Hey, this is Kenny Wayne Shepard, and you're
listening to My Weekly Mixtape with Brian Colbert.
Enjoy the episode. Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape,
a podcast that takes the classic mixtape approach
to building a modern playlist. I'm your host,
Brian Colbert. Blues rock has always been held
in a high regard in my life. From the classic
rock music my parents raised me on, such as ACDC,
ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and
the Rolling Stones, all were rooted in the blues.
As I started branching out and discovering music
on my own, once again, blues played a big role,
including artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan,
whose catalog was the subject of episode 27,
Roy Buchanan, Walter Trout, Joe Bonamassa, Johnny
Lang, as well as legends such as Albert King,
Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and BB King. Tonight
on My Weekly Mixtape, I'm extremely honored to
welcome a modern blues rock legend to the show,
the one and only Kenny Wayne Shepard. Kenny,
thank you so much for taking the time to speak
with me tonight. Hey, man. Thanks for having
me. I'd like to start by asking all of my first
-time guests, what does the word mixtape mean
to you? Well, I mean, mixtape, I think by definition
goes back to, I don't know, you look like you
might be from my generation, but when we were
kids, somebody basically would put together a
cassette of all their favorite songs or some
of their favorite songs and put them in whatever
order they wanted to. And so that they didn't
have to carry around the massive collection.
of cassettes or CDs or what have you. So they
put their favorite songs on one cassette. And
sometimes you might put a mixtape together to
give to one of your friends, right? So that it's
like, you have this collection of music. These
are your favorite songs. Well, check this out,
you know, and to turn other people on to songs
as well. Well, I'm extra excited for our discussion
tonight because it's not often I get to interview
someone who themselves conducts amazing interviews,
as evidenced in your 10 Days Out Blues from the
Backroads documentary. And speaking about that
subject, can you talk about the significance
of 10 Days Out for you as an artist, as well
as what you took away from the musicians you
had a chance to speak and subsequently jam with
for the film? Yeah, I mean, that project, I think,
was pretty important. I mean, it was important
to me on a personal level because I admired these
musicians and I've been a fan of the blues genre
for most of my life. And I just felt like it
was an opportunity to do a unique project that
recognized some of these incredible musicians,
some of which are household names, and then some
of which were incredibly talented, but never
really broke into the mainstream for whatever
reason. To give the blues community and just
music lovers in general something really unique
to seek their teeth into. We did the documentary
and we traveled the South of the US and went
and met up with these blues musicians. I had
a tour bus loaded up with recording gear and
made it a mobile recording studio. Then we had
another bus with a film crew and we just made
it a live album and documentary while traveling
and meeting up with these incredible musicians.
It's one of the probably the most significant
projects that I've ever done. And personally,
for me, it was. And I think it's incredibly unique
and special. And it documented American history.
I mean, that's American music. And these are
American musicians. And unfortunately, a lot
of them are no longer with us today. I mean,
we lost. And even before the project was released,
we had lost five, I think, of the featured performers.
And so now I think it's just about almost everybody
that was on it. is no longer here. So it was
an important thing. It continues to be an important
project. Well, I want to hop into the musical
DeLorean for a moment here and go back to 1995,
which was my senior year in high school, a year
where grunge and alternative had completely taken
over rock radio and yet Ledbetter Heights, your
debut album, reached number one on the Billboard
Heat Seekers chart and Deja Voodoo, which featured
Corey Sterling on vocals, reached number nine
on the mainstream rock tracks chart. Is there
a specific tour or moment in and around that
time? of your career that you feel was the musical
catalyst for you given the state of rock radio
at the time well there was a lot going on at
the time and you know but that was also an era
where it was still that kind of music that i
that i make blues based rock music was still
heavily supported at radio and there was a format
that embraced that kind of music there's not
really that format that mainstream rock radio
format doesn't really exist anymore right and
the scope of the business has changed so much
but at the time yeah there was a lot going on
but we had more musical genres that people were
it was a broader palette back then you know and
people appreciated more types of music things
have gotten really narrow lately in my opinion
as far as what you would consider mainstream
anything but you know you had grunge hitting
the scene there was probably still some some
hair rock that was being made. I mean, there
was blues rock, there was album oriented rock,
there was, you know, progressive, there was,
you know, then all the other things like top
40 in country and, you know, whatever else. But
it was an interesting time. There was a lot going
on. And I, and I was, I mean, I'm grateful. I'm
grateful that my first album came out in 95,
my second album in 97, by the time the third
album came out in 2000. you know, that's when
the world really, music and music consumption
really started to change with the whole Napster
thing and all that stuff. But my first two records
were still released in what I believe was the
real golden age of the music business where you
could put out a record, an artist like me could
still put out an album and watch it rise in the
charts and sell millions of copies. I mean, I
have gold and platinum records hanging on my
walls here at home. And I just don't know if
that's something that... I don't know if that'll
ever be possible for a blues artist in today's
world because, you know, everything's changed
so much. But I was grateful to have come up with
it. Well, as a blues rock fan my entire life,
I have to say, I certainly hope that that is
something that's possible in the future. Right.
