Black Stone Cherry is an American hard rock band from Edmonton, Kentucky, formed on June 4, 2001 by four teenagers who grew up together in the same small town and never really left it behind. Vocalist and guitarist Chris Robertson and drummer John Fred Young began playing together in their early teens, with guitarist Ben Wells and bassist Jon Lawhon joining shortly after to complete the founding lineup. The band name that followed them everywhere was The Kentucky Headhunters — because Young's father Richard and his uncle Fred are founding members of the Grammy-winning country-rock outfit, and the boys quite literally came up in the Headhunters' legendary Practice House, a 1940s bungalow the older band had used as a rehearsal space since 1968. Growing up surrounded by posters of Cream, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Faces, Black Stone Cherry absorbed the deep roots of Southern rock and hard blues and filtered them through their own voice.
After releasing a self-produced demo called Rock N' Roll Tape in 2003, the band signed to Roadrunner Records and released their self-titled debut album in 2006. It was a strong introduction — raw, riff-heavy, and dripping with Southern atmosphere — and produced the Mainstream Rock charting single "Lonely Train." Their second album, Folklore and Superstition (2008), pushed them into new territory internationally, hitting number one on the UK Rock & Metal Albums chart and breaking into the top 25 of the overall UK Albums chart. It was the beginning of a devoted following in Britain that would only grow with time. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (2011) continued their ascent, yielding the singles "White Trash Millionaire" and "In My Blood," both of which cracked the top 10 on the US Mainstream Rock chart.
The band hit a milestone with Magic Mountain (2014) and then Kentucky (2016) — the latter a deeply personal album recorded in their home state and a direct love letter to where they came from. Kentucky debuted at number one on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart, their second consecutive chart-topper on that ranking. Family Tree (2018) and The Human Condition (2020) continued their output on Mascot Label Group after departing Roadrunner, with Family Tree charting at number 11 in Germany — a career high in that market. Their most recent studio album, Screamin' at the Sky (2023), marked yet another chapter in a remarkably consistent run. Across eight studio albums and two EPs, Black Stone Cherry have charted seventeen singles on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
In June 2021, founding bassist Jon Lawhon stepped away from the band after 20 years, citing personal reasons and an indefinite sabbatical from music and touring. The band honored his two decades of contribution and moved forward with Steve Jewell Jr. taking over on bass. Lawhon had been a core songwriter and presence on every album from the debut through The Human Condition. His departure marked the end of the original four-piece lineup, though the spirit of what those four friends built in Edmonton has never wavered. In 2025, the band was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, joining the likes of Sturgill Simpson and Bill Monroe in recognition of their impact on the state's musical legacy.
On the road, Black Stone Cherry have earned a reputation as one of the hardest-working live bands in rock. They have headlined arenas, played to 100,000 people at Download Festival as main support to Guns N' Roses in 2018, and performed a celebrated concert at London's Royal Albert Hall — later released as a live album and DVD. Wayne Dennon photographed Black Stone Cherry as part of the sprawling, relentless touring culture that has always defined this band. They are a road act first and foremost, and Wayne's work captures the Southern grit and genuine joy of four guys from a small Kentucky town doing exactly what they were raised to do.
