Music Fuels My Soul And Black Stone Cherry Is My Number 1 Band!
Hello Music Fans it is I, TFG1Mike… And I’m here to give you my Top 21 Black Stone Cherry Songs I listened to back in 2021. I’ve had this playlist in Spotify for 3 years now! This is not gonna be a “countdown” in the traditional sense. These are the #1 to #21 songs I listened to in 2021 from BSC. So they are in sorta in a setlist order. Honorable mention goes to a track from the 2018 “Family Tree” album and that is “New Kinda Feelin'” I use this track to get me walking and everything in the mornings!
1. “Ringin’ In My Head” I used this as my lead off track for this playlist, because this song…. It just sums up the whole pandemic we all experienced! From the opening lines, through to the the entire rest of the song:
“People, people, your attention, please
I need to tell all y’all about a new disease
It’s crept right up from beneath our nose
And what happens next, we already know”
I’ve said this when I wrote up “The Human Condition” album review years ago… what a kick in the ears starting track, and that backbeat that begins the track through the opening verse above…. Just wow! It’s like Black Stone Cherry are always playing musical baseball with their track listings for their albums, and 9 times outta 10 they always hit a grand slam!
2. “Built For Comfort” – Willie Dixon Cover I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE when BSC does cover songs!! I knew this was a Willie Dixon song, as well as Howlin’ Wolf did a version of it, which you can listen to right here. And the Howlin’ Wolf version is what Black Stone Cherry based their cover on. I hadn’t heard either the original or Howlin’ Wolf version in years, and in 2017 when BSC released Black To Blues Volume 1, this song was definitely in my blood! I actually remember being in a Value City Furniture store with Karen at the time… We were looking at Bluetooth fireplaces, the VCF employee came over and was like, “Sure try it, as long as the song you pick isn’t explicit.” I was like oh damn do I know what I want to hear coming outta this fireplace’s speakers!!
You damn right my first choice was the BSC version of “Built For Comfort”!!! I only played the first 45 seconds of the song, and it was amazing! And sadly the above closeup image is the only image I could find that I took that day. The point is the BSC version of Built For Comfort is my version and damn everyone needs to jam out to this! Ben Wells shreds the guitar here, as does Jon Lawthon on the bass, and those drums from John Fred Young are amazing as always! Chris Robertson’s vocal is a rockin’ blues fan’s dream come true kinda sound!
3. “Can’t You See” – The Marshall Tucker Band Cover I remember the original and I just re listened to it, after I’ve had the BSC version in my ears for hours! The MTB original is a great smooth track, but BSC punch it up and make it a full on rock song more than just a slow smoky blues tune. You can check out The Marshall Tucker Band Original right HERE! The guitars in the BSC version add so much to the tune. And then there’s the drums… wow love this!!!
4. “White Trash Millionaire” Once again WTM is the leadoff track from 2011’s “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea”. It it’s a song that has always spoken to me, specifically these lines:
“Ain’t got much and I don’t care
Count your cash and kiss my ass
This whole damn world gonna know I been here”
^ I’ve been using “This whole damn world gonna know I been here” for the entirety of my 16 year podcasting career! Outside of that I just love the song. It’s beyond catchy, and tyhe born this way line at the beginning always makes me think of Lady Gaga bwa hahahahahahaha! However it’s an amazing message of never giving up. That’s what BSC does, they give us the most positive lyrics. Which will be even more evident later on in this setlist.
5. “Bad Habit” I SWEAR I’m not just picking the leadoff tracks every time here, it’s just how my Top 21 of 2021 BSC songs is. Here we have “Bad Habit” and oh my god this song is kickin’ ass and takin’ all the names at the 1988 BATTLE OF THE BANDS! Seriously, BAD ASS is a term used loosely here. Because DAMN! This song rocks the roof right off every building Black Stone Cherry perform it in! The guitar and drum solo in the middle is a musical melody medley mash up of awesomeness!
6. “Long Ride” This one is another in my many #1 favorite songs from BSC. Again their instrumentals are amazing, I don’t think that there’s any Black Stone Cherry tune I don’t like. The notes these guys have come up with are just amazing. They are definitely storyteller song smiths. With Long Ride it’s even more evident, as the story of the song is just so heart warming!