Now, you had the chance both in 1998 and 2015
to tour with Van Halen. And while your playing
techniques are different, one thing reigns true
for me as a music fan. You're both masters of
your craft on the guitar. I'd love to hear what
those tours meant to you, as well as your thoughts
on sharing the stage with Eddie Van Halen over
the decades at two different points in your career.
Well, you know, I've been fortunate enough to
be able to tour with and meet a lot of my heroes
over the years and collaborate with them and
things like that. So I consider myself to be
very, very fortunate. Eddie Van Halen, since
you mentioned him, I mean. I did a tour with
him in the 90s, and that's when I became friends
with him, was as a result of that tour. That
was when they had the Van Halen 3, right, with
Gary Cherones. And we did that whole tour with
him, and it was just great to me. I mean, he
was so nice. And, you know, we have a lot of
history. We had a lot of history. And then we
did the final Van Halen tour in 2015. We did
that entire tour with those guys. And I spoke
with him every day. Every single day, he came
and found me. come give me a big hug. And we
sit down and talk and hang out. You know, he's
just, he was always very gracious and very generous
with his time when it came to me, you know, two
very different styles of playing. But I think
that's one of the reasons why I worked as a lineup.
And that's why we did it more than once, you
know, Van Halen, Kenny Wayne Shepard, because,
you know, it's kind of like, it's my music is
guitar based, guitar centric, guitar driven.
And, you know, for the first couple of albums
in my career. I was just a guitar player, didn't
really sing in my own band. So a lot of similarities
in that regard, but the genres are different,
but still they're connected because blues and
rock go hand in hand. So it just worked really
well. And it was an honor to know him and to
be part of those tours with him. Well, one of
the things I want to jump on is what you just
said there, because throughout your discography,
you've slowly but surely stepped up to the mic
more and more as the years have gone on and added
a whole new dynamic to the band, such as, two
of my favorite tracks from your 2017 album, Lay
It On Down, Baby Got Gone and Diamonds and Gold.
Is there a moment during the writing process
where you decide, you know, this is a song that
I need to sing or using examples from that same
album, like Nothing But The Night or Louisiana
Rain, where you say, you know, this might work
better with Noah on vocals? Well, yes. I mean,
that's become the regular. dynamic in the band,
Alice, where we basically have two lead singers
in the band. Noah's been with me since my second
record. He sang on so many great songs over the
years. He's very much a part of the family. I
like the idea that we have two lead singers in
the band. My voice and his voice are really different,
but they blend well when we sing harmonies together.
And because they're so different, it gives us
the ability, I think, to record and perform a
broader range of material than if we only had
one singer, because there certainly have been
some songs that, you know, Noah may have tried
to sing and it just didn't quite fit his voice.
And then I was able to successfully go in and
sing them. And the song still made the record,
where if there was only one voice, it probably
wouldn't have made the record and vice versa.
I walked out there. Many a time. And they're
like, I'm going to try singing this song. And
then it just doesn't work. And then he goes in
and kills it. So, you know, songs are saved from
the cutting room floor as a result of having
more tools that aren't exposed. Well, in 1997,
you talked about the album earlier. You released
your massive breakthrough album, Trouble Is.
And it's an album that recently concluded celebrating
its 25th anniversary. When you sat down with
the band to revisit the album in its entirety
for the Trouble Is 25 release, you at that point
had more than two decades of hindsight and live
renditions under your belt. Did that hindsight
color those 25th anniversary recording sessions
in any way? I mean, a little bit, but not what
you would think. I mean, you know, I know a lot
of musicians that have made records over the
years and some guys don't even want to listen
to their own records. Some guys wished that they
could go back and redo things. This would have
been that opportunity. If I had remorse or was
second -guessing myself or wasn't happy with
the record, this would have been the chance to
reinvent the album or change all of that stuff.
