Number of shows i’ve seen through my lens: 1 show
Photographed in (years): 2022
Venues: TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
Band members:
Chris Robertson
Lead vocals / guitarist 2001 – present
Born on: June 4, 1985
Born in: Edmonton, USA
John Fred Young
Drummer 2001 – present
Born on: December 11, 1984
Born in: Edmonton, USA
Ben Wells
Guitarist 2001 – present
Born on:
Born in: Edmonton, USA
Steve Jewell
Bassist 2021 – present
Born on:
Born in:
Band history:
2001 – 2005
Black Stone pre history
Schoolfriends Chris Robertson and John Fred Young started playing music together from their early teens. John Fred Young came from a very musical family, his father Richard Young is the guitarist for the southern rock band The Kentucky Headhunters since 1968, together with his brother Fred Young who plays the drums. The Kentucky Headhunters had a house where the band could rehearse but over the years Chris and John would take over the place.
Before Chris (vocalist and guitarist) and John (drummer) could form a band they needed two more musicians. They quickly found guitarist Ben Wells and bassist Jon Lawhon and the four guys became good friends fast and spending all their free time rehearsing at the Kentucky Headhunters rehearsal house. On June 4, 2001 the four friends officially started the band Black Stone Cherry. The band started to play local venues and slowly build up and audience. While they started to build up an audience they also started recording their own songs using the recording equipment of The Kentucky Headhunters. At that time Black Stone Cherry didn’t had a manager or a record contract so the band had to release their album on their own.
Chris Robertson live in 2022
Two years after the four friends officially started Black Stone Cherry the band released a demo album in 2003 under the name “Rock N’ Roll Tape”. On the front cover you saw a piece of tape with the album title on it and the back featured a photo of the band. On “Rock N’ Roll Tape” there are ten songs, all written by the band. The band sold these CDs after their show and the album never got an official release. “Rock N’ Roll Tape” is also not available on Spotify or other streaming services making this a very rare album. Nowadays copies are sold for around 250 euros, but you got to watch out if you want any because there is also an Asian bootleg copy out there claim to be the official one but it’s not.
For another two years to band kept playing local venues and festivals as much as they could to build up an audience and hoping to get a record deal.
2006 – 2007
Black Stone Cherry takes off
In 2006 the band had secured a record deal with Roadrunner Records. They immediately started recording their debut album. Black Stone Cherry decided not to use any of the songs from “Rock N’ Roll Tape” but write twelve new songs and record one cover song, The Yardbirds’ “Shapes of Things”. The album was produced by David Barrick and John Fred Young’s father Richard Young, he also helped the band with writing songs. The self titled debut album was released on July 18, 2006 and released the first single of the album, “Lonely Train” on the same day. “Lonely Train” has a more heavy metal sound to it instead of the southern rock songs on the rest of the album.
Black Stone Cherry live in 2022
After the release of their debut album Black Stone Cherry went on an 55 date tour through North America. They also got invited by their former school principal to play a homecoming show. The show was held at the local gym and was attended by 1500 people, which is a huge number considering the fact that, as of 2020, Edmonton only had 1600 residents. When the band drove into town for this show the streets where lined with people holding up “welcome home” signs.
On November 11, 2006 Black Stone Cherry released their second single. Their first single “Lonely Train” had sold very good and charted at number 14 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. iTunes made “Lonely Train” available as a free single. With their second single, “Hell and High Water“, the band wanted to do something for iTunes and released a digital only EP version of the single through iTunes only containing to unreleased tracks next to the single “Hell and High Water“. The single didn’t do as good as the first one but reached number 30 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Black Stone Cherry were at home during the first two weeks of 2007 but then went back on the road and toured North America from January to the beginning of March, playing 32 shows. By the end of March the band played there first shows in Europe, with three shows in Germany, one in The Netherlands and one in the UK. A few weeks after their short European tour the band was back on the road in North America playing about ten shows before returning to the UK for the Hyde Park Calling Festival playing the second stage of the festival on Sunday June 24, 2007. The band flew over to the UK only to play the Hyde Park Calling Festival and was back on tour in North America a week later. It didn’t take long before Black Stone Cherry was back in the UK playing 5 shows and then went to Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Scotland and then back to the UK.
On July 10, 2007 the band released another digital only iTunes EP and a single “Rain Wizard“. “Rain Wizard” almost did as good as “Hell and High Water” and reached number 28 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. And like the previous single the EP contained two unreleased tracks and was available on iTunes only.
