The Soul of the Blues: Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Musical Mission

On this episode of Arroyo Grande, Raymond Arroyo sits down with blues rock legend Kenny Wayne Shepherd to discuss his brand-new collaboration with 91-year-old Bobby Rush, the making of Young Fashioned Ways, and how faith and tradition fuel his music.

Kenny opens up about growing up in Louisiana, being inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters, re-recording Trouble Is… and Ledbetter Heights, and what it was like to tour with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Van Halen. He also shares how his Catholic faith, family life, and six children shape his artistry and legacy.

Plus—Raymond takes us through the Culture Counter, including:
• The push to normalize psychedelic drugs like LSD and ecstasy
• Outrageous fan behavior at sporting events (hello, “Phillies Karen”)
• The airline debate over plus-sized seating policies

Don’t miss this rich conversation about the roots of American music, the spiritual power of the blues, and the lessons Kenny Wayne Shepherd carries forward.

🔔 Subscribe for more inspiring conversations: Arroyo Grande, available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and everywhere you listen, watch & stream.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kenny Wayne Shephard is one of the most successful blues
rockeuitarists and songwriters in the world. But it's his devotion
to the tradition of the music that he loves that
animates his work. We'll talk about the power of tradition
in all of our work. And did you hear about
well she's being called the Phillies, Karen. I'll explain on

(00:22):
this edition of A Royal Grande. Come on, I'm ran
an Arroyo. Welcome to a Royo Grande. Go subscribe to
the show right now, turn those notifications on so you
know what's coming. Oh, we've got some big legendary guests coming.

(00:44):
Before we go to Kenny Wayne Shepherd, let's check out
the culture counter up first. A new study released this
week claims that LSD reduces anxiety at least in those tests.
And it should come as no surprise that this study
was sponsored by the drug company mind Med, who is
interested in bringing the band substance to market. We have

(01:06):
a country full of potheads, why not hallucinating zombies. So
think about this rationally for a moment. Junior is suffering
from anxiety over exams, let's say so his physician's going
to give him a hallucinogenic drug. Can't wait to see
what they prescribe to the kid who's too timid to date.
Viagracrack and a weekend at an OnlyFans convention. I guess

(01:27):
it's anxiety, not polio. Does every human malady need a
script and a copey? I think not. LSD's not exactly
magnesium or B twelve. According to Frontiers in Psychiatry, LSD
creates the mental effect of drug induced psychosis. According to researchers,

(01:48):
it causes distortions of time and identity, visual hallucinations, delusions,
and a sense of euphoria. Next stop, Betty Ford Clinic.
There's a reason LSD is an illegal substance.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know what.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
The long term effects are persistent psychosis, prolonged visual disturbances,
mood swings, and paranoia. But look at the bright side.
You're ready for a rubber room. But at least your
anxiety has gone. Drug manufacturers have been trying to legitimize
these hallucinogenics for a long time. Last year, drug manufacturers

(02:23):
submitted a study to the government purporting to show how
the drug ecstasy aka molly, the party drug, can treat PTSD.
The FDA rejected their claims, citing flawed studies. Even the
military now has gotten in on the act. Believe it
or not, the twenty twenty four National Defense Authorization Act

(02:45):
actually turned our veterans into drug company guinea pigs. And
guess who's paying for the clinical trials? You the taxpayer.
It authorized psychedelic therapy for any VET suffering from PTSD
or brain injuries. That's right, vets can receive magic mushrooms, ecstasy,
and other psychedelics. Why would they authorize the use of

(03:09):
these dangerous and ban drugs on our veterans? They need
and deserve relief from their war wounds. But if a
guy's suffering from TTSD and depression, why turn to a
drug like ecstasy whose psychological effects include anxiety and panic attacks, confusion, depression, paranoia,

(03:29):
and sleep difficulties. Do better, Congress, and let's leave the
widespread hallucinogenic drugs where they belong in the nineteen sixties
and seventies. Up next, what is it about watching live
sports that brings out the worst in adults? In recent days,
we've seen some of the most childish behavior from grown

(03:51):
ass people. You saw this moment when a tennis player
at the US Open tried to give a child his cap,
and this man ripped it out of his hand and
shoved it in a bag. He later apologized, but only
after he was publicly shamed on social media. Then this week,
a father at a Phillies game picks up a ball
which landed in the stands and gave it to his

(04:13):
young son Lincoln. Well, this woman, now affectionately known as
Phillies Karen, screamed at the father until he forfeited his
son's ball tour. Does this woman go out on the
street stealing kids candy at Halloween? You've heard of the
Phantom of the opera. She's the crampis of the ballfield.
Grow up, lady, what are you going to do with

(04:33):
the baseball? Toss it around the room at the rest home.
Let the kid of a souvenir, for God's sake. The
only good news is that both the tennis player and
Harrison batter the Phillies star made sure that their young
fans got something more than a cap and a ball.
But why are adults so poorly behaved at sporting events? Sports,

(04:53):
if anything, exist to celebrate skill and dedication. Sportsmanlike behavior, SIV.
What lessons are you moronic adults teaching the young people
in the stands? Grab whatever you want to Hell with you,
small fry, it's mine. When they grow up, they may
turn the lesson back on you. Be careful. And it's
not just kids. These ignorant adults are stealing from They're

(05:17):
now targeting the players on the field. This man tried
to steal something from tennis player Janet Sinner's bag while
he was signing autographs. Bear in mind, people in the
lower levels of the US Open are paying between four
thousand and twelve thousand dollars a seat for the semi
finals and they're trying to steal from the player's bag

(05:39):
on the court. How stupid are you. It's like paying
thousands of dollars to sit in the front road a
Taylor Swift concert and then trying to kidnap Taylor on
your way out. Something's bringing out the worst in these adults.
I think they should be all permanently banned from the
stadiums or courts for unbecoming behavior. Where's my yellow flag? Finally,

(06:00):
you probably read that Southwest Airlines is joining the other
competitors asking that plus sized travelers buy two seats when
they book their flights. Well, not everyone's happy about the
expansion of the seat policy.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Airlines want lose sized people to pay extra.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Now, like, hello, your tiny seats barely fit Ashiwawa, please
drop your solutions below because there is no way I'm
giving more money to this airline.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'm not paying for two tickets.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, you may have to. Here's why. It's just not
fair to expect the person seated next to you to
have to squeeze against the wall while you lift the
arm rest and spread, occupying half the seat they paid
full price for. Most of the airlines now require that
both armrests be down, and if you can't fit in
that space, you have to buy a second seat.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Look.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
I was on a flight the other night and a
flight steward said she couldn't pass down the aisle to
deliver drinks because a man in the third row was
literally spilling out of his seat and blocking the aisle
with his girth. It looked like something out of the Blob.
It's a safety hazard and just not fair to the

(07:12):
other customers. I know it's costly and embarrassing for some
plus sized people, but it's the only way to distribute
the very limited space on these airplanes. And by the
way I measured those seats the other night, you can
fit a chihuahua in them. Maybe an overfed Great Dane
would be a problem, but the chihuahua fits just fine.

