Black Stone Cherry formed in Edmonton, Kentucky, a small town in the south central part of the state, officially coming together on June 4, 2001. Chris Robertson and John Fred Young, son of The Kentucky Headhunters' rhythm guitarist Richard Young, started to play music together early in their teens and Jon and Ben soon followed, with Black Stone Cherry officially forming on June 4, 2001, after which they took over the practice house that had been used by The Kentucky Headhunters since 1968 and began to record tracks. The founding lineup, Chris Robertson on vocals and guitar, Ben Wells on guitar, Jon Lawhon on bass, and John Fred Young on drums, built a local following by playing wherever they could, and its definitive blend of hard rock, heavy metal, and Southern rock sounds gave it a higher status than most of the band's recordings even in its earliest incarnation. In 2003, they released their first demo, Rock N' Roll Tape, which caught the ear of a major label.
The band's breakthrough came when their 2003 self-released Rock N' Roll Tape caught the attention of Roadrunner, which signed them after witnessing audience reactions to their endless touring, and their self-titled debut for the label appeared in 2006 to rave reviews from the rock press . That album rose to the ninetieth spot on the Billboard 200 and achieved mainstream acclaim in the UK, earning the band silver certification by BPI . The momentum continued with 2008's Folklore and Superstition, which reached number twenty-eight on the Billboard 200 and rose to number twenty-three on the UK Albums Chart, also earning silver certification from BPI . The steady, road-tested lineup of Robertson, Wells, Lawhon, and Young became the band's defining identity for two decades, and their reputation as a ferocious live act only grew as they built out a catalog rooted in Kentucky's rock and roll heritage.
The band's career arc through the 2010s brought increasing chart success and global reach. Their third album, 2011's Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea, was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Howard Benson and peaked inside the Top 40 of the album charts in their home country while hitting the top spot in Great Britain, with the band touring the globe and winning fans as far away as Japan . Their songwriting reach extended beyond rock circles too, as in 2013, the country duo Florida Georgia Line covered the band's "Stay" and hit the number one spot on the country chart . In 2016, the self-titled homecoming statement Kentucky became their second consecutive #1 album on the Billboard Hard Rock albums chart , and the band kept expanding creatively, releasing blues-cover EPs, headlining tours, and even performing at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2021. That same year brought a significant lineup change when the band announced that longtime bassist Jon Lawhon had decided to take an indefinite sabbatical from music and touring for personal reasons and would be stepping down as a member , with Steve Jewell Jr. stepping in as his replacement.
Black Stone Cherry remains an active touring and recording act today. Following 2023's Screamin' at the Sky, described by critics as an album that both recalls the grungy heft of their classic 2006 debut while simultaneously sounding like something utterly of its own time , the band has continued to release new music, including a 2026 EP called Celebrate. In October 2024 the band received one of the highest honors of their home state when Black Stone Cherry, the rock band with deep roots in Barren, Metcalfe and Hart counties, was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame , cementing more than two decades of work that never strayed far from its rural Kentucky roots. Across eight studio albums and countless nights on the road, the band has earned a reputation as one of modern rock's hardest-working live acts, a legacy built one show at a time.
That relentless touring ethic is exactly what drew Wayne Dennon's lens to Black Stone Cherry again and again in the years he documented live music for what would become this archive. Between 2004 and 2009, as the band was clawing its way up from club dates to national notice on the strength of their self-titled debut and Folklore and Superstition, Wayne photographed them across 10 different shows spanning 7 cities in 3 states, capturing them right as they were becoming the road warriors they are still known as today. Those nights are preserved here in 435 photographs, a collection that fans have returned to view over 350,000 times, a testament to how enduring the connection between this band and the people who loved watching them play truly is.
