Blackberry Smoke Says It Will Go On After Brit Turner's Death: 'We Wouldn't Exist Without His Drive'

The last time Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr saw his longtime girlfriend and bandmate Brit Turner at Turner's Atlanta home. The drummer, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2022, was in hospice care, but Starr had some rare good news to share.

“I told him our record was number one,” says Starr Rolling rock. “And his eyes grew very large. He had actually stopped talking at that point. [But] it was obvious to me that he knew what I had told him.'

Just days later, on March 3, Turner died after a courageous battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. He was 57 years old. Following the news, Blackberry Smoke postponed a handful of dates on their national tour, which is scheduled to resume on March 14 in West Des Moines, Iowa. The band, Starr says, will continue.

“We knew we were going to keep going because that was it [Brit] I would like to,” says Starr. “We've all worked hard, nobody harder than him to build this thing – if we decided to stop, it would be a shame.”

Blackberry Smoke's latest release Be here made a strong showing on the charts when it dropped last month. Produced by Dave Cobb, it's the most accessible and sonically diverse offering to date from the Southern torchbearers – more rock than country, more country than Americana. At their core, Blackberry Smoke remain an honest rock band.

“Rock and roll music — I get up, put it on, listen to it and play it every day. I do nothing but eat every day,” says Starr. “I can't wait to go play my old guitars and vintage amps because it's so good. There's a sound and a feeling it makes, what a mystery.”

Be here marks Turner's final recordings with the band he founded nearly 25 years ago.

“It's kind of a whirlwind of emotions around here,” says Starr. “That was his passion. He worked tirelessly. I wish people could somehow see the dedication he had for this band.”

Starr can't help but smile as he talks at length about Blackberry Smoke's humble beginnings in Atlanta in 1997. “Back then, we all partied really hard,” laughs the 49-year-old Starr. “And they get a little blurry.”

At the time, Starr was an aspiring guitarist from rural Alabama who wanted to strike out somewhere, somehow. While playing in another band, the leader of that band invited Starr to a recording studio and graphic design business — owned by Brit Turner.

“Came across [Brit] and the Black Crowes at the same time,” Starr recalls. “They were all together, the Crowes in his rehearsal studio doing pre-production for it By your side album.”

That same night Starr also met Turner's brother Richard, a talented bass player who, along with Brit, was highly regarded in the Atlanta metal and hard rock scene for their band Nihilist. The band Starr was playing at this time hired the brothers and they cut an album. It failed to take off, but Starr and the Turners had formed a bond.

“Brit, Richard and I really connected musically. We really enjoyed the racket we made together, so we started rehearsing as a three-pointer,” says Starr.

After jamming on a few songs that would eventually appear on Blackberry Smoke's 2003 debut album, Bad luck is not a crime, the band added guitarist Paul Jackson to become a quartet. Keyboardist Brandon Still later joined and, led by Turner, the group began to draw from a rich musical palette.

“[Brit] He loved Elton John records as much as he loved Slayer records,” says Starr. “He could sit down and play Agnostic Front, but serving the song like Levon Helm or Ringo Starr. He was a very musical drummer.”

Looking back on those early years, Starr is amazed by Turner's relentless drive to make the band successful and make sure everyone else took the opportunity just as seriously. “We were all going in [our] thirty and says, “This is going to be our last swing at it because we're not 18 anymore,” Starr says. “And I'm glad he did, because it was a good swing.”

Turner played his last show with Blackberry Smoke on November 24, 2023, at the Coca-Cola Roxy in the band's hometown of Atlanta. During “Little Bit Crazy,” a psychedelic rocker went wild Be here, his young daughter Lana, a cancer survivor, joined the group on vocals. “Britt was so proud,” Starr says during a short pause, choking back a few tears. (Proceeds from every Blackberry Smoke VIP meet and greet on the tour go to Lana Turner Foundationa non-profit organization created by Turner to aid children's cancer research.)

“It was already heavy, since he kept doing this thing,” Starr says of touring while Turner was undergoing treatment. “It was very difficult without the Briton. But it will go on – every show we play will be dedicated to him.”

Kent Aberle, who has filled in for Turner at some shows since his diagnosis in 2022, will remain behind the kit for the foreseeable future.

“Kent is an old friend,” Starr says. “He's a great drummer and a very respected player like the Brit.”

While the entire Blackberry Smoke family is shocked by the loss of their center of gravity, they are grateful for the time they spent with Turner — on stage, on the road and on the same page.

“I want people to remember how hard-working the Brit was and what a big heart. He was a selfless giver,” says Starr. “We wouldn't exist without his drive. He kind of taught us how.”