92: Kenny Wayne Shepherd

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to another Sly cast at wibafmdot com and free on the iHeartRadio app
I'm Sly. A couple of minutesago, I interviewed Kenny Wayne Shepherd,
who's going to be coming to theCrystal Grand Music Theater this Friday night in
the Wisconsin Dells. And of courseKenny is fresh off the release of his

(00:21):
latest project, Trouble Is twenty five, so anyway, it's a top to
bottom reinterpretation of his seminal album troubleIs. So let's go check in with
my interview with Kenny Wayne Shepherd.Pretty soon, we'll be coming up on
the thirtieth anniversary of the first album, Led Better Height, so who knows,

(00:44):
maybe we'll do something similar with thatone. So tell me a little
bit about you know, what it'slike to tour these days after a pandemic.
Is everybody just kind of back intothe swing of things. Yeah,
pretty much. I mean in thebeginning, when people were first starting to
get back out there, things weredifferent. You know, they have some

(01:04):
venues would make people, you know, wear masks and social distance and show
proof of vaccination and stuff. Butbasically all that stuff has gone away now
and it's back to you know,the old way of you know, the
way things were before. The onlydifference now is just the economy and the
way that you know, things financiallyhave affected you know, different people in

(01:26):
different ways and whether or not theyyou know, can afford to go see
a concert right now or not.But thankfully, you know, music still
speaks to people's souls and people stilllove seeing live music and there's really no
substitute for that. You know,YouTube videos are cool, but it's not
the same as seeing a band livein concerts. So, you know,
the turnouts have been great. Ithink people are really fired up for music

(01:49):
to be enjoyed the way it oncewas. Well you said that, right,
you know, I think one ofthe problems during the pandemic is people
were not getting that part of theirexistence, live music. I think that
was really I think that was reallyfrustrating people. It was frustrating people,
and it was frustrating musicians because forso many people and musicians man, music
is a form of therapy, youknow, and I think, you know,

(02:13):
for two years, people's therapy waskind of taken away from them.
So, you know, I'm justglad things have gotten back on track.
Yeah, I'm gonna try to comeup there on Friday night. The only
concert I've been to since the pandemickind of wound down, it was Alan
Parsons and that was great, butthat's lots of baby boomers likely. I

(02:34):
looked around and went out, everybodyhere has gray hair and no hair.
But it was you know what everybodywas. Everybody was up on their feet
and they were acting like teenagers.Isn't that funny what music can do?
It is, you know, musicfor a lot of people brings like memories
and you know, it's a powerof music is a real thing. It's
like it can affect your mood,it can affect your behavior. It's you
know, and I don't take thatlightly. That's why every night, you

(02:57):
know, my intention is to goout there and bring light into people's lives
through the gift of music and tryand give them an opportunity to forget about
any of the things that might begiving them a hard time, you know,
at least for an hour and ahalf, two hours. What do
you think it is? It's aboutblues music that has inspired so many bands
and musicians over the years that havetaken it, you know, to different

(03:20):
levels of rock and roll. Youknow, everybody kind of does it a
little differently, but it seems likethe blues inspire so many people. Well,
blues music is kind of the foundationin which all popular music kind of
stems from, you know, becauseblues came and then you know, rock
came from blues rock and roll,so and then everything else kind of stems

(03:43):
off from that from those genres youknow you have, I mean, and
you know, if you want toget into like you know, modern pop
music and all that hip hop stuff, I guess that's just if you trace
all the roots back, inevitably,inevitably find your way back to blues music.
And the thing about it, tome, it's just you know,
how real it is and the rawemotion that's put into the music. That's

(04:04):
what appeals to me. What wasyour let's see if we can put this
um your thoughts about the passing ofJeff Beck Yeah, well, you know
Jeff Beck is was you know,one of the most influential guitarists um,

(04:24):
you know ever, I mean,just incredible. He's one of those guys
that like never stopped evolving. Youknow, every time you kind of hear
him, if you listen to hisbody of work from his very early days
to you know, his final recordings. It's like this constant evolution of his
sound and his playing and he wasalways searching, which was pretty incredible.

(04:44):
I count myself to be very lucky. I got to see him play with
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Milwaukee back innineteen eighty nine. That's yeah, that's
one to remember. Absolutely. Isaw that same tour actually in Dallas,
Texas U. It was a prettyinteresting lineup for sure, and it was
a great concert. So as youwill go out and tour, do you

(05:06):
have different bands you take with youto open for you? Yeah, from
times to time, it kind ofdepends on the last tour, the Trouble
Is Anniversary tour, those were eveningwith because that show was you know,
two hours, sometimes over two hours, so you know, it was just
me and my band. But youknow, I've gone kind of gone out