Black Stone Cherry could look back on a very successful 2007, having released their debut album, three successful singles and went on their first European tour. The album “Black Stone Cherry” also started to sell very well and by 2008 they had sold 110,000 copies.
Ben Wells live in 2022
2008 – 2010
Slowly growing a bigger cherry
Black Stone Cherry started the year 2008 writing and recording their second album. This time without the help of Richard Young but with veteran rock producer Bob Marlette as their producer. The album “Folklore and Superstition” was recorded at the Black Bird Studios, which is owned and operated by country artist Martina McBride, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Before the album was released later that year the band went on tour again in North America playing a few shows in late April and May. On June 5 they kicked off their Rocking The UK Tour at the Sweden Rock Festival, their first show in Sweden. On June 7 and 8 they played at Rock Am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany, then one show in The Netherlands before entering the UK to tour Great Britain opening up for Def Leppard and Whitesnake on their UK arena tour. The month of June and the Rocking The UK Tour finished with Graspop Metal Meeting Festival in Belgium on June 27 and The Serengeti Festival in Germany on June 28. While the band was touring Europe the first single, “Blind Man“, of their new album was released on June 16. This time their wasn’t a special iTunes version and the single sold a lot less then the three singles the band had released before “Blind Man“. After their European tour the months July through October were spent on the road again in North America.
On August 18, 2008 the band’s second album “Folklore and Superstition” and was received very well. The album reached the number one position in the UK Rock Album Chart in its debut week and number 23 on the main Top 200 UK Albums Chart and reached number 4 in the American Hard Rock chart, number 9 on the Rock chart and number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart. Outside of the UK and US the album also sold very well, charting in Sweden (#45), Germany (#54), Switzerland (#89) and France (#167) but clearly they were most successful in the UK and North America.
On October 19 Black Stone Cherry played their first show in Japan at the Loud Park festival. The band only played one show in Japan and went back immediately to finish their North American tour. On November 14 the second single of the album, “Please Come In“, was released and reached number 24 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Because of the success of “Folklore and Superstition” in the UK and Europe the band returned to Europe on November 18. The Folklore and Superstition European Tour went through France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Scotland, Ireland and England. This European tour lasted for a full month and ended on December 17.
Now with a successful album behind them Black Stone Cherry spent 2009 on the road playing over a hundred shows that year. The Folklore and Superstition 2009 Tour kicked off in Tyler, Texas on January 29. In May the band opened up for Nickelback on their UK Dark Horse tour. After another big UK tour opening up for another band Black Stone Cherry returned to Germany to play Rock im Park and Rock am Ring festivals again like the year before. The rest of June the band toured England, Finland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Germany. While on tour in Europe the single “Things My Father Said” was released on June 15.
Black Stone Cherry live in 2022
By the end of July the band was back on the road in North America. Black Stone Cherry played another extensive North American tour and went back to Europe in October of 2009. Almost 30 shows were played on this European tour. Before the European tour the band released their fourth and final single from the “Folklore and Superstition” album. “Soulcreek” was released on September 7.
After four years of extensive touring and releasing two albums Black Stone Cherry needed a break. Most of 2010 was spent getting some rest and start writing songs for their third album. The band stayed in America and only played one show outside of North America, in Dublin Ireland.
2011 – 2014
Between the Devil and the Magic Mountain
Much like in 2008 Black Stone Cherry spent the start of 2011 writing and recording their next album. Before the album was released later that year the band went on tour in North America in March playing through to the end of May. Black Stone Cherry’s record label Roadrunner clearly wanted to do the same with this album as they did with “Folklore and Superstition”, with a North American tour before the album release and a single before the album while the band was on tour. The single “White Trash Millionaire” was released on March 25. The album “Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea” was released on May 31 and was as well received as the band’s last album. The album reached the number one position in the UK Rock Album Chart in its debut week and number 23 on the main Top 200 UK Albums Chart and reached number 2 on the US Hard Rock Album chart, number 9 on the Rock Album chart and number 22 on the regular album chart. “Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea” was charted in: Germany (#22), Austria (#31), Switzerland (#31), Sweden (#43) and Japan (#210). With another successful album behind them Black Stone Cherry went back to Europe to play the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals for the third year in a row. After a very short European, which also included the Download Festival and Nova Rock Festival, the band returned to North America from July till the beginning of October. While the band was on their North American tour the single “Blame It on the Boom Boom” was released in July. “Blame It on the Boom Boom” was the least sold single of the band so far but remains a fan favourite during live shows.
