BLACK STONE CHERRY RETURNS TO WOOLY'S IN DES MOINES

Sunday night concerts are alive and well, and this past Sunday was no exception. No stranger to Iowa, especially Wooly’s, as they performed there back in 2023, Black Stone Cherry headlined Wooly’s, an intimate music venue with a capacity of just under 700, located in the East Village of Des Moines, IA. Don’t let the size of this place fool you, as I’ve shot here numerous times over the years, and it always thrives with energy!

Supporting artists Tim Montana (whom I photographed once before when he opened for Bush at the McGrath Amphitheatre on August 6, 2024) and Gallivant rocked the stage, and got the crowd fired up for the evening’s headliner.

This past March, I had the pleasure of capturing photos of Black Stone Cherry when they were a supporting act for Brantley Gilbert at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids, IA. One month later, they had released their newest album, This is Black Stone Cherry’s RSD album. The Band Really Likes It. This album is a compilation of bonus tracks, B-sides, covers, live tracks, and previously unreleased songs.

9:30 p.m. sharp, AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” begins playing, the lights grow dimmer, and the crowd cheers in anticipation of Black Stone Cherry taking the stage. They opened with “Me and Mary Jane,” a single from the 2014 album, Magic Mountain. Guitarist, Ben Wells, was bursting with enthusiasm all around the stage, with jumps, kicks, and dashing back and forth from stage left to stage right, along with bassist, Steve Jewell.

After “Burnin’” and “Again,” I departed the pit, and enjoyed the rest of their set from the crowd’s perspective. After performing one of their more recent songs, “When the Pain Comes,” off their 2023 album Screamin’ at the Sky, they played a couple of tunes from their 2008 album, Folklore and Superstition. “Soulcreek,” being one of them, was definitely one of my favorites performed that night.

Lead singer, Chris Robertson, chatted with the crowd a bit before they broke into a couple of songs from their 2011 album, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, performing “Like I Roll,” and “Stay,” where the fans starting swaying their hands throughout the crowd as they started singing along to this one.

Luke Combs isn’t the only one who can perform a cover of a Tracy Chapman song and make it their own. What started off as mellow, as “Gimme One Reason,” generally does, they went full hard rock by verse two. I thoroughly enjoyed their rendition of this song, especially when they had more of a funk sound about halfway through! The light techs were having a great time with this one, showing off a variety of effects during this number.

Another favorite was the following song, “Cheaper to Drink Alone,” off their 2016 album, Kentucky. This song highlighted drummer John Fred Young through a series of drum solos. Just when you thought the drum solo was over, he broke into another, then another, and another…I definitely was not getting tired of watching him. Current touring member, Jeff Boggs, also contributed on the bongos and congas that evening.

As they started winding down their set list for the night, they brought it way back to their first album, simply titled Black Stone Cherry, from 2006. They played “Rollin’ On,” the final track from that album. They wrapped up their set with the final three songs, “White Trash Millionaire” (which I couldn’t help but jam to while standing back there by the soundboard), “Blame it on the Boom Boom,” where the crowd joined in singing the chorus, and then ended the night with “Lonely Train,” from their 2006 debut album Black Stone Cherry.

For a Sunday night, the dedicated fans were there in full force, standing in 90-degree plus heat outside the venue, waiting for doors to open. Some may have even come straight from the Iowa State Fair, which concluded their ten-day stretch that day, and others probably getting up early for work the following Monday morning, but that didn’t stop the rockin’ that went on at Wooly’s.