But I actually found that looking back and listening
to it and re -recording the stuff is how well
the music stands up today, 25 years later, and
how proud I am of that. and the performance that's
on that, I didn't feel the need to go and change
a lot of it. We just did an updated version of
it, and we took some subtle liberties here and
there. But when we started trying to mess with
it, it seemed like we started to lose the vibe
of it, and that's what made it so special. But
no, I've always been really proud of that record,
and I'm proud of all my albums. Thankfully, I've
never made a record that I just go, oh man, I'd
love to take that one back. One hundred percent.
Now, on that Trouble Is album is one of your
signature songs, Blue on Black. Did you have
any idea the trajectory that that song would
take and the overall impact it would have on
music in general, including the cover by Five
Finger Death Punch in 2019 that featured you,
Brantley Gilbert and Brian May of Queen? You
know, when I wrote that song and especially once
we had recorded it and we were finished with
the Trouble Is record. And we went in the studio
and we were mixing it. We knew that we had something
incredibly special, but you never really know
how far something is actually going to go or
how the people are going to react to it until
you just put it out there and see what happens.
And I think everybody was very pleasantly surprised
to see the type of reaction that we got from
that song and continues to get played. on classic
rock radio and and and it continues to reach
new people and you know the five finger death
bunch guys covered it which was fantastic and
you know i'll wait for somebody else to come
along and cover it because i think it's a great
song as far as i'm concerned the more versions
of blue on black the better i can actually hear
a country version of that but i digress Originally,
when the song first came out, I own the original
CD copy of Trouble Is along with the CD single
of Blue on Black because it contains both the
road mix version of the song as well as the band's
epic. cover of jimi hendrix's voodoo child in
a studio version the live version being a concert
staple for the band for many many years now along
with it being a concert staple you have also
been involved in the experience hendrix tours
over the years a few of which i was fortunate
enough to catch and i'd love to know your thoughts
on the impact that jimi hendrix had on blues
rock as a whole and if there were any collaborations
from those tours that resonated with you personally
as an artist? Well, yeah, I mean, Jimi Hendrix,
his impact on music cannot be understated. I
mean, it's actually hard to really quantify it,
but I mean, he's one of the greatest guitar players,
maybe the greatest of all time. Massive influence
on me and many, many other guitar players. So,
you know, I grew up playing his songs and at
weekends, traditionally have ended almost all
of my concerts with doing a rendition of Voodoo
Child. it's just become a mainstay in the setlist.
Sometimes people come just see me play that song.
I would do that on the Experience Hendrix tour.
That was a cool tour because he had such great
guitar players, fantastic musicians who were
all influenced by Jimmy, paying homage to him
by performing his music and a lot of collaborations
would happen and things like that. Yeah, I really
love that tour. I look forward to possibly doing
it again in the not too distant future. Well,
while we're talking about collaborations and
me being a bass player myself, I have to mention
one collaboration that in 1999, when I first
saw it, actually surprised me. When I picked
up your copy of Live On, that on your cover of
Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well, one Les Claypool of
Primus. played bass for you now i know less is
a musical chameleon but i'm kind of curious what
it was like working with the quote -unquote blues
rock variant of less claypool for lack of a better
word well if you listen to that song i mean we're
covering oh well by fleetwood mac yes and i mean
we did it as a rock song there's not anything
really bluesy to the art version of that song
but he killed it man especially at the end of
that song in the last solo You can hear him just
going off on bass. It's really incredible. But
yeah, that was one of those really cool things
that you hear about happening sometimes when
you're working at famous recording studios. Like
we recorded, you know, several different records
at the record plant, Sausalito, California. And
that's a legendary place no longer exists, but
a lot of people would work there. So you never
know who might be working in one of the other
rooms. And sometimes collaborations happen just
because you're under the same roof. And so that's
what happened. He was in there. He could hear
us down the hallway. He pops his head into the
control room just to hear what we're doing. Derry
Harrison, who produced that record, knew him.
And we all said, hey, man, why don't you play
bass on this thing? And he's like, yeah, let's
do it. And it just happened on the spot. Then
he killed me. It's great. It's a killer version.
