seeing places and playing music in different places, anytime
06:46I go stay anywhere else, it's just an immediate realization that I couldn't live anywhere else.
06:53You know, that I really am so ingrained in the way of life that I've grown up in, you
07:00know, where it's really a slow pace and nobody's in a big hurry for anything.
07:05That's like, I just got back from a weekend trip to LA for the NAMM show and that is insanely
07:10wide open.
07:12Everybody's in a hurry, you know, and I'm so thankful to be back home.
07:15There's nothing against that.
07:16I love it for a couple of days, but after a couple of days, I'm like, okay, I need that
07:20slow down, you know, go sit on the front porch for a little while and just watch cars go
07:24down the road.
07:25Yeah, I am exactly with you.
07:26There's no question about that.
07:28So you're at NAMM.
07:29So what were you doing out there?
07:30Were you just kind of looking around or did you, were you out there working or what was going
07:34on?
07:35So I've got a new signature guitar that will be available.
07:39It's up for pre-order now on a couple sites, but it's coming out in March, I believe is
07:45the actual release date.
07:46But I've got a new signature guitar called the Starge with Chapman Guitars.
07:50And I went out to do a product demo and, you know, a little play and stuff like that.
07:54I had a good time, man.
07:56Yeah.
07:56Did you hit up any bars and see any of the other guys play?
08:00Man, I actually didn't.
08:01I was out there and I would do all the stuff I needed to do and, you know, talk to a lot
08:06of people about the guitar and different guitars throughout the day, hanging out.
08:10And then by the time we would go back, you know, because we were there from 9 a.m.
08:14or so until 6 p.m.
08:16when the show closed, you know, from open to close, it opened at 10 every day and then
08:20vendors could go in at 9 on some days.
08:24But, you know, when you're there that long during the day and you're talking to people
08:28all day, it's you want to go out at night.
08:31But, man, I ended up just going back to the Airbnb.
08:33We would have supper and it wouldn't be long.
08:35I'd be like, yeah, I think I want to go to sleep, man.
08:38I think I was still on the Kentucky schedule, too, though, where, you know, 10 p.m.
08:42was way more like midnight than 10 p.m.
08:44Yeah, there's yeah.
08:45That happens all the time.
08:46We go out to Vegas and stuff.
08:47Like the third day, I find myself crashing at like 7 o'clock and then waking back up at
08:52like 11 o'clock at night and going back out.
08:55Oh, yeah.
08:56I never been to that NAMM show.
08:57I saw a bunch of pictures, of course, on the Internet, Dave Ellison and all those guys
09:01were out there.
09:02And, you know, that sounds like a pretty cool event.
09:05Another cool.
09:05Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
09:06Another cool event you guys have coming up.
09:08You're going to be playing this Zach Wilde gig coming up in Pennsylvania in September,
09:12eh?
09:13Yeah, dude, the Berserkers Festival.
09:14That was a cool thing that got brought up to us to go out and do.
09:18And, you know, we've known, you know, Zach since 2006, 2007 when we toured with Black
09:25Label.
09:25And, you know, we played with them again a couple of times over the last few years.
09:30And it seems like more and more opportunities are popping up for us to jam with them again.
09:35So we're excited about that, man.
09:36You know, I'd be happy to play a show with them and Rival Sons, Cody Jinks, all the great
09:40bands on the bill.
09:41Yeah, that does look like a really cool event.
09:43That's happened in the middle of September.
09:45Maybe a road trip for some people to get out there and check that out.
09:47Oh, yeah.
09:49Yeah.
09:49So what else?
09:50What else you got going on during the summer this year?
09:51You guys hopping on a tour somewhere?
09:52Man, we are I know we're going to Europe for some for some festivals and stuff.
09:58And then we typically try to, you know, go outside of the U.S. a couple of times a year
10:05for our touring plans.
10:07And then we're just going to be on the road.
10:09You know, I mean, the record came out and I mean, that's just our plan is to tour it
10:15until it's time to make another record, you know.
10:17And as years past have shown, that's that's that's kind of our mantra.
10:22We're always on the road, you know, as much as we can be anyway.
10:26Yeah.
10:26You're definitely one of those road dog bands, aren't you?
10:29Dude, that's I mean, that's kind of how we've stuck around all these years.
10:32You know, it's we've we've we've been back and forth, you know, whether we've had success
10:37at radio or not.
10:38So it's always been you know, we've always been extremely grateful and thankful for the
10:42success.
10:42Yes, we do get there, but we've also always had to go out and just play live shows, you
10:47know, from the get go, man.
10:49But it's I love it because, you know, it's it's new faces every time it seems like, you
10:54know, and it just continues to build.
10:56So we're we're happy as hell, man, to still be doing it all these years later and still
11:00getting the love and support that we've been getting.
11:03Yeah, it's crazy.
11:05We the last couple of singles we've put out, we've ended up getting, you know, the most
11:09added several weeks and stuff like that.
11:11So it's been a nice refresh and kickback up for us.
11:15Yeah, I was going to say, after all these years, you still enjoy hopping on the tour
11:18bus.
11:19Yeah, dude, we love it.
11:20I mean, that's that's what we live for.
11:21We're all excited as hell to get on a plane in the morning and go to Miami and go play
11:26some concerts.
