Black Stone Cherry is set to release its sixth studio album, “Family Tree,” on April 20 via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. “Burnin’,” the first musical taste of the new collection is available today, along with the ability to pre-order the release in various physical and digital formats. Check out the lyric video below and pick up your digital version here. Physical album formats, including a U.K. exclusive clear vinyl option limited to 1,500 copies, are available here.
“Family Tree” is the follow-up to 2016’s “Kentucky,” which debuted at number 5 on the Official UK Album Chart. Like “Kentucky,” Black Stone Cherry opted to self-produce and track “Family Tree” at David Barrick’s Barrick Recording in Glasgow, Kentucky, the same studio where the four-piece recorded its eponymous debut. BSC also opted to not over-rehearse upfront of the album sessions, instead preferring the immediacy and spontaneity of in-the-moment takes. The band also entrusted frontman Chris Robertson to mix the songs, which perfectly fit the loose, creative process that birthed the album.
“Family Tree” boasts BSC’s tried-and-true lucky number with its 13 songs, and like all BSC releases, features songwriting contributions from each member.
“’Family Tree’ showcases all of our collective musical influences and how we have taken those to create something that is truly our own unique Southern American rock ‘n’ roll sound,” said drummer John Fred Young.
Two special guests appear, one bringing the concept of family full circle. Robertson’s 5-year-old son contributes backup vocals on the swaggering “You Got the Blues,” while the other, revered jam-band musician Warren Haynes (Allman Bros/Gov’t Mule) offers a guitar cameo and vocals on the delta stomp of “Dancing in the Rain.” The band first met Haynes 17 years ago as freshly signed youngsters on their first visit to New York City.
The concept of family looms large in the world of Black Stone Cherry’s four band members. Young’s father Richard and his uncle Fred are founding members of the Grammy Award-winning country rock ‘n’ roots band, The Kentucky HeadHunters. BSC’s four high school-aged friends–Young, Robertson, guitarist Ben Wells and bassist Jon Lawhon–grew up honing their craft in the Headhunters’ Practice House, an abandoned property on the Young family’s farmland.
“We grew up in the Kentucky Headhunters’ rehearsal space, looking up at posters of Cream, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, the Stones, Montrose and the Faces,” Young said. “We were like kids someone took in a time capsule and put in the woods,”
“Family Tree” track listing:
1. “Bad Habit”
2. “Burnin’”
3. “New Kinda Feelin”
4. “Carry Me on Down the Road”
5. “My Last Breath”
6. “Southern Fried Friday Night”
7. “Dancin’ in the Rain” (featuring Warren Haynes)
8. “Ain’t Nobody”
9. “James Brown”
10. “You Got the Blues”
11. “I Need a Woman”
12. “Get Me Over You”
13. “Family Tree”