Over the years, you've toured and recorded albums
with Reese Winans on keyboards, Tommy Shannon
on bass, and Chris Layton on drums and percussion.
Most blues rock fans that I'm friends with refer
to Simply as the original members of Stevie Ray
Vaughan's Double Trouble. Can you talk about
how those musical relationships were initially
forged and what you feel those members have brought
to your music over the years? Well, I met Chris
first and I was like 15 years old and I was playing
a show in Austin, Texas and opening up for this
guy, Bill Carter. And Bill Carter is one of the
guys that I think he helped co -write the song
Crossfire and Willie the Wim. A couple of, you
know, some of the songs Stevie had done over
the years. And so Billy was, he was a headline
act at Antones and Chris was playing drums for
him. And then I was the opening act. And so.
They asked me to get up and play with them that
night. And that was the first time I met Chris.
And then I signed my record deal probably a year
later. And then when it came time to go in the
studio, Chris had given me his phone number.
So we gave him a call and asked him if he'd be
interested in playing drums on my first record.
And he said yes. And that was the beginning of
an incredibly long and personally close relationship
that he and I had. But then when it came time
to do the second album, Trouble Is, we brought...
everybody in. And so Tommy Shannon came and played
bass and Reese Winans came and played keyboards.
And, you know, it was just incredible for me.
I was such a fan of those guys, their music that
they did with Stevie Ray Vaughan. And they were
like my band before I had a band because I used
to just sit around the house playing along with
them and their music. So when it came time for
me to play with them, it just, it was all very
natural. I think it was, it felt very natural
for them because a lot of my style of playing
had. evolved around their music and learning
their music and stuff and so it was a great fit
and so they were on the second album and the
third album chris has played drums on every album
i've ever done except for one and uh he's been
in my live band now close to 20 years Well, Kenny,
we've been talking about the past for a while.
I want to talk about the present now on your
new album, Dirt on My Diamonds, Volume 1. You
offer what might be my favorite vocal delivery
of yours across all of your albums, and that
is the title track. As a songwriter, do you find
it challenging to continue to push your personal
musical boundaries while remaining faithful to
the sound that you've honed and perfected across
10 studio albums prior to this? Well, I mean,
it definitely, my goal is to try not to repeat
myself musically. I want, I don't want people
to feel like they know what my new album sounds
like without even hearing it yet. You know, I
don't want to be that predictable. So, you know,
it can be challenging. I mean, which is also
why I incorporate other influences from other
genres into the music that I write, because then
when you do that, it helps open up a lot more
musical opportunities than just staying. within
the blues box which sometimes can be a very narrow
format if you're just going to stick within the
traditional blues realm. I've always tried to
push the envelope and try to bring outside influences
into that world to help take the music into different
directions and we certainly have done that on
this way for sure. One of the questions I want
to ask, and I apologize if I get this wrong,
because it's certainly not my intention. On Sweet
and Low, it sounds like there's a DJ scratching.
In my heart of hearts, I think that's you doing
it on the guitar. Is that correct? It's not on
the guitar, no. It's not on the guitar, okay.
It's an actual record scratch. And it's really
funny, too, because some of my older fans don't
quite know what to make of it. They're like,
what is that sound? And I'm like, well, it's...
Everybody from my generation knows what that
sound is because we come from the birth of hip
-hop, the early days of rap and hip -hop. We
grew up hearing that stuff. Whether you're a
massive hip -hop fan or not, I've always just
been a music fan. I like good music and there
are bad versions of all kinds of music. There's
bad blues, there's bad hip -hop, there's bad
rock, there's bad country, but there's great
versions of all that stuff too. I grew up hearing
everything. I heard all kinds of music from hip
-hop to blues and rock and country and gospel
and funk and jazz and all of that stuff. Eventually,
it all finds its way into the music that I'm
writing and creating. It's just funny. It's a
natural thing. It sounds appropriate for the
song to me, but some people are like, what does
that sound like? I'm like, okay. They're from
a little bit slightly earlier generation, but
that's cool. Some of them really dig it. Some
of them, I think, are not sure what to think
about it, but I think it's pretty cool. You can
count me on Team Dig It because anytime that
there's a tip of a hat to another genre and exploring
those boundaries in a way that works and is still
musical, I'm all in on. Well, it's also like,
when was the last time you heard somebody that
has the blues artist label on them put something
like that on a record? And it's like, you know,
that's the thing. It's like, I don't want to
be predictable. I want to continue pushing the
envelope and doing things that not everybody
else is doing or has already done. And then there's
a track like Bad Intentions. That song to me
feels like a statement, an exclamation point
on the album. Musically, the song has this undeniable
swagger, while lyrically, it almost comes across
like a confession. Can you tell the story behind
that one? Well, you have to understand that.