(07:34):
Now to our deep dive. Kenny Wayne Shephard is one
of the most innovative blues and rock artists on the scene.
He's won multiple awards, sells out arenas. But what's so
interesting about Shepherd, who was a child prodigy, as you'll see,
is his devotion to the blues tradition that all of
his work stands upon. He's taken great efforts from very

(07:56):
early in his career to honor that blues heritage and
extend it up to his most recent album and tour.
Here's my conversation with Kenny Wayne Sheppard. One of the
things that every time I look at your work, every
time I listen to it, you can hear the past
in it and the fullness of the legacy that you
stand upon, and yet you carry it forward. Your newest project,

(08:18):
Young Fashioned Ways, you're pairing with a ninety one year
old Bobby Rush. You're touring with him. First, where did
this project come from.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Well, So Bobby Rush a little bit of backstory. Bobby
Rush is ninety one years old. He as I like
to refer to him as one of He is a
part of the generation that I refer to as the
originators of blues music. You know, he goes back very
close to the beginning and ninety one years old.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Wow. And so you know, this man.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Is somebody I've been aware of for a long time.
I've seen him play before more than once, and you know,
he's got his own thing going on like one hundred percent.
And you know, I'd never played music with him before
until a couple of years ago. So I have a
blues festival that we do on an annual basis called
the Back Roads Blues Festival, and we invited him to
come be our special guest and sit in with our band.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
So we did about three or four songs.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
But I'm telling you, like the first from the first
note when he walked out, it was obvious to me
that we had this chemistry. And chemistry is something that
you cannot fake, Like you can't manufacture that we're speaking
my life, which but yeah, it's true. It's like, so
you can get talented and you look at a football team.
It's like, oh, we're an all star team, right, and
like we're gonna put this guy, this guy there, or

(09:30):
this girl whatever the highest rate, and you think it's
gonna be amazing, and sometimes it just falls flat because
the chemistry is not there. Doesn't mean they're not great
on their own, right, So when you realize that something
like that exists, you have to seize on that. And
so I noticed it. I recognize it. I think he
did too. After the show. First thing I said when

(09:50):
we walked off the stage was I think we need
to do an album together.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Did you do covers? What were you saying? What did
you do that day?

Speaker 4 (09:55):
That day? Always a couple of just standard blues songs.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
He just got up, like, you know, Mannish Boy, the
Muddy Water song, I did Elmore James song.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
You know, well, listen, I I listened to this album
on the way over today. I've been listening to it
all weekend.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
There.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
It is such a classic old school bluesyet, you know,
and I love.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
These so somebody going on my back door. It's so.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I mean, it's it's full, it's fun, it's earthy. Forty
years difference separates the two of you, what was that
artistic chemistry like in studio?

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Well, so for me, that's interesting because not everybody. Everybody
kind of has their own way of doing things. And
you know, he's a solo artist. I'm a solo artist.
So you know, sometimes people can be really set in
their ways and then with those two worlds collide, you
never know what to expect. So this working together in
the studio, it's a very intimate thing. So I wasn't
sure how it was going to all go down. Actually,
to be honest with you, when we walked in the

(10:51):
door of the studio, neither one of us, especially not me,
I had no idea.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
I didn't know one song we were going to record.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
He just had lyrics.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, well he had lyrics, but he didn't even tell
me that. Like I was texting him and he would
respond to me about other things, but I'd be like, hey, man,
you know, you want me to send you some lyrics
or you want me to send you some music to
work on these songs before we get there, And he
just didn't respond to any of that.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Why not?

Speaker 4 (11:15):
I don't it was.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
I think it was part of his plan. Like I
think he did it on purpose because The end result
was is that the album literally unfolded in front of us,
like from moment to moment, it just organically just naturally developed.
So like I walked in, I'm like, I don't know,
I know what the first time in my life, I
didn't know a single song that was going to be

(11:37):
on a record. And he would he walked down and
he had a stack of papers like this thick, all
lyrics that he had written, some many years ago, some
just the other day, and I would just start playing
something and I'm like, what do you think about this?
And then he'd go through his papers and he pull
one out and he'd come over and stand over my
shoulder and start singing in my ear and he would
sing the words, and I was just like it was

(11:59):
always the perfect thing for the song, so I'm like,
let's cut it.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
So that's literally how the whole album came about. This take.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
What's this process?

Speaker 4 (12:07):
Like? Seven days is pretty quick now just for the recording.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Then I had to go and I had to do
some grunt work, as we say, and clean it all
up and then mix it and mastered.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Why ten new songs instead of covers I would imagine
you would do covers.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Well, there's one cover song was not actually a cover song.
I didn't I've never done this before this album. But
you can take an original song and then you can
rewrite some of it and then it becomes a collaborate
excuse me, a collaboration between you and the original writer.
So the title track that the album's called Young Fashion Ways.
There's an old Willy Dixon song Muddy Water's made famous
called Young fashion Ways. Bobby adjusted it. I wrote completely

(12:46):
new music for it. Bobby changed about half the lyrics,
so then it became Young Ways and it's a collaboration.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
So that's the only real cover.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, but that's kind of to a degree, it feels
very new to me. I know that song doesn't sound
like it at all, I mean pretty different exactly.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
And then there was two or maybe three songs that
he had previously recorded on some of his previous albums,
but I didn't know that and he didn't tell me that,
And I think that was actually really good because if
I knew that he had recorded those songs as a producer,
I would have gone and listened to those songs, and
then that would have influenced how we would have played
them in the studio, but instead we approached them as

(13:24):
if they were completely new songs, so they sound really
different than his previous versions of those.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Ninety one year old Bobby Rush said he was so
emotional during the he started crying during these sessions in Memphis.
At what point were you aware that this was striking
something deep in him?

Speaker 4 (13:41):
Well, I think there was.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
We had a moment like we were probably two thirds
of the way through the recording, getting kind of in
the home stretch, and he came up to me in
the hallway and we just.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Our paths crossed, and he just started.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Crying, and I hugged him, and he hugged me back,
and he was just and it was tears of joy
and gratitude. And I was so moved because like, I'm
the one that feels like that I'm getting the great
into this deal, because like I'm making an authentic traditional
blues record, which is the music that inspired me when

(14:16):
I was a kid, Like I used to dream about
there's a Muddy Waters album called Hart Again and it's
Johnny Winner playing guitar, producing the record, and Muddy Waters
is the featured artist, And that was my favorite blues album.
And I used to just dream of like what that
must have been like for like Johnny Winner to do that.
And this was kind of like my Johnny Winter Muddy
Waters moment with Kenny Wayne and Bobby Rush. So I'm

(14:36):
the one thinking like, this is so amazing for me
and then he just breaks down in tears and says,
you know how amazing it is for him, and it
was just it's been incredible, and that really like our
whole relationship from that experience moving forward has been like that.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
There's been a real bond.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
Well he said it was God that brought you all again.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
I believe so perfect.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
I mean it sounds like you all were just winging
this thing on inspiration and whatever bubbled up in the moment,
which is a risky way to go into a Memphi
Where did you do this?

Speaker 4 (15:08):
So it was Royal Studios in Memphis.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
So that's where all the original like the most famous music,
I mean a lot of famous music, but all the
Al Green.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Stuff from back in the day it was recording there.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
But it's a legendary studio, perfect place to do this record. Logistically,
it was great because it was the halfway point between
where Bobby lives and where I live.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
So we met in the middle.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
But yeah, the whole thing we just kind of I mean, honestly,
everything I do, I believe that I'm not the driving force.
I believe God is the driving force, and I just
have to be the conduit. I got to be open
enough to try. My part is to figure out, is
to be able to keep my eyes open enough to
know which direction to go, that which direction he's leading
me in, right, Yeah, and so, and I think Bobby

(15:48):
feels the same way. But you know, going into this,
I mean I was out of my comfort zone. I'm like,
what is going to happen here? I don't even know
a single song we're going to record. But I had
the faith. I mean, God's given us the He's got
his talent, I've got my talent. I know we both
can bring that to the table. And then we just
have faith in the process and take the music and
everything the inspiration where it leads us, and the end

(16:10):
result I think is an incredible record.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
And he also because he'd played with you and had
watched your career and he talked about that. I've seen
interviews where he's talked about that he knew your veneration
and respect of what went before, right, and that I
as I've had that experience with a lot of older
artists when I first interviewed Jerry Lewis because of it,
I had such respect for what he did. There was

(16:32):
an openness to working with me and talking that he
shared things that he'd never shared before.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Did you have that experience here?