7. “Palace Of The King” – Freddie King Cover We always wanna visit the palace of the king right? The original version by the legendary Freddie King is a rocker, but Black Stone Cherry take it to a whole new level of musical mastery! This BSC cover always gets me motivated to get things done! As do most Black Stone Cherry songs, but the story in this, and the instrumentation the boys used here… WOWZERS!
8. “In My Blood” My Uncle Keith was in the Navy for 30+ years, and in the 90s he was in Desert Shield and Dessert Storm as a Navy Seabee! So this song really speaks to me. You can watch the official video here, and after that watch the behind the scenes here! I love that BSC did this with the video and then doing the behind the scenes!!! Out of all my “#1” favorites from these southern rockers, In My Blood is one of those songs that’s at the tip top of that list. For the message of the song, and Randy’s story that goes along with it. My favorite line from the song is:
“I miss your touch and I miss your smile, The thing you do that drives me wild.”
Yes In My Blood tells a specific story as most songs do, but I also have always felt that it had a wider meaning. In that no matter what you do, no matter what you enjoy… that feeling is always in your blood. I’ve often said recently that Batman Beyond the cartoon, comics, et all… is in my blood, because I care so much about the characters that Bruce Timm and the rest of the DCAU team created. I digress though, and BSC will always rock me to my core with the songs that they come up with. In My Blood is something everyone should listen to!
9. “Ain’t Nobody” Another track from the 2018 “Family Tree” album. 2018 was truly my year with BSC as Karen and I saw them at Joe’s Live Rosemont on March 29th that year. This song … once I hear it I just jam out, and sometimes I just repeat it over and over! Absolutely love it! And while I never got to see this one live, as the album hadn’t come out yet when Karen and I saw the boys, I still would love to someday! The one line I love from this one is:
“I been lost in you and that’s a natural fact”
10. “James Brown” A “Family Tree” double shot, back to back, only because I feel like these two songs go well together. Not sure how much of the song is about Mr. Brown at all, but the spirit of his style is here I think. All the songs in this “top 21” list are basically me being as upbeat as I can be. Favorite line from this is:
“Hot damn, you move just like magic”
11. “Be Cowboy – PBR Anthem” I was in the bathroom when I heard this song the day it debuted. I actually heard the Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry version first, then the duet with him and Chevel Sheppard of Season 15 of The Voice fame, and finally Black Stone Cherry’s version hit, and I was instantly all in on this song. It was October 25, 2019 when the news dropped about this new Professional Bull Riders theme. You can catch the duet version here, and the BSC version here! What I love about this song is that even though I’m more of a city boy than a cowboy, everything within the message of the tune is something we should all strive to be. I’ll highlight my favorite lines from the song, but you can read the full lyrics here! And my favorite line from the song is:
“It’s a fire, hardwire, a spirit within
To be dreamers, believers, the best that we can”
We all do the best that we can, but our spirits that want to do more… that’s what makes us all cowboys and cowgirls!
From the closing lines:
“When you’re scared just carry on
Be braver, be better, be bolder”
12. “Again” This was the lead off single from #BSC7 “The Human Condition” And these lyrics punched me in the gut so much:
“Every time we die
We come back to life
I’ll see you again
With wings from the fire
We fly even higher
And do it again”
I’ve always loved anything with the rising Phoenix in it, and those lines right there say it all!
13. “Love Become Law” – The Cherry Truck Band, Black Stone Cherry and Monster Truck! I think this was my first time hearing the band Monster Truck, and this song with the two bands kicks all kinds of ass! You can read the lyrics here, and after this the next Monster Truck song I had heard was 2022’s Get My Thins and Go, which was them with Tyler Connolly from THEORY/ Theory Of A Deadman! Howver talking about this song, I think if I’m remembering correctly they actually figured out the entire song live on YouTube back in the day. And yes I know saying back in the day should mean 20 years ago not 3 or 4, but as we all know it’s been a long 4 or 5 years.
Line I love from this song:
“Stand for peace if it takes everything
All we have is each other, sisters and brothers come on
Take some time to open your mind
The system is flawed let love become law, come on”
The drums on this track are so fantastic, and the guitar riffs just rock me to my core. I absolutely love the message of the song as well…. Love shall rule all!!