11:27Yeah.
11:28And that's right.
11:29That's yeah, that's the one we're going to we're going to get on it.
11:30The cruise.
11:32Mm hmm.
11:32Yeah.
11:33I mean, dude, it's we're we're we're we love it.
11:36I mean, we we truly love playing music.
11:38It's not just yes, it's the way we we provide, you know, for our families.
11:43But it's also the one thing that we wanted to do, even when we weren't making any money
11:49doing it, you know, and when we don't make any money doing it, we still go do it and love
11:53it.
11:53You know, who else is playing Shiprock this year?
11:55Uh, I know Killswitch is on there.
11:59Uh, Dorothy.
12:02Uh, it's it's it's a long list of bands, man, a lot of really great bands, but I can't remember
12:07them all off the top of my head.
12:08But I do remember I know Killswitch is doing their meet and greet at the same because they
12:12have a couple of different meet and greets on the boat and we're doing the same one that
12:16they are.
12:16So we're all excited about that.
12:18We'll probably try to sneak in line.
12:19Um, and then, uh, I know Dorothy's on there and there's, uh, I think the warning or maybe
12:27I read that wrong.
12:27I know Ava under fire.
12:29Oh, yeah.
12:29They're from here.
12:31Yeah.
12:31A lot of, a lot of newer bands, man.
12:34It's going to be fun.
12:35Yeah.
12:36Yeah.
12:36A lot of bands I haven't got to check out live yet too, you know, cause I, when we tour a
12:40lot of times we're either headlining or we'll go out and play with bands like Skinner,
12:44disease, top that we're doing later in the year and stuff like that.
12:47So, you know, we haven't got to tour with a lot of the, the younger, younger bands.
12:51I mean, dude, our first record came out in 06.
12:53So I'm sitting here looking going, okay, some of these bands first record came out last
12:57year, right?
12:58So it's, it's, it's, but I love it, man.
13:00You know, it keeps you knowing that rock and roll is still alive and well.
13:03Yeah.
13:04So, uh, you know, you just, you just mentioned that Ava under fire there from here.
13:07Uh, do you have any connection to any Detroit, uh, rock musics or a lot of music has come
13:12out of this area, man.
13:14One of my favorite bands, I want to think a big, several of them, at least were around
13:22that area, a band called Cactus in the seventies.
13:24Oh yeah.
13:24And that band was a massive, massive influence on our whole band.
13:31Really?
13:32Um, MC five or Detroit band too.
13:34Right.
13:34Aren't they up around that area?
13:35Yeah.
13:35They're from, uh, Ann Arbor, but yeah, Detroit.
13:37Yeah.
13:38Yeah, dude.
13:39I mean, it's, it's just that, I don't know, both those bands had that like F you mentality.
13:44You know what I mean?
13:44Kind of just, I don't know.
13:46It's kind of like, I tell you what you get of bands from that kind of area.
13:52It reminds me of that same attitude that bands from Birmingham, England have.
13:56It's a steel town and it's, but it's like a working class town.
14:01You know what I mean?
14:01And there's just a different kind of attitude in the music that comes out of there.
14:06And, and the music from bands like Cactus and MC five, and even you look at Eminem or dudes
14:13like Kid Rock, stuff like that.
14:15It was all about attitude for those bands.
14:18You know what I mean?
14:18And I really think that you get that and really hard of part of the, the, the people working
14:25class kind of areas.
14:26Yeah.
14:27And you probably noticed that in the crowds too, right?
14:29I mean, the Midwest anytime that we can come up and play the machine shop.
14:34And we know that when we get to Flint up in that area, that it is going to be absolutely
14:39insane.
14:40Yeah.
14:42Yeah.
14:42Kevin and the guys do a great job up there.
14:43I love going.
14:44Oh yeah.
14:45Dude.
14:45Since 06, we've been doing it and I hope it never stops.
14:49Yeah.
14:49Well, I'll send that, I'll send that along to Kevin and we'll see you at district 142
14:53here in Detroit.
14:54You know, Kevin and Julie are kind of working together with, between those.
14:58So yeah.
14:59So it's, so they're a couple hours apart.
15:01Yeah.
15:02You're coming through town with a St.
15:03Sonia and that district one 42, by the way, is a really nice.
15:07It just opened up last year.
15:08So you'll be able to check that out.
15:09Yeah, dude.
15:09I've got some friends up in Detroit and they were telling me that it's a super nice, super
15:13awesome venue.
15:14So yeah, it's really cool, man.
15:16Yeah.
15:17And they got some, they got some makers mark in there.
15:19That's, that's their, uh, that's their, that's their drink.
15:22Dip it in red wax.
15:23Golly.
15:23That's tough.
15:24Good.
15:24You'd get me every now and then that stuff make me mean.
15:27I don't know about that.
15:28I do.
15:30I do like a good tequila, a good bourbon though.
15:34Yeah.
15:34Well have some on the, uh, have some on the ship for me.
15:37Okay.
15:38Oh, you best believe I'm going to drink a lot.
15:39I do like a good tequila, a good tequila, a good tequila, a good tequila, a good tequila.
15:45I do like a good tequila, a good tequila, a good tequila, a good tequila, a good tequila.
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