Speaker 4 (16:38):
Well?

Speaker 3 (16:39):
For me, it's like everything that I do is based
on my childhood inspiration.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
It's all the music that I was exposed to. My
dad was in radio.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, so I grew up around music twenty four to seven,
went to every concert.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Was the concert promoted to in shreport.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
Right, So all of that I was soaking it up
and absorbing it and didn't know at the time that.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
I was but reflecting now you go.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Oh, all of this led to led me to hear
and all of that music that inspired me to go
pick up the instrument.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
You know, the early blues music, and it was everything.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
It was blues, country, rock, jazz, funk, gospel, everything but
blues was what I gravitated towards when I got the
guitar in my hands.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
As a child. We were talking three years old.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, yeah, four or five, six seven, I got my
first electric guitar. After I met Stevie ray Vaugh for
the first time. Seeing him was life changing.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Tell me what was that?

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Tell me what was that? But you saw Muddy Waters live,
I mean you saw incredible people even as a little tot.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah, And I do believe that was my first concert.
My dad said he took me to see Muddy Waters
in John Lee Hooker when I was three. Now I
don't remember the show, but I have to believe that
left an imprint, and I do believe that that's what
sent me on the path.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
Of my love and appreciation for blues music.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
But seeing Stevie was I was old enough for it
to register, was old enough for like the I was
just in awe of him because he played. He was
like a he channeled everything. It was like being a conduit,
which is what I strive to be on stage. Like
what I saw in him was he played with this
passion and this intensity that just came through him and

(18:19):
went outward and if you were receiving it, like you
couldn't help but feel it. And even at seven years old,
I was like, oh my gosh, And that's all I
want to do, is I want to have that kind
of energy and project that to people and affect them
the way he affected me.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
You know the BB King line about Stevie ray Vaughn
that the Blues is like the Blues is like being black. Twice,
Stevie ray missed on both counts, and I never noticed.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's a great it's a great line.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, but I see this when I watch you play,
it's almost like you're playing another language. Is that I
don't fully comprehend, but I know, yeah, exactly. I mean
it's a string thing to watch a musician kind of
channel that instrument. It's almost it's like a translator. It's
like a translator device, and it's so powerful.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
When you see it. Is that?

Speaker 1 (19:09):
So that's what Stevie ray Vaughn. That's the imprinting left
on you.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
Absolutely, And that's what I try and leave on people
when I when.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
I play, that's the imprint I want to leave behind.
And it's like you say, I mean, it's like speaking
another language. But that everybody says music is the universal language.
And because I believe that, when you tap into that place,
it's so authentic, it's so pure. If you're playing straight
from your heart. Now, not everybody does that, and that's
you know, there's markets for all that other kind of music,

(19:36):
but when that's your intention and you're really channeling from
your heart outward, then that is something that everybody can
identify with.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
It doesn't matter the words you're singing.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
And there's songs like that we do that are instrumental,
that have no words, and it moves people to tears,
and like that's the power of music, and so you
when you're communicating on that level, it all the barriers
have been put aside.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
I remember men years ago, was that Tippetinas, you know
that up into Orleans and the Neville Brothers used to
play I'm going back when my eye was on high
school and at the end of their concert, Aaron Nevill
would always step forward and a cappella do a version
of Ave Maria. Well, this is one o'clock in the morning.
Half the people are loaded tears and audible crying from

(20:20):
the audience. And I said, Aaron, I asked you years later,
what's happening there? First of all, why are you doing that?
What's happening? He said, Oh, Raymond, that's a garden, me
talking to the garden. Now, that's right, Yeah, that's really
what this seems to me, Why did the blues resonate
so deeply with you?

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Why does it still resonate.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Well to me?

Speaker 3 (20:38):
Because the number one requirement to play blues authentically is
to be able to play it from your heart right
like with them, with that kind of feeling. And I
think that's why I was drawn to it. Even when
I was a kid, I couldn't relate necessarily to the lyrics,
you know, even if it was I hadn't been in
a relationship, I hadn't had a woman do me wrong,

(20:58):
I hadn't had some of the other experiences outside of
relationships that these people were singing about. But I could
feel the emotion that they were portraying in the music.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, I mean at thirteen, you're invited on stage? Was it?
Bryan Brilee?

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Brian Lee's Who's a New Orleans lose Man? Invite you
on stage? You're at a Shreveport Arts festival?

Speaker 4 (21:20):
Well that was later, Oh, that was later.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
That really Brian Lee was Bourbon Street, the old Absent
House bar in New Orleans, thirteen years old, first time ever.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
On stage, And what was that like?

Speaker 3 (21:30):
Well, it was it was a turning point for me
because I was really I was really shy, even after I.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Put my band together stuff. I used to have long blonde.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Hair and I would kind of ride behind behind the
hair and but Brian, that was the first time I
really got to perform in front of people. And I
remember thinking to myself that this is either going to
go really well or it's going to go horribly wrong,
and if it does, I'm never going to do this again,
like ever. And so I got up there, I did
my two sons, have my hair behind, behind my hair,

(21:59):
and I did. He said two songs and then you know,
you got to get out. This is my show, kid.
But I did the two songs and then I went
to get down and he was like, don't go anywhere,
and he kept me up all night long.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
I played till like three or four o'clock in the
morning with him. Got my first standing ovations how old
are you? Thirteen? And that was like, Okay, maybe I
can do something with this, and that set that began.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
That was like, it's a trajectory between so thirteen I
did that. Fourteen I did my first demo recordings. Fifteen
I formed my band. Sixteen I signed a major record contract,
but it was video.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
It was video of that that Red River Rebel that yeah,
you're thirteen years old, plaink it was that video that
got you the record contract.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Well, the Red River Rebel was when I was fifteen
or fifteen, okay year old. So I put my band together,
started doing shows and we filmed that shows in my
hometown as Outdoor Festival had a good crowd. But that
was a tool that we used to send to record
labels that were expressing some interest so that they could
actually see, you know, because rumors started flying all over

(23:00):
the country about this kid from Louisiana playing blues music.

Speaker 4 (23:04):
The word was getting to New.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
York, LA everywhere, and we were getting phone calls and
my dad was like, we need to film a show
and we can send them this video.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
And so yes, that's what eventually helped us.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
And what did they see, Kenny, What do you think
they saw in that video? Well?

Speaker 3 (23:18):
It's interesting because you know, I'm my own worst critic,
and so I look back and I've never felt like
I've come to realize that I've earned my place here
and then I.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
Belong where I'm at.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
But I never thought of myself as being anyone special
or anyone different than anybody else.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
I'm just a guy who loves music.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
And loves to play guitar, right, So I was always
kind of baffled that, like people had the reaction that
they had to me when I was playing music, because
I'm like, you know, I'm just I'm just a kid
playing guitar.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
But I look back at that video and I go, well, what.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
They saw was they saw as a fifteen or sixteen
year old kid playing guitar.

Speaker 4 (23:55):
In my opinion, at that time.

Speaker 3 (23:58):
Maybe there wasn't a lot of people doing it at
that level at that time, but there's a lot of
because of social media now, you can see everybody that
plays guitar online and there's a lot of like kids
that are sixteen now that I think if more advanced
than I was then.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
But I don't know.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
There's a difference between like being able to play great
and being a great player, because there's a lot of
great players and somebody that has the it factor and
that's what they're looking for, And somebody obviously saw that
there was more to me than just a teenage guitar player.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Yeah, there's that Hendrix line about the blues. The blues
are easy to play but hard to feel.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
Yeah, there's that, and then there's also like the songs.
I mean, I was already playing original songs at that point,
and so that's a huge thing. If you're going to
get into business with a record company, you can't be
a cover band.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
Yeah, you know, you have to have material that they think.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Is marketing well.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Ledbetter heights hits in nineteen ninety five when you listen
to that, Now, what did the seventeen year old or
eighteen year old Kenny not know?

