ALBUM: Dirt On My Diamonds volume 1
by Danny Coleman, originally posted on New Jersey Stage Rock On! This Week’s Sound Bites
“Oh yeah, absolutely! I’m excited to get the music out there and obviously kick-off this tour for 2024 and start playing some of these new songs for the fans,” stated Kenny Wayne Shepherd as he discussed his new record, his touring philosophy and the difference between Kenny Wayne Shepherd then and now. “This one is called “Dirt On My Diamonds Vol. 1” because there is a “Volume Two” so we have a whole other record ready to go to follow this one up and that sets us up and puts us in a really good position for the next couple of years to have new material, to keep the tour going and to keep the fans interested in what we’re doing for sure.”
Keeping the fans “Interested” is the goal and something Shepherd has done since he was signed to a major label deal at the age of 13. Always mature beyond his years, he has been wowing his fan base and audiences ever since with well-written, lyrically poignant material and of course; his guitar mastery.
Recently, Shepherd wrapped up a very successful 25th Anniversary tour celebrating his second album, “Trouble Is…” and he obviously has no plans on slowing down with the November 2023 release of “Dirt On My Diamonds Vol. 1” and a tour which kicks off on February 8 in Sarasota, FL to support it. When asked why he hurried to get back out on the road; he didn’t hesitate to respond.
“We just want to keep the momentum going and keep things moving along,” he said immediately. “So, yes, historically over the past 30 years of my career, if there is a pattern then it’s probably to put a record out and then tour for a couple of years and then put another record out; sometimes there has been bigger gaps, sometimes smaller but if you look at the average it is an album every two years. Recently, we’ve tried to step it up a little bit but I’ve also felt like I have been in a more creative space and I’m doing a lot of different things; right now, I’ve got about six different albums that I’m working on. They are various types of music; whether they are Kenny Wayne Shepherd albums or me collaborating with somebody else or doing a cover record or a new material album, I’ve got a lot of different things happening all at once. I feel like, especially in today’s world where there are so many things vying for people’s attention that if you can get something out at least once a year or every year-and-a-half then you can really keep your fans engaged on what you’re doing.”
Exposed to Rock ‘N’ Roll and more particularly, Blues music by his radio personality father at a young age, Kenny was set on a path of authenticity and “Reality.” This path made him a respected and much sought after talent by the time he was 18 and by staying firmly entrenched in his blues roots, he has never strayed far from keeping it real; hence, the title of this recent release.
“It’s a song that’s on the record; it’s the title track and we usually use a song title as an album title,” he began. “There was a lot of debate over it between me and Marshall; the guy I co-produced the record with, he felt very strongly that “Dirt On My Diamonds” was a good title track and the opening song on the record. So, the message behind that song; I think it’s relevant. I mean, in the world we live in today; the whole song is about embracing our imperfections and our flaws and those are the things that make us different. Social media kind of pushes everybody into this pursuit of this artificial perfection that’s not realistic and trying to look perfect with all of these filters that are changing our appearance or posing in front of this background to make everybody think that we’re living this fabulous life on this awesome vacation or having this house or that car and all this stuff that; you know, getting everybody to think that is what you have to be or what you have to have in order to achieve happiness and it’s not even realistic. I think it’s our differences and oftentimes our flaws that make us the most beautiful. That is what the song is about in a nutshell and it seems relevant; so we went with it.”
Shepherd, who readily admits it took him quite a while to gain enough confidence in his voice to sing lead on his own songs; is big on “Stories” and melodies as well as creating music that is relatable to everyone.
“We kind of run the gamut, every song has a different story. Generally, my songs are just about life, living life, life’s ups and downs, just observing what it’s like to be human; you know? So, every song has a different story and really, we’ve been focusing on and it’s about the music and obviously, a lot of it is about the guitar because it is a guitar centric band. My first three albums, all I did was play guitar, I didn’t even sing lead vocals in my own band because my voice didn’t sound the way I wanted it to and then I started singing lead vocals on my fourth album. We have two lead singers in the band, Noah Hunt who has been singing with me since my second record is still in the band and we share the vocal responsibilities. So, having two lead singers in the band gives us that much more creative ground that we can cover because we have very different voices. There are a lot of different songs that we can do because of the nature of having two lead singers. The guitar is the focal instrument but I’ve always been all about the songs; if you look at probably the biggest hit song of my career, “Blue On Black,” that song is all about the song. It’s about the story; it’s every element, the melodies, the chorus, the instrumentation and the solo. I don’t write songs solely as a platform for me to be able to get up there and shred on guitar. I want to tell good stories and sing great songs that stick in people’s minds and play what’s appropriate for the music.”
