An Autograph? Black Stone Cherry Reply, "Man, I Just Live Down The Road"

Numerous aspiring musicians have relocated to afford an enhanced opportunity to succeed, and/or opted to be based in a major city for convenience. Not self-confessed home-bodies Black Stone Cherry. All members of the hard rock outfit still reside in their modest hometown of Edmonton, Kentucky.

"We grew up with that blue-collar music and I think we're relatable because of where we're from," the immediately likeable drummer John Fred Young explains from his farm. "We stayed right here at home. On this last record Kentucky, what was really cool was we got to literally be here and record. It was so cool getting to record with our buddy David Barrick here in Kentucky again. We had a lot of guys we grew up with just come over, hang out and put a vocal part or something on it. And just having that opportunity to be with our families… We're very fortunate to get to travel, but then there's that other side in there, when you want to get home."

"We had a lot of guys we grew up with just come over, hang out and put a vocal part or something on it."

The globe-trotting quartet will soon head to Australia for the first time. What do residents of their place of origin think of the band's traversing the planet? "We've got a lot of supporters," the sticksman enthuses. "We're just Southern guys from such a small town and it's so nice to have people from back home appreciate what you're doing. People we went to high school with [are] coming up, and they're just really big fans of the band.

"We get the occasional free cup of coffee," he laughs. "I think it's funny because there's not a lot of rockstar about us. We're very aware that we're growing and we're becoming more recognisable. But I think that it's really funny. It's always like when someone stops to talk to you or they want an autograph or something, and you're like, 'Man, I just live down the road,'" he chuckles. "I just play music, I'm not anything special."

The group's continued ascent is laudable, especially given they exist within the parameters of the often fickle, homogenised US rock market; a sector frequently preoccupied with scoring radio hits above all else. Young says shifting from former label Roadrunner to new home Mascot has bestowed an artistic freedom they didn't possess previously. "It's just really cool because we're finally being able to create music we want to create. That's the part that is truly amazing, because you sit back and go, 'Man, I got into this to make music.' But then you sign with a label, and you don't realise, but you're an LLC, a business, you've got to sell those songs. The label thinks they're going to make money.

"So a lot of the artistic side gets compromised and that was really hard for us. So when we departed from our last label we were overjoyed, because it had come to a plateau, and doing this record we had full creative freedom. It all worked out, man. We're so proud of this record. [We] self-produced ourselves. The playing, the songwriting, it's just us being us. It's not perfect, it's not overproduced, it's just Black Stone Cherry."