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Oh, you know not.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
I didn't know hardly anything, but I knew what I
needed to know to get the job done, which was
which was I needed to play straight from the heart
and communicate through my instrument and I needed to be
true to myself and play the and record the music
I felt inspired to play and record. So like Irving Azof,

(25:21):
who's one of the most powerful men in the entertainment
industry by far, he's the one that signed me to
his record label, personally Giant Records, when he was running
Giant Records, And he asked me at the time, because
I didn't sing, my problem was I could play beyond
my years. But when I opened my mouth and sang,
I sounded like a kid, and those things didn't match

(25:43):
up for me. And I had standards that I heard
from my music, So if my voice couldn't meet that standard,
I was going to find somebody else who's could, right.
So I remember him telling me when he was signing me.
He was like, hey man, what kind of record are
you going to make? And I'm like, I don't know.
I'm just gonna go make it Kenny Wayne Sheppard record.
I guess, he goes, Look, he goes, I don't care

(26:04):
if you make an all instrumental record if you have
a guy singing on it, like, just go make the
album you feel inspired to make.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
He gave me permission to do that from day one,
and I've.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
Done that my entire career, and not everybody has that
luxury because a lot of times people are making artists,
they're trying to make them be who they think they should.
So I just followed my instinct and I've been true
to that my entire career, and thankfully it's brought us
to this point.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, I mean trouble Is, which is nineteen ninety seven
the longest running Billboard Blues chart topper for an album ever.
You still hold that record, you go seven singles in
the top ten.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
You go back and re record.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
That album on the twenty fifth niver Why do that,
Kenny Well?

Speaker 4 (26:47):
For there's multiple reasons.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
First was to acknowledge the twenty fifth anniversary of that album,
because that was arguably our most mainstream successful record, Blue
on Black, Mass of It.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Why did those songs hit Little one Black and somewhere.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
I mean, you know, it's the right place at the
right time, the right music. I mean I tell people
all the time, like there's so many things that have
to happen in order for you to be successful, for
a song to reach its potential, and that song I
think didn't reach its full potential, to be honest with you,
because at the time, and I don't know anybody would
argue with me about this, I don't think. But at

(27:23):
the time the record company had it. They did a
great job at rock radio, but I think they were
kind of lacking in the top forty department and trying
to figure out how to get that song to cross
over in the top forty. Had they been successful in
doing that, it would have been even a bigger smash
than it was. But it still was a massive number
one hit for us. The record the second album did

(27:44):
better than the first album. Those between the first two
records that built us the foundation of the fans that
have now carried us going on three decades. But we
did the twenty fifth anniversary Trouble Is record to number
one acknowledged twenty five years of this script music number two.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
We did a very very close recreation of the album,
same guitar and everything, and we had all.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
The same guys with the exception of one player, So
same crew, everything right twenty five years later.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
And it was cool because it was like, hey man,
I was what.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
Was I eighteen or nineteen when I did that, and
we were all twenty five years younger. But it was
cool to show everybody we can rock just as hard
today twenty five years later as we did back then.
And then also there's a business case for it because
we own this version of it, you know, because ownership.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
It was Kenny's version.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah yeah, And you know, we actually started recording that
album and re recording two of my We were doing
the Ledbetter Heights album as well. Wow, that's going to
come out next year for the thirtieth anniversary that but
we had started recording those before Taylor did her whole
Taylor's Version thing.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
But there's a real business case for that.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
I mean, it's it's kind of like unbelievable that in
the music industry that you and ago people go to
a record company, especially back then, because you don't have money.
You don't have the money to make the record, you
don't have the connections to market it, you don't have
the connections to get it on radio.

Speaker 4 (29:09):
A lot of that stuff isn't as relevant now as
it was then.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
But you went to them because they had all these
resources you didn't have. But at the same time, they're
giving you this money, they're loaning you the money, right
because you have to pay it all back, right, And
they get like ninety, you know, seven cents out of
every dollar made on a record, and you're paying it
back like three cents at the time, you know what
I mean. And they charge you back for every single

(29:32):
thing that they do, every dollar they spend. Sometimes they
charge you for stuff that they didn't do, or overcharge
you for it.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
You have to audit them. But you pay it all
back over.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
Time, right, And only then after they've gotten all their
money back, then you start to make a little bit
of money, but at the end of the day, they.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Still own the record.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
You're not even a half owner, and without the music,
they don't have anything, right, so you go.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
All they did was bank So.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
It's like you go to the bank and you get
a loan for a house, and then you pay the
loan back, but the bank still owns your house.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
Like it's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Like you write a show, I have a theater, and
I now own the show because you performed at my.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Theme exactly crazy.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
So the least they could do, and like, this is
monumental change that needs to take place. But the least
they could have done is say we're partners in this, right,
you know. And so after after you've paid it back,
then you then we're fifty to fifty you know what
I mean or something at some point, but we get
all of our money back and we still own everything,

(30:36):
and for perpetuity, you're going to make three cents on
every dollar, you know or whatever.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
It's well, this is why.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Look, you you hit before there was the social media
possibilities and then direct distribution. All of that was unheard
of when you started. We're in a different era now, yeah,
but it's harder for artists to break up, don't you
feel that.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Well, there's so many different things, Like I'm very grateful
that I got in when I did because I got
to experience what I believe, I mean, call me a dinosaur,
call me old or whatever, what I got in on
the very end of what I think was the golden
age of like the radio industry, the recording industry, Like
things were so different back then than they are now now,

(31:17):
some of it has changed for the better. They put
some power technologies, put some power in the hands of
the artists, Like you don't need it necessarily a record company.

Speaker 4 (31:26):
To market yourself.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
If you're savvy with social media, you can break you
can go viral on YouTube, you know, Instagram, Facebook, all
those things, and you can attract an audience of millions
of people.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
And the challenge that you then face is a challenge.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
That every artist faces, is how do you retain that audience,
because that's where the talent factor comes in.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
But you can get your name out there. You can
grow a following.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Without having to even now they all want a lot
of money now, Like social media is kind of a
huge bait and switch thing to me, Like, I don't
really like it very much because then the getting they're like,
come to our platform and accumulate a following, and so
you you spend this time cultivating this following, and then
I get it. They're in business to make money. But
now it's like, all of a sudden, it's like, we

(32:11):
have two million people almost following us on Facebook. I'll
post something and you can see that it reaches eight thousand,
five twenty five hundred out of those two million people.
And if you want to reach any more of those people,
they want you to pay for them. And so in
that regard, in the early days of social media, it
was a great tool and they didn't choke you down

(32:32):
trying to get a bunch of money out of you,
so you could really grow your fan base. Now it's
all about the almighty dollars. So if you don't have
a bunch of money to invest in boosting your posts
and advertising with them, then you can't really reach a
lot of people.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
Yeah, so it's an interesting thing.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
There's these tools, the ability to record on a computer
and a laptop. I mean Billie Eilish or whatever, her
first album they just record on a laptop in an apartment,
and she's one of the biggest artists in recent time. Right,
So you couldn't go You had to rent a studio. Before,
you had to have the money to run a studio
to make a record. Now you can do it at home.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
It's all open.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yeah, so there's a lot more options available.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
There's something I need to talk to you about. Early
on in your career.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
You open for the Stones, Bob Dylan van Halen. What
did you pick up from them? I mean, these are
the people, some of whom you listened to as a child,
and here you are opening with them, touring with them.
What was that like?