As he and the band hit the road once again armed with new material, Kenny says the show and material varies depending on circumstance and that it’s all about satisfying not only himself but most importantly, the fans as well.
“If it’s just us with no opening band, they call that, “An Evening with;” right? An evening with the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, so generally those shows will run up to two hours long but obviously if there is an opening band then we would have to cut that back a little bit to around an hour-and-a-half. So, it just depends on how the show is booked but what we’re doing is; I’m trying to squeeze in as much material as we can with the time that we have and try and cover a lot of ground because we’ve put out a lot of records over the past 30 years. Obviously, we are going to feature some songs from the new record and then we’re gonna go back and hit some various songs from some of the catalog that we’ve put out over the years. We just did a 25th Anniversary tour of my second album, “Trouble is…” and we played that whole tour every night live in concert for the first time ever. We finished that up and for the last six or nine months of last year we were kind of bouncing back and forth between the first album, “Ledbetter Heights” and the most recent record up to that point called, “The Traveler” which came out in 2018 or 2019. So, now, the goal is to put some of the new songs from the new record in the set and find some other songs from previous records that we haven’t played in a while because we have some fans who have seen us multiple times and will come see us every time we come to town; some people have seen us 25 times and we want to give those people a different show every time they show up. So, we’re putting the setlist together, we’re rehearsing it and I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Funny thing about musicians, when starting out, most form bands that play and cover other established artist’s material until hitting a point where they begin to write their own music and playing or performing those “Cover” songs loses its luster only to revisit playing, performing and/or recording them once again years later. Shepherd views and uses cover material differently and on “Dirt On My Diamonds Vol.1” he chose to include the Elton John classic, “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.”
“I have a list of cover songs that I keep in my back pocket for situations when we’re in the studio and we may be on a little break or we’re in between recording other songs and you just want to do something that’s fun and easy, not a lot of pressure and I’ll whip out that list and say, hey, let’s try this song or let’s try that song and that’s what happened on this record. We had a break and I said, let’s take a shot at this Elton John song, I think we can really rock this song out. I think it came out great, a lot of people always bring it up in every interview we do; it’s a great rock ‘n’ roll song, it has a lot of cool guitar work on it, the timing of it I think is cool because Elton is on his farewell tour and all of that stuff and it’s just a way for us to show our appreciation for who he is an artist. He is the kind of guy who can play any kind of music; it’s pretty incredible.”
When one breaks into the recording industry at age 13 and is still viable and vibrant more than three decades later; surely things have changed. Has Kenny Wayne Shepherd changed or is it the process that is different?
“I think a lot of it has stayed the same,” he said quickly. “I have always been all about writing great songs and telling good stories, having a catchy melody and a great chorus but at the same time playing some killer guitar because that is what I do best. In the beginning, you have this opportunity, you’re a young person and you’re an unknown artist and it’s like you have to prove yourself. So, it seems like every moment you pick up a guitar is a moment that you are trying to prove yourself. It’s kind of this relentless pursuit of establishing who I am and this is why I should be here and why I want you to know my name. Now that I’ve been doing this for 30 years I don’t feel that I have to prove myself anymore when I pick up the guitar. That doesn’t mean that I don’t play as good or as ferociously or however you want to put it; I don’t have that thought that I have to prove myself to everyone now. I’ve established myself and with that in a 30 year, three decades long career comes the luxury I think of being able to focus on other things which is cultivating your craft, pursuing inspiration wherever the music might inspire you or wherever it might take you and to go after that because I think the fans really appreciate that.”
To discover more about Kenny Wayne Shepherd, the tour and “Dirt On My Diamonds Vol. 1,” please visit https://www.kennywayneshepherd.net/