BLACK STONE CHERRY / THEM DIRTY ROSES / AYRON JONES – LIVE
By Kat Gullage
Black Stone Cherry brought their “The Celebrate Tour” to The Webster in Hartford CT bringing along Them Dirty Roses and Ayron Jones.
What’s a Saturday night meant for, if not dancing, laughing, and partying with a high energy southern rock performance? That’s exactly what Black Stone Cherry delivered to us with country rock band Them Dirty Roses and my personal favorite up and comer, future hall of famer, Ayron Jones, for support.
Ayron Jones is Hendrix and Kravitz wrapped up in Seattle grunge vibes. His music is Raw. Real. Filthy. He has four LPs but his too short six song set tapped into the two main ones, Child Of The State (2021) and Chronicles Of The Kid (2023). I failed to take notes during his set because I did the only appropriate thing: lost my shit and went wild the entire time. That’s how good he is. The tracks were “On Two Feet I Stand”, “Emily”, “Filthy”, and “Blood In The Water” followed by his most well known cuts, “Mercy” and “Take Me Away”.
He was accompanied by the relentlessly positive and upbeat bassist, Bob Lovelace, whose energy and comically long guitar only amplified the performance, and talented percussionist, Malachi “Big Zeus” Johnson on drums. I implore you to listen to Ayron’s studio stuff and know that his live show hits even harder.
Hailing originally from Alabama, Them Dirty Roses were up next. A country rock outfit featuring brothers James Ford on lead vocals and guitar and Frank Ford on drums. Their childhood friends rounded out the lineup with Ben Crain on bass and Andrew Davis on lead axe. Their eight song set dipped into all three of their LPs: Lost In The Valley Of Hate & Love, Volumes 1 & 2 and their self-titled release, Them Dirty Roses.
Their set opened with a too long intro that I couldn’t decipher through my ear plugs before they finally kicked into “Candle In The Dark”. James yelled “Connecticut, wass goin on?” and got a respectable response. I’m not a country music fan per se, and their sound leaned more that way, but their live show exceeded my expectations. Crain, who also handled back up vocals, barked “Yo mother fuckers, make some fucking noise!” which launched into “Grew Up In The Country”, “Good Life” and “A Bad Hand”.
Crain got fired up again and inquired “How we feelin’ out there? I said how we feelin’ out there?!?” before they rolled through “Sunday Drunk” and “Highway My Home”. James addressed the delegation of loyal TDR fans again “Make some noise you’re at a rock show! First time we’re playin up here (in CT). If you know the song, sing it with us!” “Cocaine And Whiskey” was the tune, their fans did indeed know it, as they belted it out word for word and were rewarded with a “Bring it back to me” back and forth with the singer.
Crain hollered at us again “Connecticut you alive out there?!” before James gave shout outs to all the groups on the bill and his band members, which seemed like it took an hour. He then said something in Alabamian that I couldn’t translate before they closed the set with “Shake It”. I’d spoken with James prior to the show and challenged him to get me movin during his set. I must admit that I toe tapped and bounced a coupla times! If country rock is your thing, Them Dirty Roses is your new jam.
While country may not be my thing, I absolutely like southern rock and I’ve been a Black Stone Cherry fan since I heard the first note of “Lonely Train” back in 06. That fandom has never wavered through eight studio albums packed with hits. And they have a new EP, Celebrate, on the way! The foursome from Kentucky made for one helluva Saturday night! Frontman Chris Robertson (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Ben Wells (Lead Guitar), Steve Jewell Jr. (Bass) and John Fred Young (Drums) wasted no time and dove right into a tight sixteen song set that gave us a taste of their whole discography.
They opened with “Me And Mary Jane” (Magic Mountain), “Burnin’” (Family Tree) and “Again” (The Human Condition). I was at the barricade and could’ve sworn I heard Chris mutter “shit” but he didn’t miss a beat as he declared “Let’s go back to Screamin’ At The Sky,” which led straight into “When The Pain Comes”.
The singer then asked “How ya doin? Ya havin a good fuckin time? It’s Saturday night! And we put out a single two days ago and you know what that means. “Celebrate” is the name of the song, tour, EP, etc. Pre-order it, do yer research.” We got to hear “Celebrate” performed live for only the second time which was very cool. It carried that signature Black Stone Cherry stamp that makes you wanna do just that, celebrate. “Thank you very much. How many Black Stone Cherry fans from the beginning?” The majority of the room shot their hands up.
“This is from 2008.” Cue two from Folklore And Superstition with “Blind Man” and “Devil’s Queen”. All the guitarists broke into solos and flashed their skills. Steve brought the old school thrash head banging vibes, Ben just bounded all over the fucking place and Chris ripped a solo that had a Eddie Van Halen thread in it. The energy and musicianship were just WOW.
“Like I Roll” (Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea) came next and was fittingly also the name of one of the signature cocktails they offered at the gig, of which I had a few. Another Between cut was up with “Stay” before their cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” (The Human Condition, Deluxe Edition). I am not a fan of covers. This rendition was stellar. Bravo!
Their hit off of Kentucky “Cheaper To Drink Alone” had a drum solo sandwiched in the middle of it. And I may have done shots out of my photographer’s cleavage. We were “celebrating”! We met at a BSC gig! Chris reminded us, “I toldja we put out two new songs, here’s the other one, “Neon Eyes”.” They took it right into “In My Blood”. Ben grabbed the mike and announced “Look we’ve just been teasing you, that was all just advertising up till now, here’s the real show!”
The fan favorites hit hard with “White Trash Millionaire” and “Blame It On The Boom Boom”, everyone bounced and sang every word. The boys congregated a bit and complimented the audience. Steve mentioned he saw an Elly De La Cruz shirt out there. It was me! I’m a lowly Cincinnati sports fan in Connecticut and I’m obsessed with the shortstop and his amazing physical abilities. Thank you so much Steve! That’s the best thing that’s come from wearing Cincy gear all season!
The foursome gave us one more, the song that made me a fan in the first place, “Lonely Train” from the self titled Black Stone Cherry, before they took their final bows. I’ve seen them multiple times and it’s always that much fun. If you haven’t listened to them yet, we forgive you but add em to your playlist. Established fan? Do yer research and pre-order Celebrate. Haven’t seen em live yet? You’re missing a damn good time. Highly recommend.
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