Speaker 4 (33:25):
Well, it's incredible.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
I mean part of I think the thing that worked
in my advantage of being so young was maybe I
was a little bit naive or maybe it just didn't
fully register.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
You know.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I've done a lot of reflection in my life now,
especially doing these anniversary albums and anniversary tours, and you go, wow, man,
look at all this stuff that happened, and like the
reality kind of hindsight, you can look back and you
really put it in perspective and the moment like you're
walking out on Wimbley, the old Wimbley Stadium in front

(33:57):
of eighty thousand people opening up for the Eagles when
they first got back together on the Hell Freezes Over tour.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
And you're like, wow, this is cool.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
But you're like this is you know, I'm just gonna
go play my guitar and hide behind my.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
Hair, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
But you look back you're like, oh my gosh, Like
how incredible. And so, you know, I learned a lot
about entertaining people. I learned how to play in these
massive venues, and I learned how to play. I mean,
I went from playing like, you know, hundred and fifty
two hundred people in clubs, you know, doing three one
hour sets with fifteen minute breaks in between, for like

(34:30):
two hundred and fifty bucks, to opening up for the
Eagles eighty thousand people a night in freaking soccer stadiums in.

Speaker 4 (34:38):
Europe, all over Europe and everything in between.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
So it's the best practice any artist could ever get,
is just actually doing it on stage in front of people.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Would tell me, what did you have any interaction with them?

Speaker 3 (34:49):
With Dylan with all home, so like incredible interactions like
for example, my one of my favorite stories, Joe Walsh
and I met and became friends on that tour and
the first thing he said to me.

Speaker 4 (35:02):
I'm standing at the side of the stage.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
We're in Wimbley Stadium and I'm over there tuning my
guitar and Joe walks up to me and he goes, Hey,
what are you doing And I was like, oh, I'm
tune to my guitar. He goes, I haven't tuned a
guitar and over twenty years.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
And he just walked away.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
And it was like, you just got to know him
to know how funny that is, right, And he and
I became friends, and we've been friends for decades now.
And so I met, you know, everybody except for Glenn
Frye on that tour. Everyone came and said hello to
me and sat, you know, had a meal with me
or whatever. Never met Glenn Frye. Really, yeah, I don't
know why, but that's what happened. So like interesting experiences

(35:39):
like on Van Halen. We did Van Halen, we did
the Van Halen three tour in the nineties and then
we did the very last.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Van held both.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
I didn't know that, yeah, and Ed and I became
friends on the first tour.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Our.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
Connection goes back even further than that because my dad
was responsible for.

Speaker 4 (35:55):
Valerie Burtnelli meeting Eddie van Halen.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
You at a concert in Yeah, and so he brought
her to the show at the request of her father,
because my dad was the radio guy and he would
always get passes and tickets, and so he took Valerie
to see Van Halen for the first time at Shreveport, Louisiana.
Took her backstage and introduced her to Eddie van Halen

(36:18):
and so.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Wow, you know the rest of his history.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Yeah, but he and then he and I became friends.
And Bob Dylan like people.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Bob he's very reclusive.

Speaker 4 (36:27):
So every okay, I'll give you that.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
But for me, what I've learned one of the biggest
lessons I've learned in life, and not just in music
but in life in general, is that I don't I
refuse to take on other people's issues and other people's
resentments or other people's problems with people like I'll take
in the information. But I've learned so many times that

(36:50):
just because somebody says that this person is this way,
that doesn't mean that's going to be my experience.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
And so before I met Bob Dylan, you hear all
these things.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
It's like, you know, don't look at them, don't try
and shake his hand, like you know you hear about them,
like climbing into trees and all this stuff.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
I mean, just all these weird.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Things, right, and everything that everybody ever told me about
him was not my experience every single day. And I'm
like seventeen. I did two tours with him, seventeen or
nineteen years old, and every day he would show up
early and watch me soundcheck every single day, and then
we'd finished sound checking and he'd come up on the
stage and we come straight up to me and he

(37:30):
would shake my hand and he would stand there and
talk to me for like twenty minutes. And one night
he came up. He was knocking on the door of
the tour bus. I'm in the back lounge. My bus
driver comes back and knocks on my door and I'm
like yeah, and he goes, hey, Bob's outside. He wants
to know if he can come up on the bus.
I was like, Bob, who, And he goes Dylan, and
I'm like you're making him wait, like get him up.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
And he came up on the bus.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
He had a big, old Great Dane dog with him
and he sat on the bus for like an hour
and a half just hanging out. And at the end
of the tour he said, Hey, I don't care if
you have a new record out or if you're just
working up new material.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
You can come out on the road with me anytime
you want.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
And that was like contrary to every crazy story that
I had ever heard about him. Now I'm not saying
those people didn't have those experiences, but that was not
my experience.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
To me pick up anything artistically for him, well, I
got to play.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
I got sitting with them every night. I got to
play all along the Watchtower withh them. So I was
doing all the Jimmy Hinrick sla version stuff with him
singing it in his way of doing it.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
That was cool.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
I mean, Bob's an inspiration. I mean a lyrical genius,
absolute powerhouse. I mean, you can't listen to his music
and not pick something up from that.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
I love that you love the tradition that you stand
upon and the foundation of all of that. One of
my favorite projects that you ever did was ten Days
Out Blues from the back Roads, and it was you
and two thousand and seven, and you went with a
film crew and a recording kit and you went to
these great blues masters in their home spaces and you

(39:01):
interview them and you're recorded with them. Tell me why
did you? First of all, why did you do that?
And looking back on that, I see you sitting on
the couch with Bbking. I watched it last week. You
can see you're just in all of this. Oh yeah,
I mean it's incredible. It's like sitting with Royalty exactly.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Exactly.

Speaker 4 (39:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Well, for me, it was it was about my love
and appreciation for the genre and for these artists. And
also I had kind of noticed that I've been given
a lot of opportunities and blues music has kind of
been my platform that I've built my music off of.
It's the foundation of everything. And I've i mean, in
every every genre. I mean, Nashville is a perfect example.

(39:42):
You can walk up and down Broadway here and you
can see incredibly talented musicians playing every single night of
the week, all day and you know, and they got
a lot of talent. They sound really good, but they
may not ever be known to the rest of the world,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
And it's not their fault, it doesn't have it.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
It's just kind of like, I don't know who gets
to decide how it all works out, but it doesn't
work out the same for everybody, and so I'm aware
of that. And there's these really talented blues musicians that
I've admired, and I'm like, more people need to know
about these people. And it's kind of the Bobby Rush
thing too. I'm like, I want to turn my fans
onto people like Bobby Rush so that they can enjoy

(40:24):
the music that they might not be aware of.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
That's how pop music is predicated on it. Yeah, I mean,
R and B rap, country, it all finds it's real root.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
If you do your homework and you go backwards from
whatever's happening right now, and you connect the dots, you
go whoever it is, you go who inspired them, who
inspired them, who inspired them, who inspired them?

Speaker 4 (40:45):
You're going to find your way back to blues music
at some point. You know, blues and country for sure,
which you're kind of like.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
They were born around the same time. Yeah, yeah, really
it's the same. It's the same region.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
Yeah, Blues, country and jazz is like the trifecta and
everything comes from that, you know, and that's all that's
American music, you know.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Do you feel an obligation to carry that tradition forward.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Well, what I feel like is my responsibility, and not
everybody feels this way, but it's the example I was given,
is that I have to give. I feel obligated to
give credit where credit is due.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
So I didn't invent this. None of us have invented
any of this.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Right.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
Everybody's music that they are inspired to create has been
inspired by something someone else did before them. And my obligation,
I believe, is not to sit here and pretend like
I invented something, but instead to the people who look
to me and appreciate what I do, to say, hey,
but did you hear about this guy?