14. “When Angels Learn To Fly” I say in almost every one of these entries that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the instrumentals BSC creates with their songs, and this one….. It might be at the very top of my list. The opening 15 seconds, right at the end I swear I hear a heartbeat in the music. You can watch the track on their YouTube Channel right here! And… OH GAWD! So there’s a point in the song where everything kinda stops and it goes into this haunting repeat of:
“I’ve been hopeless and broken, since you’ve gone away
I’ve been hopeless and broken, since you’ve gone away
I’ve been hopeless and broken, since you’ve gone away
I’ve been hopeless and broken, since you’ve gone away”
You can watch the track by track commentary right here! I love when artists do things like that, they touch their fans even more when they do. I will always think of Karen when i hear the lines above, but I’m at a place now where I’ve healed and I’m moving on…. However memories will always linger.
15. “Feelin’ Fuzzy” We all feel a little fuzzy after a night of cheaper to drink alone. So story time… I always re arrange this song, Cheaper To Drink Alone and Rescue Me. The order I put them in is Cheaper To Drink Alone, Feelin’ Fuzzy, and Rescue Me. So the titles of the songs kinda tell a story, just as the songs themselves do. However in this playlist I didn’t do that
16. “Catch Me If You Can” – The Picturebooks Featuring Chris Robertson of Black Stone Cherry Looky here if any part of Black Stone Cherry is involved, I’ll love it, and because this is Chris Robertson, damn y’all, just damn! This came out in 2021, and here’s all the info about it right here! You can watch the video here, and once again the music and the lyrics are everything for me.
17. “Fade Away” Sad Songs Say So Much! Seriously I’m sure I can get through writing this entry here. However what I’ll say is I often think of the opening lines of this one:
“If I died today, I wonder what you’d say? Would you criticize my life, or smile and wave goodbye?”
Normally when I’m lost in my own thoughts is when I think about that.
18. “Carry Me On Down The Road” I’ve said it before I use this track to get motivated to exercise and get other stuff done as well. Plus when Karen and I saw BSC at Joe’s Live Rosemont on March 29, 2018…. We got to see the live debut of this song!!! (Wish I could find the video I took on my Samsung Galaxy S9, but I can’t)!
Favorite set of lines from this song are:
“I gotta ramble, ramble on
Roll on
Peaceful feeling in my soul
Carry me on down that road, oh
(Roll on)
(Roll on)”
19. “My Last Breath” Powerful, simply powerful! Seriously Black Stone Cherry outdid themselves with this tune, and the video for it, which you can watch here. It’s just sooooo damn good!!!!
My line from this one is:
“If all you had left (if all you had left)
Was your last breath (was your last breath)
Do you know who you’d spend it on?”
And to answer the final line there… I’d spend my last breath on the woman I love, my family, and friends.
20. “All I’m Dreamin’ Of” This has been one of my several #1 BSC songs for years! As I’ve said I found Black Stone Cherry in 2011 with their third album Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea! This is a song I always have on repeat! The lines I love from this one are:
“When one things right another is wrong
But in the end love will always keep us strong.
“All I’m dreamin of is a house on a hill and somebody to love
All I’m dreamin of is the sun to shine and blue skies up above.”
It’s such a positive song, as are all the BSC tunes. But this one is also very emotional as well.
21. “Keep On Keepin’ On” What a message! We all have to keep on keepin’ on…. No matter what brings us down, we have to rise above our obstacles in life, and power on through. This song I have several favorite lines from it. The first ones are the opening lines, because I feel like this everyday:
“I’m the heir to absolutely nothin’
All I have is time on my hands”
And then there’s this:
“Every day I fight another battle
I got the scars to prove that I can heal
And as the world starts to unravel
I hang on tight to anything that’s real”
Another sentiment I share and believe in! And now take a look at a coupla photos of e from 2021!!!
That right there was me listening to BSC in 2021, before the wolfman came out!
and now the wolf is loose and he loves listening to Black Stone Cherry!
So there ya have it. And you can check out ALL THE OTHER BLACK STONE CHERRY stuff I’ve done here on The GCRN right HERE! Plus you can join CHERRY HEADS: The Official Black Stone Cherry Family on Facebook HERE! Sound off in the comments. No matter what music you listen to, ENJOY IT!!!!
You can See My BSC Top 21 of 2021 Spotify Playlist Here:
Join me tomorrow January 22, 2024 as I’ll be writing about something!