(05:26):
of my way in recent years tokind of give an opportunity, you know,
to have an opening act. Youknow, some of these young up
and comers who are trying to makea name for themselves and you know,
help use my platform to get thema little more exposure. And encourage them
and you know, hopefully broaden theiraudience and stuff. So yeah, we've
been trying to do that. Sosomebody that helped you with this album is

(05:47):
a Wisconsin citizen. Yeah, there'sgonna be I have to look at it.
We've had a young guy named KingSolomon Hicks that's been out on the
road opening shows for us, who'san up and comer. I gotta look
and see if he's on that showor not. But we've also had this
young girl named Ali Venable who's alsoyou know, kind of blazing a trail

(06:09):
for herself as well. But generallywe're focusing on the young up and comers
and trying to give down that opportunity. So this project he worked on Jerry
Harrison, a Wisconsin person. Ohyeah, well Jerry, you know,
Jerry and I have done many manyrecords together. I didn't know that.
Yeah. He produced the original TroubleIs album, my second record, he

(06:33):
produced my third album. He producedthe ten Days Out Blues from the back
Roads project that we did and wewere just in the studio, and he
produced the new version of the TroubleIs record that we did and we were
just in the studio recently doing arock and roll cover album full of like
rock cover songs that you probably wouldnever expect to hear the Kenny Wayne Shepherd

(06:57):
Band, which was a lot.Oh, I'm looking forward to that.
Yeah, is that? What isthat going to be released? Well,
honestly, we have two albums worthof material that's already finished and ready to
be released, So those two albumswill come out before that record comes out,
So it's probably going to be afew years before you actually hear.
Before you hear good news is becausewe have a lot of stuff, a

(07:19):
lot of new material in the canready to go. Can you give us
a hint on some of the songsyou covered or is out of secret?
Well, not totally a secret,but I mean yeah, we did stuff
from everybody from like Pink Floyd toGenesis to Inexcess, like you know,
just Billy Idol, you know,just totally kind of stuff that I grew

(07:41):
up, you know, surrounded by, you know, as a kid born
in the late seventies and grown upin the eighties and the nineties and stuff,
and these songs that I heard mydad play on the radio so many
times and just never really had anopportunity to sit down and play them.
That's right. You come from aradio background, because the guy I know
from radio knows your father. That'sright. I forgot about that. Yeah,

(08:05):
man, round a radio station mywhole life, that's right. So,
speaking of you know, radio,John Mellencamp recently said he thinks rock
is dead as far as radio andany new rock. Do you do you
agree with that? John Mellencamp saidthat, you know, I think that

(08:26):
I think there's not as much ofa platform for new rock and roll as
there once was when it comes toterrestrial radio. I don't think rock is
dead because there's plenty of bands outthere that are still writing and recording new
rock albums, including myself. There'sjust not the radio format for it anymore.

(08:46):
It's either classic rock or or anythingnew has to be like really hard
progressive rock or metal, you know, and or considered an alternative. You
know, used to be there withthat mainstream rock radio ao R I did
it many years, even Triple Aand all of that, where they would

(09:07):
play some plastic rock, but theywould also play new rock and roll music
and stuff like that. But thatthat format just really doesn't exist much anymore.
There are many but you kind ofcaught the tail end of that.
Yeah, we did. I meanI was. I consider myself too if
my career to have come out ofthe very end of the golden age of

(09:28):
radio and the music business man,I mean, I still was able to
put out a record and watch itrun up the charts, and put out
a single and watch it go tonumber one, and you know, to
have platinum records and gold records hangingon my wall, because I don't think
those kinds of things are possible forbands who are put in the blues category

(09:48):
or blues rock category. Nowadays everything'sdifferent, but you've got a base in
a following it makes a big difference, right. You kind of were able
to build off that, so thatmaybe that gives you more latitude when recording
albums. And I'm drawing a blank, but who was the woman you recorded
the album with a couple of yearsago. African American woman? Oh that

(10:09):
was Simka Copeland. We didn't doa whole record, We just did one.
Oh was it only one song?Yeah, I'm telling you that that
song is just outstanding. Yes,you had to have given You've gotten a
lot of good feedback on that one. Yeah, well, she's a powerhouse.
I refer to her as the modernday Queen and the Blues and we've
been talking about, you know,making music together for a long time,

(10:31):
so we finally had the opportunity todo that. What do you see in
the future five years down the road, you know, I just see myself
doing more shows. I mean Ilaunched a blues festival recently called the Backloads
Blues Festival, and last year wasthe inaugural run. We had Buddy Guy
and Chris Stone, kingfish Ingram inmy band, and then this year we've

(10:54):
had a couple of different lineups.We did a couple of shows and had
Joe Bonamasa and my band and KingSolomon Hicks, and then we just didn't
want to Ohio and had Eric Galeson there as well. And you know,
just building that brand and into anannual event that people look forward to.
That's a priority for me. Andthen you know, putting out these
new albums that I have ready togo, and just touring and doing what

