Black Stone Cherry – Celebrate EP
Black Stone Cherry – Celebrate EP
Mascot Records
Release Date: 06/03/26
Review by Jon Deaux
7.5/10
I’m going to have to talk about the EP “Celebrate”, the latest offering from Black Stone Cherry.
I was folding laundry, just trying to get through my day, and listened to this EP while doing so. By the fifth song, I was on the floor with a dish towel, having an existential crisis. That’s not exactly a normal laundry day experience. That’s not exactly normal at all. That’s something else entirely. That’s what Black Stone Cherry did to me.
I was raised in the South East of England (don’t worry, I quickly realized where I was and moved north to Scotland with CPTSD). I know a type of guy. The type of guy who’ll help you move a sofa at eleven at night, turn up to your dad’s funeral in the best boots you’ve ever seen him wear, and never discuss his feelings unless you catch him in a parking lot after three pints down the pub. That’s the type of guy Black Stone Cherry are. The type of guy who’s managed to tap into all that emotion he’s been bottling away all these years and channel it into music instead of sitting around staring at the wall going, “yeah, that’s been a rough one.”
It’s wild, honestly. It’s been almost two decades since these boys from Kentucky got together (and I moved to Scotland), and they still sound like a bunch of kids in a garage. I mean, think about it. Most people can’t keep a houseplant alive past a year, let alone a marriage, and especially not a band. Bands usually implode around the time when you realize you should assemble the IKEA sofa you bought six months ago. And then the next thing you know, one of the dudes in the band has gone off to make a solo album under the name Moon Dust & Feelings. But these dudes? They still have their act together. Still in the same room, literally.
Enter Ben Wells’ home recording studio. You can’t walk in here without seeing all the Star Wars stuff, Elvis posters, band merchandise, and so on. And, oh yeah, three beagles. Three! Can you really pour your heart out in a song with a beagle named Kevin completely losing it because a leaf blows by the window? That’s not a recording session, my friend, that’s a dog obstacle course.
First off, ‘Celebrate’ is the title track, and I’m not lying when I say it’s a real jammer. It’s a song about appreciating the little things in life and the stuff you normally overlook. Well, guess what? I needed this song in my life. The drummer, John Fred, has been best friends with Chris, the lead singer, since they were five years old. That’s kindergarten, people! That’s some real wholesome stuff right there. John Fred came up with a hook for this song that just makes it rise above the rest, and you know it the second it clicks into place. Like finding the last piece in a puzzle and yelling, “There it is!”
Next up, ‘Neon Eyes’ is a party song for the ages. Believe it or not, this song started off as a random riff during a sound check. Yeah, while other bands are stressing out over their music, these guys are just messing around before a show and—bam!—a hit song falls into their laps. What talent, what luck, what jealousy… yeah, that’s real.
‘I’m Fine’ kicks off with a Nirvana-esque quality, like a southern rock band from Kentucky throwing a grunge party in your face. And, man, it just shouldn’t work, but it does. Like discovering breakfast burritos for the first time—what is it about them, but nothing else will do?
And then there’s ‘Deep.’ Ben and his wife have been through hell dealing with fertility issues. To top it off, they miscarry a baby while Ben is working on this album. Two days later, he’s in the recording studio, working through all this pain in a song—not because he has to, but because he has no other choice. Sometimes music is the only way to get you through the hard times. And when your friends are right there beside you through it all. I mean, I’m not okay. And the dish towel over there isn’t okay either.
Steve, his bassist, finds out his dad has stage four cancer. So now you have a bunch of dudes who have been friends since forever. They’re getting beat up by life. They go into Ben’s recording studio, which looks like a shrine to old movies, action figures, and his three annoying beagles. They make this album.
‘Up Down’ is the breather. This song is a sexy bass-heavy tune. They reference Nelly and Ludacris. I swear to God, the first time I heard this song, I laughed out loud. Only Black Stone Cherry could make a song blending southern rock and early 2000s hip-hop and make it feel natural. Not forced. Not a gimmick. Just pure unadulterated happiness at a backyard barbecue with a sick playlist and no one looking at a phone.
‘What You’re Made Of’ feels like a pep talk from an uncle you wish you had—the one who has seen it all and still walks in with a smile.
And just when you think you know where it’s going, they close with a cover of Simple Minds’ ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me).’ Yep, that one. The Breakfast Club song. And they bring in Tyler Connolly from Theory Of A Deadman. It’s bold, unexpected, and somehow it just works.
Chris said it best: “You set the typewriter down and it starts typing itself.” That’s what happens when a real band, with twenty years of history and trust, makes music together.
“Celebrate” is seven tracks of everything—pain, joy, more pain, a party, defiance, and a nod to John Hughes. It’s all over the place emotionally, and honestly, that’s exactly why I love it.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Celebrate
02. Neon Eyes
03. Caught Up In The Up Down
04. I’m Fine
05. Deep
06. What You’re Made of
07. Don’t You Forget About Me (Ft. Theory Of A Deadman’s Tyler Connolly)
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