Speaker 4 (41:44):
Have you heard this woman's music? Have you heard this artist?
This band?

Speaker 3 (41:48):
Because this got me fired up, and that's what inspired
me to do this, So turn them onto that. And
people like Stevie Rayvaughn and Jimmy Hendricks and all those
guys they did that as well, you know, and then
that helped me go back and research and discover so
many more artists because it opened my eyes to this
entire new world of artists.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
What do you say to young artists who say, I
don't want all that old stuff?

Speaker 2 (42:11):
I got my own I got to express myself for today.
I've got songs for today, not that old stuff.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
You would say, what, well, but I would say that, like, well,
first of all, you don't have anything that you're doing
without the old stuff. That's how you got to the point,
to this point, so that you could make that music.
But it's just like anything, it's like knowing your history,
it's like knowing where all of this comes from then

(42:37):
makes you a much more well rounded artist, and it
will actually give you the ability to have more depth
to what you're doing. If you're trying to start right here,
moving forward like you, there's no depth behind it, there's
no substance behind it.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Yeah, it seems to me when you know where you
came from, when you know the foundations of this, first
of all, you know what's already been done, so you
don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
You can help build upon that.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
I mean Edison, he didn't create the light bulb. He
figured out the right fiber and he built on all
the failures of the past. He was smart enough to
recognize the failures and what worked and then build upon that.
For some reason, in the arts today and immediate we
just discard all of it. And I love that you've
taken the time in your career while writing new material

(43:20):
that infuses rock and country into all of your work.
You stop on going home, which was you in Shreveport
doing traditional blues music. Is that in any way tiede
I'm going to get personal. Is that in any way
tied to your faith, to that idea of we stand
on this tradition?

Speaker 4 (43:41):
Well, I think so. I mean, I think everything that
I do, everything that I.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
Do in my life, the way I choose to live
my life is to try and stand firmly within my
faith and my values that I learned from my faith. Right,
and we can get off into a whole other conversation
that's not even musically.

Speaker 4 (43:58):
Related, but about religion and things like that.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
But to me, it's principles I learned in another program,
principles before personalities. What are the principles that were being taught?
And are they good? And are they well intentioned? And
do they actually in fact make us better people if
we followed them? And so I try to implement that
to the best of my abilities, knowing that I'm not perfect,
I'm not a saint, I'm flawed I'm gonna fall short,

(44:24):
but to the best of my abilities at any given time. Right,
And so with my music, Yes, I mean, the foundations
of my faith are in everything that I do. It's
my approach to my career, it's my approach to my family,
it's my approach to my personal life, my friend life.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
My interactions with the everyday guy.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
Like today, you know, I had people coming over helping
me out with stuff in.

Speaker 4 (44:44):
My lawn, and you know this is I'm in my home.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
And I demanded you come over here, and I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
I should have worn the whole the whole musician net
up time.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
I'm going to get you on the road because I
want the hat, the big orange pad. I've seen you
a hundred times with the hat and the co the
whole routine.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
I like this, Kenny, though, this is nice.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
Well, but this is and I think that people at
the end of the day. Man, it's like treating do
unto others, you know. But yes, absolutely, I mean I
feel like I don't let my ego get the best
of me. I don't let my pride overwhelm my decision
making process is like stay humbled, you know, appreciate what
you've been given, not what you have. I didn't manifest this.

(45:25):
I didn't create all of this. I put in the work,
but I didn't do it all myself. And so yes,
I mean I feel like creating music. My intention every
single night that I walk out on stage and every
time I go into the studio is my prayer is
that I bring light into people's lives through the gift
of music that has been that I've been blessed with,
and that I'm a conduit for God to show people

(45:46):
through me what his power and his love and all
of that stuff. And so and when people message me
and they say I saw your show and they're like,
God truly has blessed you, you know that, I'm like, oh,
they that happened that exchange.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
I was able to do that.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
And I'm not out there like I'm not trying to
I've learned to be uh it's another phrase from another program,
but it's like attraction, not promotion.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
So I'm not I'm not the kind of guy that's going.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
Around trying to beat everybody over the head with my
belief system or my trying to convert them to think
the way I think. I feel like I just need
to live my life in a manner in which you know,
hopefully people might notice something positive that they're curious about,
and that opens up a line of communication and we
can have a conversation.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
You're the father of six children, Yeah, a convert to Catholicism.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Did that change and deepen your working anyway?

Speaker 4 (46:40):
Well? It changed for those things?

Speaker 3 (46:42):
Well yeah, Well having a family and six children, well
it provides an entirely new sense of motivation and inspiration
because I want to make my kids proud. I want
to You know, when you're in a position like this,
you can leave behind a lot. You can leave behind
a lot of wreckage, or you can leave behind a legacy,

(47:05):
or you can leave a little bit of both. But
my intention is to leave at least just the impression that,
through my music that people felt something and I had
a positive impact on their lives. And therefore my kids
can be proud of that. And I can show my
kids what hard work and dedication looks like and what
the payoff for that is. And still, even thirty years
into my career, I set goals and I tell.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
Them this is what I want to accomplish.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
This year, and then hopefully they can see me work
hard and see that come to pass and then inspire
them in those ways. Right, So that's a new and
then you know my Catholic faith. It was just I mean,
that was just an interesting experience because I grew up
Methodist and you know, I just remember being a little
kid and like seeing people do the Sign of the Cross,

(47:50):
and I was like, I was talking to my.

Speaker 4 (47:52):
Ground, like how come we don't do why can't we
do that? And you know, I just.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Hanging around New Orleans, you saw a lot of Yeah.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
And everybody has their own kind of way.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
Like I'm just the guy that like I like to,
Like I said, I just try to be as good
of a person as I can be. I try and
just live my life hopefully in some way that that
if somebody feels compelled, they go, hey, you know what's
going on? Like how are you doing this? You know,
how are you managing this? Like if they can see

(48:23):
me operate in turmoil or whatever, like in a flurry
of activity and be focused and centered and still coming
from the right place and not get.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
Frazzled by everything, and it's like, wow, how did you
do that?

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Well? Because I seek a contact with the power greater
there myself and I seek guidance from that, and I
try and channel that and know that, like, I'm not
responsible for everything right, and that's actually like to be
powerless and to let go and to realize that I'm
not responsible for making everything happen is a huge relief.
But I am responsible for doing what I'm capable of doing,

(48:58):
and seeking that guy and then trying to implement that
so that then the end result can be accomplished.

Speaker 4 (49:04):
You know what I mean. It's another just being the
condu I.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
Always say, can all the mistakes of mine?

Speaker 2 (49:09):
Right? Well? The rest belongs to God somebody else.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
In fact, I love the two albums you did Dirt
in my Diamonds. I always thought that's my soul dirt,
that's the perfect I love those two albums, by the way,
Before I let you go and move on to my
royal Grande questionnaire, which I ask everybody. I love the
fact that you record live in studio. You like to
be in studio with everybody absolutely.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Why do you do that?

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Why is that important as opposed to getting it just
perfect this section and then recording to a track.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
Because I believe that there is a tangible difference that
can be heard and can also be felt when you
have a band playing together versus people emailing files back
and forth to each other across the country that never
sit down in the room together. And the other thing
about that is is you eliminate. When you do it

(50:04):
like that, you have now eliminated all possibility for anything
spontaneous to happen. Right, So, whoever the first guy is
that sits down in front of the computer and puts
the click track down and plays the first guitar, keys,
whatever the first instrument is, this is the arrangement. This
is how the song's going to go from start to finish.