After an extensive North American tour Black Stone Cherry went back to Europe in October 2011. It was over a year the band played in some European countries, so the band played an extensive tour in Europe. Black Stone Cherry played in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. This European tour lasted for about six weeks, playing 34 shows in total. During this European tour the band released the third single of “Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea” in October 2011. The single “In My Blood” was a song about life on the road and was writing in fifteen minutes, according to Chris Robertson. The single did a lot better than their last single.
Ben Wells live in 2022
In February 2012 Black Stone Cherry went on a North American tour and returned to Europe in March of that year. This time only visiting Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and a fourteen show tour in Great Britain. From April through the beginning of June the band spent touring in North America, and the band didn’t play the Rock am Ring or Rock im Park Festivals in Germany for the first time in four years. But late June Black Stone Cherry did return to Europe playing in Italy, Switzerland, England, Germany, Sweden and France. After this six week European tour the band returned back to the USA for a twenty date tour through North America, ending the year on December 6 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Much like in 2010 the band took most of 2013 off to get some rest. Black Stone Cherry only played 31 shows in North America and only went to Europe to play at the Download Festival on June 14, 2013. Besides taking a rest from touring the band also started writing songs for their fourth album and the pressure was high after two very successful albums.
The start of 2014 was mostly spent in the studio recording the “Magic Mountain” album. “Magic Mountain” would be released later that year and like the other three Black Stone Cherry albums they first released a single before releasing the album. On February 25 the single “Me and Mary Jane” was released. Shortly after “Me and Mary Jane” was released the band was on a short European tour before a month long tour of North America while “Magic Mountain” was released on May 6. “Magic Mountain” was met with very positive reviews from critics and fans. The album reached number one on the UK Rock Album chart, number 5 on the UK Album chart and in America it reached number one on the Hard Rock Album chart, number 6 on the Rock Album chart and number 24 on the Album chart.
Two weeks before “Magic Mountain” was released the band went on a North American tour till the end of May. After taken a break from touring the year before, 2014 was spent mostly on the road. A week after the last show of the North American tour the second European tour of the year started. This second European tour was mostly a festival tour with, of course, Rock im Park, Rock am Ring, Nova Rock Festival and Download Festival. Two weeks after the European festival tour, Black Stone Cherry was back on the road in North America and this tour ended in September 2014, in September they also released their new single from the “Magic Mountain” album: “Remember Me“. Two weeks after the end of the North American tour the band was back in Europe playing 22 shows. To close the year the band played two shows in North America in December.
2015 – 2018
Kentucky Family Tree
Black Stone Cherry started the year 2015 off the road but spent the entire month of May on tour through North America and went on a European tour right after that. In June the went was on an European tour playing the Download Festival but no festival in Germany. After the European tour the band went on a short North American tour but was back in Europe in August. In September and October Black Stone Cherry played their last shows of 2015 in North America. On October 7, 2015 the band revealed that they had signed to the Mascot Record Label and that they had already started recording their next album. To fully wrap up the Magic Mountain tour the band released a live DVD titled “Thank You: Livin’ Live” on October 30.
Black Stone live in 2022
If you look at the tour schedule of Black Stone Cherry the “Kentucky” album, which was released in 2016, was recorded from October till December 2015. The band only played two shows at the start of October and went back on the road in January 2016. The first single of the 2016 album was released as early as December 18, 2015. “The Way of the Future” was the first single released by Mascot, and it wasn’t the last single Mascot released before they released the album itself.
In January and February 2016 Black Stone Cherry did a big European tour and while on tour Mascot released two more singles: “In Our Dreams” on January 22 and “The Rambler” on February 25. On April first the album “Kentucky” was released and was very well received by critics and fans. Like “Magic Mountain” the “Kentucky” album reached the number one spot on the American Hard Rock Album charts, and number 5 on the American Rock Album charts. “Kentucky” also sold well in the UK, reaching number 5 on the UK Album charts. In the rest of Europe the album reached the album charts in Austria (#13), Switzerland (#14), Germany (#21), Belgium (#81), The Netherlands (#92), Italy (#97) and France (#100).
