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\n\tBlackberry Smoke<\/a> are celebrating 25 years as a band with a summer tour that will take them from New York to Nashville and on to Canada. Many of those dates feature a very special opener: Jason Newsted, the former Metallica bassist who now fronts his own Chophouse Band.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a new episode of Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Nashville Now <\/em>podcast, Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr<\/a> and Newsted talk about how they met, why they make sense together on the road, and the struggles they\u2019ve faced in their respective bands. For Blackberry Smoke, it was the devastating loss of founding drummer Brit Turner<\/a> in 2024 after a battle with cancer of the brain. Despite the tragedy, Starr says Turner was adamant about the group carrying on, and they brought in Kent Aberle to play when Turner couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBrit was like, \u2018We\u2019re not stopping, ok?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Alright.\u2019 We brought in Kent Aberle then, who was shadowing Brit and he was working and teching, and warming up with him. He knew I will play when he can\u2019t, and Brit knew that too,\u201d Starr says.<\/p>\n \n\tFor Starr, the most brutal part was seeing his friend and bandmate unable to play.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBrit knew he was losing his motor skills. It was so crazy to talk to somebody that knows this is happening to them,\u201d he says. \u201cHe was like, \u2018I can\u2019t hold onto my drumsticks anymore\u2026\u2019\u00a0 And there were certain songs he was like, \u2018Can we please not play this?\u2019 I didn\u2019t even know I knew what to say to him, but it was, \u2018We\u2019ll do whatever the fuck you want to do. I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tStarr and Newsted talk at length about how cancer has affected them or people they love. Newsted was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2025, which he talks at length about on Nashville Now<\/em>. Watch the full episode below.<\/p>\n