Saturday June 7th, 2025, Kenny Wayne Shepherd is coming to River Spirit Casino Resort. I recently caught up with Kenny to discuss the show, his multiple album projects and more.
We jumped right into talking about how busy Kenny is these days. There are two new albums, “Dirt On My Diamonds Volume 2″ with The Kenny Wayne Shepherd band and “Young Fashioned Ways” with 91-year-old Blues legend Bobby Rush.
I asked Kenny, as he started out as teen in the business and now, he’s been doing this thirty years and working with a 91-year-old, does he find himself working with younger artists as well. Kenny expressed that he has “Reached out and made myself available to the next generation of young guitarists and musicians.” Kenny mentioned some artists like Samantha Fish, Ally Venable, Kingfish Ingram and more. By the same turn Kenny sang Bobby Rush’s praises for what he has done for the Blues genre and for Kenny himself.
Kenny discussed how his album with Bobby is a “Real deal Blues record. I mean it’s as authentic as it gets and it’s something that I’m really proud of.” Touring this album while simultaneously touring for “Dirt On My Diamonds Volume 2” must feed Kenny’s soul. I say that because Kenny and I spoke when “Dirt On My Diamonds Volume 1” was released. During that conversation Kenny spoke about how on that album he was working with the Blues as base but expanding. He told me then that he wanted to get out of his comfort zone because that’s where growth happens.
Kenny explained that each night he and Bobby take to the stage first and then Kenny returns with The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band. He and Bobby together do a stripped down straight up Blues set from the “Young Fashioned Ways” album. Then when The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band comes out after a short intermission it’s a contemporary Blues and Rock set. “And it’s really cool to be able to do both in one show.”
After talking the live show, we switched gears to discuss the studio work. The “Dirt On My Diamonds” albums were recorded in Fame Studios Muscle Shoals. The “Young Fashioned Ways” album came together in Royal Studios in Memphis. Kenny told me “Those kinds of places lend a certain kind of vibe to the music.” Kenny said that working in those studios made him realize he wants to create his own studio.
Kenny shared that at one point he was working on four albums at once, but now he is down to working on two. The 30th anniversary version of his debut album “Ledbetter Heights” is just about finished and ready to be released for next year. Then there is a plan to tour behind that playing the album in its entirety. He is also working on a Rock N’ Roll cover album. I pushed to see what some of the covers are that he might be working on. He spoke about how some covers may be seen as “Head scratchers.” Although he didn’t share song titles, he did share some artists from whom he is recording songs. He did emphasize that he isn’t sure which sings will make the album, but he did mention artists he chose tracks from like INXS, Billy Idol and Genesis. He also mentioned some other artists we may expect him more to cover like Pink Floyd and The Who.
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