Blackberry Smoke Covers Black Sabbath & Performs Tom Petty Tributes With Mike Campbell At The Ryman

Blackberry Smoke honored Ozzy Osbourne with a Black Sabbath cover at one of their recent concerts at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium. Co-headliners Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs also joined Blackberry Smoke for extensive encores featuring multiple Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers covers.

After ripping through several original songs, Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr briefly paused to prepare the Ryman audience for what was to follow.

“This is a fair warning,” Starr noted. “You’re going to want to stand up.”

Many in the crowd then put his instruction into action and stood up from the venue’s famed pews. Blackberry Smoke then went for a heavy cover of “Children Of The Grave.” The song appeared on Black Sabbath’s 1970 sophomore album, Masters Of Reality. The legendary metal band’s frontman Ozzy Osbourne died last week at age 76 in his native England.

Watch the Blackberry Sabbath take on “Children Of The Grave” at The Ryman:

The tribute to Ozzy was not the only moment of recognition for a late rock ‘n’ roll icon that Blackberry Smoke had in store for their Music City concert. The encore was almost entirely dedicated to Tom Petty covers, with the band accompanied by The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and the members of his current solo band.

Blackberry Smoke and Campbell and The Dirty Knobs started the Petty segment with “Rockin’ Around (With You).” The next Petty cover was “Love Is a Long Road,” followed by “Straight Into Darkness.” Fellow supporting act Shannon McNally returned and remained for the rest of the show, lending her voice to “American Girl” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs joined Blackberry Smoke at The Ryman on Friday night as well. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers covers played during the night one encore of the two-show run also included “Rockin’ Around (With You)” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and “I Won’t Back Down,” “You Wreck Me” and “You Got Lucky.”

Click through the below videos of the Tom Petty covers at The Ryman.