(50:26):
When you're in this and everybody has to follow that.
When you're in the studio, people like what about this
and what about this part?

Speaker 4 (50:33):
And what if you play it like this? Or like,
how about a different ending?

Speaker 3 (50:36):
And it's like and then it's a it's a group effort,
and it's a team. It's a team sport. Playing music
is a team soul.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
It's souls and hearts and these people communicating. I mean,
the thing I've always loved about the Blues and your
particular take on it, you can hear the communication. You
can hear that, particularly when you're.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
Vibing with somebody.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
It's like they're talking back and forth to each other,
which what great music. And there's something about the blues
and jazz that facilitates that in a way that other
genres don't, right, And I love that you've preserved that
and tipped your hat to the past, venerated it, carried
it forward, and you're doing your own exploration with it,
which is incredible. Okay the Royal Grandee questionnaire. I asked us,

(51:19):
if everybody these are quick answers, then I'll get you
back to the gardening. Okay, okay, who is the person
you most admire?

Speaker 4 (51:27):
Oh wow, you say quick answers. I don't know, man,
there's so many.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
I've had a lot of great people in my life,
and I admire them in many different ways.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
I want to say this. It might come across as cheesy.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
But I admire I admire my wife like I really
admire her well, because she's a fascinating individual. She's so multifaceted,
but she's just you know, what's amazing about relationships is
that in a good, healthy, I believe relationship, she excels

(52:05):
where I fall short, and I excel where she falls short.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
And so it.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Creates this balance. But in the areas that she excels
in that I don't. I'm just totally fascinated by her.
But she's an incredible mother, she's an incredible individual. She's
a I've never seen a more good natured person, you know,
and it speaks to her upbringing and her family and
you know as to who she is that that all

(52:30):
had an influence. And then it's also now your family
can give you what they can give you, but it's
up to you what you do with it. Yeah, she's
I mean, she's an incredible person's a great lady.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
I've known.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
I knew her just before you were married. I met
her a long time ago. Who do you despise?

Speaker 4 (52:45):
I don't despise anybody. I really don't like what.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
Ever, since I was a kid, the word hate, and
I feel like that's pretty similar or territory. It just
never resonated with me. It always felt offensive to me.
So the only thing I would say that I really
don't like is I don't like it. I don't like
people that aren't independent thinkers. They can't I think. You know,
in the world we live in today that is incredibly

(53:08):
controversial and divided, and all that stuff, and it's like
everybody's forcing you to be on one side or the other.
I think everyone's doing themselves a disservice by not actually
taking in all the information, by just taking in one
source or you know, one point of view and neglecting
the other. You know, it's like, take it all in,
understand that there's there are there subjectives, Like people are

(53:30):
trying to make you think things right. By the way
they're delivering that to you is they want to persuade
you know that, listen to this, put it all together,
and to find the truth in the middle, and then
make a decision based on that this. You know, it's
like I want people to use their brains. And I'm
not saying you know, that might sound offensive. Some people
might say, well, of course I use my brain, But
I don't think everybody takes in all the information without

(53:54):
the buy and tries to put the bias aside.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Well, critical, critical thinking and reason has become they become
sinful and they're not Yeah, we're built this way we're
supposed to.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
The thing is like, how how can the more If
everybody's on the same page all the time, then where
where's the innovation? Where's the creativity, where's the individuality? Those
are all the You've eliminated that. If everybody is just
in lockstep with one.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Of the same mindset, there is no progress.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
It's the click track of life, no room for improvisation.
It's really what you were talking.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
And that's convenient for some people who want everybody to
be that way.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
But I think, you know, we're individuals. Let's act like individuals.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
A really boring way to live. Let's be honest.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
And so and and just stop with all the hate,
Like it's just horrific.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
What's your best feature?

Speaker 4 (54:47):
My best I don't know. Is it my cham.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
What it used to be When I was a kid,
it was like everybody loved my long locks. You know,
I'm well into middle age now, so that's not what
it wants.

Speaker 4 (54:59):
Was I don't know. I don't really know. Probably just
my ability to play guitar. That's what I'm mostly known for.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
What do you know, Kenny that others don't know?

Speaker 3 (55:09):
I think I have some insights because of my life
that maybe most people don't have, Like what is it
like to be a child prodigy? What is it like
to be a child star that experience and what everything
that comes along with that. You know, I think I
probably have some insight on that kind of stuff and
the challenges and the struggles that come with.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Would you would you would you advance or want your
own child to be a child star?

Speaker 4 (55:36):
I would.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
So let's put it this way. All of my kids
are musical. They're all incredibly intelligent. They're all very talented people.
But I'm not going to try and persuade any of them.
I just want them to be their own people. I
also do think there's this thing where it's like when
you have a.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
A famous father or something.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
You know, the the inkling nation is to not go
down that path because you maybe feel like you can't.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
You're living.

Speaker 4 (56:05):
But I look at my.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
Kids and I'm like, you, guys, it could be better
than me, you know what I mean, if you just tried.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
So.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
I do have several of my kids play guitar, but
and one of my daughters like she Actually they're all
doing different things. I have daughters playing drums, I have
another daughter's doing keyboards.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
I have ones doing keyboards and vocal band.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
You're building. I know what you're doing. You're building the
Shepherd Family band.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
But when I was but when I was a kid.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
I would come home from school and I would grab
my guitar and that's all I would do until I
went to bed, and then rent and repeat. So I
don't know if they, if any of them, have taken
it to it taken it to that point yet. Yeah,
but you know, the path is different for everyone and
you never know what's going to happen. So if they
want to make a music and a career in music,
I absolutely support that. If they want to do something

(56:54):
completely different has nothing to do with music, I support
that as well. I just want them to to follow
their passion and see if they can to make a
career doing something that they love.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
To do who they were meant to be. Yeah, yeah,
and realize their potential. What do you fear?

Speaker 4 (57:12):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (57:14):
I pray if death is still something I'm trying to
come to turn if I think, if most of us
are being honest, we still grapple with that concept.

Speaker 4 (57:23):
And a lot of people say, I don't not worried,
but but I like it.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
I don't know, man, you know, you might just be
saying that, you know, And it's like, even with my faith, like,
you know, I believe I had a moment in my life,
and I really didn't intend to get off in spiritual things,
but you know, I've been taught through my faith, even
growing up Methodists or whatever, that you know, the spirit
is eternal, the life everlasting, right, and you believe it,

(57:49):
but you have to like really believe it. Like some
of it's well that's faith, and faith just means you
have to believe. But like, there was a moment where
I started feeling my age, you know, and it was
real for But this was a real moment of clarity
for me because.

Speaker 4 (58:06):
I will go up one day I remember what I
was doing.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
I just had Yeah, well I just literally yesterday had
a cortisome shot in my back.

Speaker 4 (58:15):
Like that's getting old.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
You're gonna be give me the doctor's name because guess what,
Oh my gosh, I went to brush my teeth this morning.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
Oh yeah, So I don't remember what it was I
was doing, but I was trying to do something physically
that just should come naturally, and it was a struggler.
I couldn't do it or I hurt myself doing it,
and all of a sudden, in that moment, I felt
the disconnection between who I am inside. Most people say

(58:44):
up here, but I believe it's all connected. But they
would say, well, I feel like everybody says, I feel
like I'm seventeen.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
I feel like I'm twenty five years old. But you
but your body's not right.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
And I felt in real time the disconnect between my
body and my spirit, and I thought, this thing is
not twenty five or eighteen or whatever, but I feel
that I should be able to do those things. So
these things are developing at different rates, right, and so

(59:20):
that's the real Like I was like, oh, this is
my spirit is not aging. What it is is I'm
advancing through wisdom, through acquired experience and knowledge, right, which
I think is kind of the big point here.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
There are expirit well, you know, as the experience of
wisdom grows, the body doesn't.