A lot of times when people are writing songs,
not every song is an autobiographical moment.
It's not like this is exactly what happened to
me at some point in time. We take a lot of liberties
and we get very creative. You can take one little
experience that can spark an idea and then by
the end of writing the song, you've created this
whole entire story that the only thing that ever
actually happened was just like the original
spark of the idea this was just us having fun
i mean the whole idea for the song title actually
came i was hanging out with uh joe bonamassa
and he was doing a little interview with me and
and he uh he had said you know i the way you
play guitar you know he's like you know it's
like you put 150 into every note and it's like
you know we just I just know every time you walk
out on the stage with your guitar that you got
bad intentions, you know, meaning, you know,
in not bad, like evil intentions, but like, no,
just in my approach to my playing, you know,
like you're a bad, bad man, you know? And so
I thought, you know, at the time I was like,
that's a good title. I actually thought I was,
I was going to name the next album bad intentions,
but then the album took on a different theme.
So that didn't work for the title of the record,
but I still wrote the song. But instead of writing
the song about, you know, some guitar player
that's a great guitar player or something like
that, we decided to make it a relationship song.
So it's just, you know, to me, it's like the
modern day version of a kind of a hoochie coochie
man song, you know, where Muddy Waters is talking
about, you know, how he's a man and he'll, you
know, make love to a woman in five minutes time
and do all this stuff. It's like, I'm, you know,
just pounding on his chest about how bad ass
he is. Right. And that's kind of like. Ultimately
different, but the same kind of approach to the
lyrics of this song. It's the swagger. It's definitely
the swagger. Yeah. Now going back to the beginning
as a mixtape maker, my whole life, you normally
don't label a mixtape volume one, unless you're
certain that there's a volume two forthcoming.
Is there a dirt on my diamonds volume two coming
down the road? And if so, maybe when fans can
expect it. Well, it's already done. So. It's
going to come. We just have to figure out when
the right release date is. I would think it's
probably going to happen about a year after this
album has dropped. But yes, there's two volumes.
And really, to me, if you go back to the first
album that I worked with Marshall Altman, who
is my co -producer on these two records. But
the first one we did together was Lay It On Down.
And then after that, we did The Traveler, which
was our last studio record. And now we've done...
Dirt on My Diamond is volume one and volume two.
But to me, it's like, I feel like looking at
the body of work, it's almost like every album
is like chapters in a book and one kind of seamlessly
flows into the next. And it's like, you know,
so it's like we're telling a musical story here.
And so that's kind of what sparked the idea of
doing a volume one and a volume two, because
I really am looking at the albums that I've done
with them. It's one, it's like almost like one
body. Work divided up into chapters. Awesome.
Kenny, if you had to sum up your musical legacy
in three of the songs that you've written across
your entire career, which three would you choose?
Man, obviously, Blue on Black would be one of
them. Can't leave that one out. And probably
Deja Vu, just because that was the song that
put me on the map. First single off my first
album. And frankly, I mean, you know, choosing
songs is like, you know, choosing between your
children, right? I know, I know. Choosing favorites
doesn't go over well. But I will say that one
of my absolute favorite songs that I've done
in recent memory is a song called I Want You
off of the Traveler record. Because to me, it's
like if you asked me to play you a song that
I thought was the definition of contemporary
blues. or the modern blues sound, in my opinion,
from my perspective, that would be it. I mean,
it's just got all the elements. It's got a really
cool guitar riff. It's got a ripping guitar solo.
It's got this greasy -ass groove to it. And we
play it in the show, and I really love playing
that song every night. So I would certainly throw
that one in there. Awesome. Well, Kenny, it's
been an absolute pleasure talking blues rock
with you tonight. Thank you so much for joining
me on My Weekly Mixtape. Appreciate it. I want
to thank all the mixtapers for tuning in tonight.
And always remember, you can head to myweeklymixtape
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That's all for this week. Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, enjoy the tunes.