Kenny Wayne Shepherd – I got a woman – Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 2 – 2024
Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Bobby Rush – Young fashioned Ways – Young Fashioned Ways – 2025
Kenny Wayne Shepherd – The Middle – Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 2 – 2024
Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Bobby Rush – Hey baby ( what are we gonna do) Young Fashioned Ways – 2025
Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Bobby Rush – make love to you – Young Fashioned Ways – 2025
Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Bobby Rush – Young ways – Young Fashioned Ways – 2025
Kenny Wayne Shepherd – My guitar is crying – Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 2 – 2024
Kenny Wayne Shepherd – long way down – Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 2 – 2024
Kenny Wayne Shepherd – She Loves my Automobile – Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 2 – 2024
Tickets voor Kenny wayne Shepherd en Bobby Rush maandag 14 juli 2025 Melkweg Amsterdam: klik hier beneden.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Terug in Nederland met nieuwe shows en oude passie Interview
door Rob van Elst – BluesMoose Radio – juli 2025
Na een aantal jaren afwezigheid is bluesrocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd weer terug in Nederland. Deze zondag 13 juli speelt hij op Bospop Festival, gevolgd door een show op maandag in de grote zaal van Melkweg Amsterdam. In gesprek met BluesMoose blikt Shepherd terug op de afgelopen jaren: net toen zijn Europese tourmomentum op volle toeren draaide, gooide COVID roet in het eten. “We waren goed op dreef. Bijna alle shows in 2019 waren uitverkocht,” vertelt hij. “Gelukkig kunnen we dat nu weer oppakken.” De shows vormen onderdeel van de tour rondom zijn dubbelalbum ‘Dirt On My Diamonds’ Vol. 1 & 2, oorspronkelijk geschreven in 2019 maar pas later opgenomen. “In plaats van een dubbelalbum zoals vroeger, kiezen we nu voor twee losse delen – zo geef je elk nummer de kans om gehoord te worden.”
Opmerkelijk is ook zijn samenwerking met blueslegende Bobby Rush (91). Zonder vooraf afgesproken nummers doken ze samen de studio in. “Ik speelde wat, Bobby bladerde door zijn teksten, begon te zingen – en daar was het nummer,” zegt Shepherd. “Het voelde magisch.” De chemie is hoorbaar op hun album, dat volgens hem zijn eigen ‘Muddy Waters & Johnny Winter-moment’ vertegenwoordigt. Of Bobby ook op Bospop en in de Melkweg meespeelt? “Waarschijnlijk wel, maar de exacte invulling hangt af van het schema en de set-up,” aldus Shepherd. Eén ding is zeker: wie erbij is, krijgt een mix van klassiekers, nieuw werk en pure bluesenergie. Luister hieronder naar het volledige interview….
Interview Kenny Waye Shepherd
Door Rob van Elst – BluesMoose Radio
8 juli 2025
Rob van Elst – BluesMoose (BM)
Listeners of BluesMoose. I’m very proud to have Kenny Wayne Shepherd and the other side of the line, and we are going to talk about his coming upcoming concerts here in the Netherlands, Bospop festival coming Sunday and on Monday in Amsterdam in the Melkweg. Nice to meet you, Kenny.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd (KWS)
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
It’s good to be here.
BM
Yeah, I also, I know we did an interview 13 years ago in de Melkweg. That was the first time you came over in a long, long, long period. And, you’re told then that, you know, you’re Europe was a little bit not on the roster again, but you’re promised that you’re coming back every year.
And you did. How is Europe treating you now?
KWS
Well, it’s been good. We were, we were on quite a roll, and we had a lot of momentum that was building, for me and my band. Right before Covid happened, like in 2019. We had made two different trips over here to Europe that year. And, most of those shows were sold out, and we were feeling a lot of excitement, that had been built over, you know, several years once we started coming back and then Covid happened and then, you know, I think two, years or more went by before we were able to come back.
And so, you know, now we’re back again. I think we can we came once. I was at 20. It was either 20, 22 or 2023. But, you know, there was that big, that big gap, you know, because of Covid. So anyways, we’re excited to be back and our and it’s my intention to continue trying to build, on our fan base and our momentum over here so that we can continue getting into the bigger and the better venues and reaching more fans and giving them our brand of blues and blues rock.
BM
Well, please do so. Please do so. And one of the vessels you do that with all the records, and I read the bio prior to this interview. The dirt and the diamonds was already written in 2019.
KWS
Yes. That was that was yes. We were getting ready to start recording that record. That was going to set us up for our next tour, to come over to Europe.
And then, like I said, Covid happened. So, we ended up releasing in 2020. We ended up releasing a live, DVD that was, filmed at the Rock Palast, thing. And, you know, which is a great show. And so that ended up being, it was called Straight to You Live. And we put that out instead of going and recording dirt on my diamonds.