Speaker 3 (59:39):
Yeah the case, and so the body's going one way,
the spirit's going another way, and there's that detachment that
it inevitably ends up happening when you die. But that
was the moment that I felt sometimes need tangible things
that I can touch and feel, you know, to believe it.
And that was that was real And I was like, oh,
inside I feel like this, but outside I feel like this,

(01:00:01):
and you still fear death well, yes, because the experience
maybe not even like the pain of it. It's like
a lot of people are like, oh, I'd love to
die in my sleep. It's like, yeah, that's great because
it's comfortable. But like, but if you had no fair warning,
if you didn't like sometimes, I mean, there's a lot
of suffering that happens, Like people get sick and they know, oh,

(01:00:23):
you have a certain amount of time, and that's sad
and takes a whole nother toll. But maybe it's a
blessing in the sense that you get an opportunity to
prepare for it, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
So I don't know. The whole thing is so complicated.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
The idea when I was a kid that were born
so we can die was just felt like so big
of a concept to like wrap my mind around. So
it's still something that it's like it feels overwhelming. But
my prayer is that I live long enough. I remember
my grandmother was she was ready to die, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
And so happens a lot with older people.

Speaker 3 (01:00:56):
Right, And so I don't know if you know, whatever
it is, maybe it's an age thing. Maybe it's the
cards you're dealt. Maybe you're not seventy or eighty or
ninety years old. I mean, because Bobby Rush is still
hitting on all cylinders.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
He's years old, he's playing with it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:11):
He's unbelievable, right, So maybe it's not an age thing.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
But whatever life cards I'm dealt is that when when
my time comes, that I that I'm able to live
long enough to get to the point to be ready
for it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
And accepting of it, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
And I know I'm not at that point yet, so
I know my time's not getting there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
You know, what's your greatest virtue?

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
I just I think my nature, just the nature that
I've kind of I've been raised a certain way, you know,
as salt of the earth people. We didn't have money
growing up, like no money, and so there was not
money in my family until I signed my record deal.
And so you know, just like to know that, like,

(01:01:53):
I'm not any different. I don't treat people any different,
do onto others? Just follow the you know, the rules
as much as I can, which I think, you know
makes you a good natured person.

Speaker 4 (01:02:03):
I've tried to implement that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
You feel that in your work too. What's your biggest regret?

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
Why don't honestly don't have regrets because I do believe
that every every decision, mistake or not is what develops
you into who you are today. Now, we can meet
again in about twenty years or something, or you know,
thirty years, and you can ask me that question again,
and maybe maybe there might be a few. But at

(01:02:35):
this point, I mean, there's things that maybe I would
have done differently. But why would I do them differently?
Is it because I want to control the outcome, because
I want to change it and make it the way
I think it should be.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
Because I've learned in my relationship with God?

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
Is that a lot of times God's answer to my
prayers and my questions and the things that I want
isn't always necessarily No, it's either not right now, or
I have something better or different which ends up being better.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
And so it's like, do I want to go change
those decisions because I want a different outcome? Because then
that doesn't net me the life that I have, that
doesn't give me my wife and my beautiful six kids
in the career in the way that it is today
and the happiness that I do experience.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
No, that's that's a wise way of looking at it.
What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
Well to me, it was Stevie Rayvaughd when he signed
my first stratacaster, the last time I saw him before
he passed away. He signed my very first strat for
me and he said, Kenny, just play it with all
your heart.

Speaker 4 (01:03:33):
And that's been everything from that day forward.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
When every time I pick up my instrument, I try
and play it with all my heart, and I feel
like professionally it's the best advice I got because that's
what's gotten me here.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
What happens when this is over, Kenny, which your decision.
I'm letting you interpret it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
This interview, this life, well, this week, this year, this
is over, Kenny, what happened?

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
Well, when the interview is over, I'm gonna go back
home and I'm gonna do a little more yard work.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
You're raining. I'm looking at the rain. You're missing it.
It's raining. You're not doing yard work at all? What else?

Speaker 4 (01:04:06):
Change clothes right, and be of service to my family.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
That's a good thing.

Speaker 4 (01:04:11):
The end of this year, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
I mean, you know, we'll begin next year, and I
will begin in the thirtieth anniversary of my first album.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
When you're going in a big tour, you'reg in tour?

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
And then where are you going in Europe?

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
So all we're going to like you know, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, UK,
like you know, all the hot spots. And then September
is a thirty year anniversary of Leedbetter Heights, my first album.
We re recorded a new version of that record, which
is actually less of a recreation, more of a reinterpretation
of some of the songs.

Speaker 4 (01:04:40):
Huh, And so that anything new there?

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
You had a new Dylan song on.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
This No, we didn't do any hidden tracks, no, but
but we did kind of reimagine a few of the songs.
So they sound different. I mean they sound different because
I had a different singer on the first album. Noah
joined me on the second album and has been with
me ever since.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
And tell light story quickly he he was thrusting. You
didn't have any time to prep with him.

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
Yeah, So the first album, the first guy, Corey Sterling,
it just didn't work, you know, and we had to
we and it actually didn't end all that great because
we were supposed to be flying out. We met at
the airport to fly out to start recording the Trouble
Is record, and he just never showed up, and you know,

(01:05:24):
there's a whole series of events that led up to that.
But so then we're like, Okay, well this doesn't work.
We have to make a change.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
So then we started looking and.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
With then, I want to say, this is two weeks
four the most you know, we had auditioned like twelve
to fourteen different people. We found Noah, and we're in
the studio making the record. Noah's been with me now,
I guess twenty seven, twenty eight years. And then I
eventually progressed into going from just kind of singing background
vocals to singing lead vocals, and now we both sing

(01:05:54):
lead vocals. We share about fifty to fifty. But it's
been an incredible experience doing the Leadbetter Heights thirtieth anniversary album.
We never could completely recreate it because the voice you're
going to hear on it is not going to be
the same. So that immediately gave us this, give me
this liberty to kind of like not have to put
it under a microscope and try and match it. And

(01:06:17):
so we decided to change like Aberdeen and Riverside and
a few of these other songs where we interpreted we
played them differently. We added some different instrumentation, like did
a different arrangement and made it more interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
Yeah, I love it, Kenny wayn Sheppard. I can't thank
you enough. This has been a joy. Yeah, thank you
for the time.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
We'll do it again.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
So thanks for having Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
Okay, here's the whole Knowing your history is crucial no
matter what you do. I think we disregard or ignore
the past to our detriment. It's so many facets of
life today, the arts manners, basic living look centuries of
people preceded us, and their wisdom, often hard earned, is
needed and it's very valuable. I love that Kenny Way

(01:07:00):
not only recognizes that, but is preserving it and taking
it to a new generation of audiences. And what he
told me about the Prairie says before he goes on stage,
that's something I think all of us can use no
matter what we do. Let me bring light into people's
lives through the gift that I have, whether it be
teaching or cooking, or building or music, whatever you're calling is.

(01:07:24):
And Kenny Wayne Shephard's Young Fashioned Ways is an incredible
blues album.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
Go pick it up.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
I hope you'll come back to Royo Grande soon. Why
live a dry, constricted life when if you fill it
with good things, it can flow into a broad, thriving
Arroyo Grande.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
I'm Raymond Arroyo.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Make sure you subscribe like this episode. Thank you for
diving in and come back. We've got much more for you.
See you next nine. Arroyo Grande is produced in partnership
with iHeart Podcasts and Divine Providence Studios, and it's available
on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
Spoken consists of spoken percasts. Spoken consists spoken perkastans.