With their first very successful album for Mascot the band went on the road on the day of the album release to promote the album. April, May and the start of June was spent on a North American tour. On June 17 Black Stone Cherry played their first show in Australia, in Sydney. A month later, on the day, the second part of the North American tour started in Flint. The band almost spent the rest of the year on this North American tour but returned to Europe in November, the first time since the release of “Kentucky”. Black Stone Cherry played a big tour through the UK but didn’t visit any other European countries. The last show of 2016 were played in North America in December.
The first two month of 2017 the band spent off the road and went back on the North American tour in March. In April the band went back to Australia for two shows but went straight back touring North America again till the end of August. In September Black Stone Cherry went on a short European tour of only five shows before returning to America. On September 29 the band released another EP, this time not only released digitally but on CD and on Vinyl. The EP titled “Black to Blues” contains 6 blues cover songs. Black Stone Cherry played two more shows in September 2017 but didn’t tour the rest of the year. Instead of touring the band spent time in the Barrick Recording Studio, the same studio were there last album “Kentucky” was recorded.
On February 8 the first single of the sixth studio album was released, “Burnin’“. The second single, “Bad Habit“, was released on March 8. Before the album was released Black Stone Cherry went on a North American tour to support the album. “Family Tree” was released a week after the Family Tree Tour started, on April 20th. “Family Tree” was, again, received very well but sold a bit less then “Kentucky”. On the American Hard Rock Album charts “Family Tree” reached number 7, and number 22 on the Album charts. In the UK “Family Tree” reached number 7 on the Album charts. Again the album only charted in the USA and Europe, it reached the charts in: Scotland (#4), Switzerland (#9), Germany (#11) and Austria (#19). “Family Tree” sold better in Switzerland and Germany then “Kentucky” but in Austria it was the other way around. The “Kentucky” album didn’t charted in Scotland and “Family Tree” did, but “Kentucky” reached the charts in The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and France but “Family Tree” didn’t. This new album did better in some countries but sold less in others, maybe because of the “Black to Blues” release just a few months before “Family Tree”.
Black Stone Cherry toured North America from the end of March till the end of May 2018 and then returned to Europe to play the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals again followed by a month long tour through Europe. The rest of the summer of 2018 Black Stone Cherry toured through North America, taking a month off in October.
In November 2018 Black Stone Cherry went on an extensive six week tour through Europe ending in England. The band played two more show in America to wrap up the year.
2019 – 2022
Black 2 Human Condition
In 2019 Black Stone Cherry continued on their North American Family Tree Tour while they started working on their new EP. Before the EP was released the band went another European summer tour from July till the end of September, with only a few American shows in August. Just before the EP “Black to Blues vol. 2” was released on October 19, 2019 the band was back on tour in North America. They took the month December off and started the North American tour again in January.
The tour had to be cut short due to the corona virus. This gave the band time to start writing their next album.
Steve Jewell live 2022
The band couldn’t tour in 2020 and continue their Family Tree Tour, so Black Stone Cherry focused on writing and recording a new album. On August 5, the band announced the release of the new album followed by the first single the day after. The single, “Again“, would be the band’s most successful single in North America since the release of “Me and Mary Jane” in 2014. The second single “Ringin In My Head” was released on September 17 and the album “The Human Condition” was released on October 30. Like the five albums before “The Human Condition” topped the UK Rock Album charts and made it to number 11 on the UK Album chars. The album also charted in Germany (#33), Austria (#64), The Netherlands (#71), Switzerland (#71) and Belgium (#75).
The band played as many shows as they could in North America towards the end of the year but they only played a few shows in 2020. In April 2021 Black Stone Cherry again went on tour in North America only played a few shows before they had some bad news for the fans. Bassist Jon Lawhon announced that he will take a hiatus from recording and touring. Lawhon was soon replaced by Steve Jewell and Black Stone Cherry went back on their North American tour supporting their new album “The Human Condition”. Due to the corona virus their weren’t any summer festivals in Europe in 2021, so the band stayed in the USA. In September the band could finally return to Europe but since most countries still had a lockdown they only played 15 shows in the UK. The rest of the year was spent on tour in North America to promote their album.
Black Stone Cherry kicked off 2022 on tour through North America and decided not to go to Europe for the festival summer. Instead the band returned for a complete European tour in September. After this 4 week tour through Europe the band returned to America for another North American tour to close the year off.