And then we ended up, recording dirt on My diamonds, volume one and volume two. And then we just got film, ready to be released in the past, two years. So volume one came out first, obviously. And now we just released volume two at the end of last year, which is set us up for this tour for this year.
BM
Yeah. I think in the old days between brackets, that would be a record, that would be a double album and then released 20 years ago. But now, things have changed in releasing albums. You see more in Spotify and giving to people slowly everything you have. Is it easy for you to hold back on songs you already recorded?
KWS
Well it’s necessary, and sometimes it’s because, you know, you hold on to something because it’s not the right time to release it, you know, or maybe it doesn’t fit on a particular album. So you save that song for another album later. But, you know, you’re right there. This would have been a double album many years ago, and you would have put both of the records out together.
But in today’s world, things are so different because, people, if you put out two albums worth of material at the same time, it’s it’s much harder for, for you to imagine people listening to all of those songs at once, you know? So because people that, you know, there’s too many things that are, taking our attention, away, like, you know, like social media and like work and family and blah, blah, blah.
And so like, you know, it’s just not realistic to think that if you, if I put out a 16 song album, it’s not realistic to think that all 16 of those songs are going to be heard. But if we if we divide it up into two records and we release them, separately, and you have 8 or 10 songs maybe on an album, then it’s much more likely that somebody will be able to actually sit down and listen to all of that music.
And then, you know, it’s it increases the chances of all of your music being heard. And we still make albums. We don’t just make singles, we make albums with the idea that that the listener is going to listen to the whole album for the whole entire experience. And so anything I can do to hopefully, ensure that the fans will be able to have the entire experience.
That’s what’s important to me.
BM
I understand that fully. And, as a radio host, I get 20 rickets in in a week. And prior to this interview, I took the time to listen to all those the first one, the second one and the new one with Bobby Ross. And that one thing crossed my mind is, damn, I have to take my time to listen to albums completely because it is a gem.
Absolutely. The first, the second one. And with Bobby also it’s different, in the way it is, but absolutely both. A joy to listen to. And that’s one I’m gonna skip to the record you made with Bobby Rush. I love it, I love it, the old and the new, I guess. And I saw in the writing that it was your, experience with the records from Muddy Waters, which, that was really, produced with Johnny Winter.
That gave the set you up for this, that that feeling you had with that record?
KWS
Yes. Because, you know, that was one of my favorite albums is called Hard Heart again. And, came out in 1977 and I listen to that album. So many times, and I just used to imagine what it would be like to have been Johnny Winter, you know, playing those songs with Muddy Waters and, and so this was that moment for me that was similar.
You know, it’s it’s unique because it’s it’s his own. It’s, you know, this is Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. It’s not Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter, but in our own way, it was kind of this is my version of that experience, you know? And so it’s a great album that I’m very proud of because I love traditional blues, even though all my music is not traditional blues.
But I, I’m a, I’m a lover of traditional blues, and there’s a certain sound, and a certain authenticity of the sound of this record that you can only get when you’re making this kind of music with somebody like Bobby Rush, because he is. He’s one of the original blues men, you know, he’s 91 years old. Yeah.
And he comes from a generation of of blues players that helped create the blues. And so there’s just a level of unique authenticity that comes from him that you can only get with a guy like him. And so it’s made me very proud to be able to make this kind of a record with someone like him.
BM
Yeah, it’s almost, a tribute to himself and by.
But I didn’t understand. You booked, studio time, and you meet him, and you don’t. Nobody. Both. None of you have any idea what you’re going to be recording?
KWS
Yeah. Yes. That was the first time ever for me that I went in to make a record and had no idea what songs we were going to record.
BM
Sounds strange to me, to be honest.
KWS
Well, it can be. It could be very scary, I think, for some people, but I just, I believed in the talent that we had. I believed in the talent of Bobby Rush, and I believed in the talent of Kenny Wayne Shepherd. And I believe that that we together, we could come up with something great. And, And so you just have to have faith in that.
And, and I did and I think we came out with a great record. So, it worked out.
BM
I think you did. And last week I played the song G-string, which I think was a funny title. And is it a funny lyrics in it. And I see Bobby was responsible of most of all the lyrics.
KWS
Yeah. So he came in with a whole stack of papers with lyrics that he had written, and then I would start playing something
Now, there was a few songs that we recorded that he had already recorded on some previous albums, but I didn’t know that. So like, I didn’t when he started presenting these songs to me, I at first I thought they were just all new songs, which I think was good, because then that way as a producer and as a musician, I was approaching these songs in a different way from the way he did them before.
So that was good. But like for the other songs, like I would just start playing something, I would be like, well, what do you think of this? Or I think we need a, a groove like this. And I would start playing something, and then he would start going through his papers and he would pull out a paper with a lyric on it, and he would come over and start singing it to me.