(11:18):
we do best. It's got tobe tough for you though, because you're
a dad and a husband. Wellyou know, by the way, Happy
Happy Father's Day, believed, HappyFather's Day. Thank you. Yeah,
I mean, balance is what it'sall about. And I feel like I'm
doing a pretty good job. Howmany kids do you have? We got
six right now. Man, youare a better man than me. That

(11:41):
is amazing. So yeah, soyou can't go out on tour all the
time. No, We've got We'vegot it. You know, kind of
worked out to where we don't staygone for more than about four weeks before
everybody gets to go home and reconnectwith their families. Everybody in my band
has their own family and children andstuff, and so you know, it's

(12:01):
a priority for us. When yousee so many new artists, you know,
they're not really playing instruments anymore.And whenever there's a Super Bowl show.
Now, I make the mistake ofcomplaining on Facebook. Man, people
jump all over me that I'm closedminded, But I don't know. I
just I just like the Rihanna stuff. I just can't I can't relate to

(12:24):
it in any way, shape orform. Well, you know, man,
I mean, as music continues toprogress, if you want to call
it, guy, I just yeah, it sounds less and less like what
you and I would probably consider realmusic. You know, there's less people
playing real instruments. There's less peopleactually singing. It's all kind of trickery

(12:48):
that's done in the computer. Andit's really more about an image than it
is about talent. And you know, I'm starting to sound like a dinosaur,
you know, like you know,like some old guy or whatever.
But that's that's just how I feelabout it. And I'd like listening to
real music, music played by realmusicians. What do you think about AI
artificial intelligence with music. I'm sureyou heard the story about Paul McCartney resurrecting

(13:13):
John Lennon. Then there's going tobe one more Beatles song. I watched
a piece on ABC the other daytalking about how AI is going to change
music. Well, it will,I'm just not sure if it'll be for
the better. I mean, youknow, I don't know. I think
that stuff is kind of dangerous,but who knows how it's all going to
pan out. I guess we'll justhave to wait and see. Well,

(13:35):
it brings up all thoughts of plagiarismand that's already happening, people's voices being
duplicated. Do you have people watchingout for you on that type of thing
now? As have you thought ofyou with your business people have Is there
a way for you to keep aneye on some of that stuff to make
sure you're not getting ripped off?I mean yes, I mean nowadays it's

(13:58):
it's kind of hard to really rippeople off. But at the same time,
you know, everybody's been influenced bysomeone else. I mean, you
know, you write songs. Imean it's hard when you grow up listening
to music NonStop. All that stuffis kind of back there in your subconscience
somewhere, and you know, there'sonly twelve notes on the guitar or in

(14:20):
any instrument, there's only twelve notes, and so there's only so many chords,
and there's only so many ways toarrange that stuff. So you know,
it's really easy to write a songthat sounds similar to another song.
I think when it really comes downto ripping somebody off, as like if
you're stealing lyrics, you know,blatantly stealing lyrics and stuff like that,
But that doesn't really happen that muchanymore. But you know, like I

(14:43):
said, there's only so many waysthat you can can write a song.
There's only so many ideas, there'sonly so many words and chord progressions and
things like that before you put analbum out, because I know you have
an extensive collection of cars, doyou. I don't know if you have
a CD player or a cassette deckor MP three player in your cars.

(15:05):
Do you, ever, as youtake the car out for a spin,
take the album out for a spinto see what it sounds like when you're
driving around. Absolutely without a doubt. Yeah, It's one of my favorite
things to do is listen to musicwhile I'm driving a car. And you
know, I just did that.Actually the other day, I was on
a road trip with one of myfriends and I was playing some of my

(15:28):
new music that hasn't been released yet, and you know, he was giving
me feedback about which songs made himwant to drive faster, you know,
which one felt like real road tripsongs, you know, which is always
a good thing. That is incredible. By the way, any new editions
with cars, well, you know, I recently got a Dodge Viper,

(15:48):
which has been kind of a dreamcar of mine for a while. So
I'm pretty proud of having that one. And we're working on a nineteen seventy
barracouta convertible that we're building right nowoh the Nash Bridges car all right,
yeah, yeah, that one wasthe seventy one, but basically basically the
same car. Yeah, all right. Allow, let me just reiterate.
You're going to be at the CrystalGrand in the Dells Friday night. There's

(16:11):
tickets still available. I urge allof you to go because it's good.
You know, it's going to bea great show. And Kenny, you'd
like to see the place full,wouldn't you? Absolutely? Man, You
know so many of these shows haveactually been selling out, so we'd certainly
like to see a capacity crowd.It is always a pleasure to talk to
you, Kenny, Wayne Shephard,It's my pleasure. Okay, you have

(16:34):
a great day, Okay, allright? Sly Another Sly cast on the
iHeartRadio app and at WIBAFM dot com.