And it was perfect every time. So, you know, literally that’s how the songs came together in the studio. It was like I would start playing something, and then he would go find one of his lyrics and he would start singing it, and it was, there it is.
BM
There’s the song right there, one of my most traditional questions. And, when I do an interview in the Blues, this is what, this, what what it’s become first, the lyrics are the music.
In this case, it is almost simultaneously.
KWS
Yes, exactly. And it was pretty magical, to be honest with you. You know, looking back on it to see how it all came together so naturally.
BM
I think you were recorded in Memphis. You. And if you needed somebody to play a real the traditional blues player, there’s just one phone call away.
KWS
Well, there’s a lot of great musicians in Memphis, for sure. And so we called some of them, you know, to play, on some of the songs that have, you know, drums and bass and keyboards and things like that. So, initially we thought maybe it would just be me and Bobby playing, you know, and keep it very stripped down and just maybe a, guitar and harmonica.
But we ended up some of the songs were just they sounded like they needed, you know, I would listen to the song in it and say, what is what is the song telling me that it needs? And sometimes it’s like, oh, well, it needs some drums. It needs, a bass and it needs keyboards. And so we just did whatever we felt was appropriate for the song.
BM
It worked. And now you’re on tour with him. Let’s skip forward to coming weekend. I know you’re in Germany for a few records. Yeah. And so also that year I have a double concert with Joe Bonamassa in Stuttgart. And Sunday he’s also on the roster in Bospop. Is Bobby also playing in bospop a few songs with you because it’s a limited time that you can be on stage.
Or is it? DKenny Wayne Shepherd band?
KWS
I think Bobby is. I don’t have the schedule in front of me, but he’s I know he’s on most of the shows, but not all of the shows that we’re doing here. So without the schedule, I’m not sure. But I do believe that he is going to be on the bass pop.
Which, yes, I think everybody plays a limited amount of time there. So we have to like squeeze as many songs as we can. And you know, with blues music, some of those songs go on for quite a long time sometimes. So we’re going to have to like, make everything a bit shorter for sure.
BM
And and Monday, The Melkweg. You’re back there but in the big room now I saw and, how was, a gig then? Is it first, you start slow with Bobby, and then the Kenny is the total mix up.
KWS
Well, we’re trying to. We’re actually still trying to decide the best way to do it here.
So in the, in the US, we’ve been doing it like we play two different sets and so like in the, in the US. But we have you know over there we have a completely different stage setup and we have way more equipment over there that we don’t have available to us over here. So, I’m not sure that we can do it the same way here as we do it in the US, but in the US, Bobby and I would start the show, with, with a very stripped down version of my band, and we would do like an opening set, you know, like, as if we’re like the opening band and we would
do songs from our album together, and then we take a break and there’s an intermission, and then I come back out with the Kenny Shepherd band, and we do a Kenny Wayne Shepherd show, and then Bobby would come back up for one, a couple of songs at the end of the show for an encore. But here, based on, time schedule, like some of these festivals, we don’t have the time to do all of that.
And also, you know, just the stage set up and the instruments that we have, you know, it’s like we have to look at possibly doing it different. So we have done a couple of shows in the US where, like we did the New Orleans Jazz Festival, and so we just played it as one big long set, and then Bobby would come up and join us on stage towards the middle of the show.
So that might be the way that we end up doing it here.
BM
Well, there are some legendary festivals on your roster I saw a month through that’s mostly, they make good recordings. Maybe we see some Flintstones off there, some videos of that. But, I see the time and again, respect to the, I would, I would this I love to see this show and I’d love to see you back on the stage again.
And, how was Bobby on tour? Because he’s 91 years old. I think it’s very strenuous for somebody that old to tour Europe again and be on stage and deliver what essentially was a good show.
KWS
Yeah. You, you would think it would be hard, but he’s an incredible person. And when you if you get a chance to see him, you’ll be, very impressed.
It’s, he’s one of my heroes now. Like, I hope if I can live, if I can live to be 91 years old, I can only hope to have, the ability that he has because he performs at such a high level. It’s just it’s actually mind blowing. So, everyone who comes out and has the chance to see him, play with us, you’re going to all be very impressed.
BM
Well, let’s wait and see. But I’m going to be convinced that you have the right way of doing this. And I hope you do it more like this. I know you did the ten days out. You were, you you visit the old blues guys and respected them and still do it now. So thanks for that. And thanks for giving to Beautiful Dirt on the diamonds album so far.
And I think your flame is not been, not is still lit for the future.
KWS
Yes, well, I hope so. I certainly hope so.
BM
Anyway. Yeah, but thank you very much for being on the BluesMoose radio. And, hope to everybody who’s listening go and see him live or in Bospop or in, the Melkweg in Amsterdam this weekend.
KWS
Thank you so much.
