Kenny Wayne Shepherd Interview: Strats, Hendrix and Live in Chicago

By: Dr. Matt Warnock

There have been many young guitarists over the years that have burst onto the scene at an early age, only to burn out after one or two albums and fade into obscurity. Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an artist who defied this trend by taking the momentum gained from his Platinum selling debut record Ledbetter Heights and growing it into a long and successful career. Only 33 years old, Shepherd has three platinum and one gold album to his credit, as well as an armful of major award nominations and wins, and yet it seems that he’s just getting started, 16 years after his first release.

To say that Shepherd had a great 2010 would be an understatement. The veteran performer was again featured as one of the many stellar artists for the Experience Hendrix Tour. A tour where he was also able to live out every guitar player’s dream by playing Hendrix’s Woodstock Strat on stage and on the Jimmy Fallon show. As well, his latest album Live in Chicago is nominated for a Blues Music Award and a Grammy Award. Not a bad year at all.

Guitar International recently sat down with Kenny to talk about his album Live in Chicago, the Experience Hendrix tour and what it was like to play Hendrix’s Woodstock Strat on the Jimmy Fallon show.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Experience Hendrix Tour Photo: Rob Cavuoto

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Matt Warnock: Your latest record, Live in Chicago, has been nominated for both a Blues Music and Grammy award this year. How does it feel as an artist when you receive nominations for awards such as these?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Obviously it’s extremely exciting just to be recognized amongst your peers in the music industry, and the blues community as well. I love the blues. Not all of my music has been traditional blues. I’m probably more known for the blues-rock hybrid stuff that I’ve done, but deep down in my heart I’m a blues player. To know that the blues community appreciates what I’m doing is very satisfying.

Matt: What was the inspiration behind doing a live recording for your latest album as opposed to a studio record?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Basically, that tour was in support of my last project 10 Days Out, a CD and documentary we did that was nominated for a couple of Grammy’s and won a Blues Music Award. We went out on the road to support that project on a couple months long tour. In the middle of it I realized that it was special. I was playing with my heroes every night and it was just going great, so I decided to record it.

In the midst of the tour I made some very last minute plans to have a guy come out and record a couple of the shows. Originally it was just supposed to be for my personal benefit, so that 20 years from now I could pull it out and go, “Man that was me playing on stage with Hubert Sumlin every night.” Then, when I listened to it after the tour I thought that the Chicago show was just spectacular.

Our fans have been asking for a live record ever since I first began touring, but I never thought we had something that was special enough for them. Everybody’s live records are just live versions of the same songs you’ve already heard before. So, this record has a bunch of stuff that people haven’t heard before. Half the record is Kenny Wayne Shepherd stuff, and the other half is a new listening experience for the fans.

Matt: Did you come up with a special set list for that night, or were these songs that you were playing already throughout the tour?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Those were basically the songs that we were doing on the tour, with the exception being that the concert was 3 hours long, but we could only fit 80 minutes on the CD. There’s a deluxe version that people can download from iTunes that has some bonus tracks on it, but there was a lot more material that we played that night that didn’t make the record.

We picked the set list before we went out on the road, with a little bit of input from the guests so that we did songs that they wanted to do and were comfortable with, and that’s how we came up with the set list for that show.

Matt: You were also featured on the highly-successful Experience Hendrix tour this year. What is your take on the tour now that you can look back on it with some hindsight?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: I’ve been doing that tour for many years, and so have a lot of those artists, and one of the reasons we keep coming back is because we have so much fun together. We all love Jimi Hendrix and there’s an amazing catalog of music to choose from for everybody to play. Also, everybody digs everybody else. There are no egos up on stage, it’s not a competition and there’s a mutual respect between everyone involved.

It’s also very inspirational as everybody brings their A game to the show, so you want to play well. There’s no competition to outplay anyone else, but you know these guys are going to be playing great, so you want to play well too. We get to spend downtime together that you wouldn’t get to do on any other tour, so it’s also great to hang out with these guys after the shows.

Matt: With such a big catalog of songs to choose from, how did you pick the particular songs that you played during the tour?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Well, the songs that I picked are ones that I’ve played for years. “Voodoo Chile” is a song that I’ve ended my sets with since I was 15 years old. We also do a Voodoo Chile-Blues medley that I’ve been doing in my shows on and off for many years.

“I Don’t Live Today” was recorded on my second record, and we do “Come On Part I and II,” which Stevie Ray Vaughan and Hendrix both recorded, as well as other blues players. These are songs that I’ve played for a long time and they’re some of my favorite Hendrix tunes to play.

Matt: You mentioned that everyone got along great, but I’m wondering if there was some friendly competition for certain songs, like “Voodoo Chile,” that a lot of guys probably wanted to play. Were there any backstage bidding wars going on to see who played certain tunes?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Back in the day, originally when they first started this thing years ago, “Voodoo Chile” was a song that they tossed around, and we would all get up on stage and play it together. There was one time in Seattle when we did it with like 15 guys up on stage all jamming on it.

But, at one point a few years back Robert Randolph and I did it together, and since then it’s transitioned to being one of the songs that I do in my set. I’m glad I’m able to play it, I love the song and it’s just become a part of who I am as an artist over the years.

Matt: Since you’ve been doing it for so long have you already signed up for next year’s run?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Yeah, we just got an email about it from the Hendrix family estate and they’re starting to book some shows I think for spring. I think I’m going to sign on to do it. It’s always been really fun and I’m sure a lot of the other guys will sign on as well. I think it’s going to be a West Coast tour which is cool, so yeah I don’t see why I wouldn’t do the tour. It’s just a great time.

Matt: You recently performed on the Jimmy Fallon show with Hendrix’s white Fender Stratocaster, the one he played at Woodstock. How did that appearance come about?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: We were doing the tour and the Hendrix estate told me the first day of the tour that they were trying to put together an appearance for me on the Jimmy Fallon show to promote the tour. As things started to shape up we got word that they wanted to send the Woodstock Strat out and have me play that. I thought that was really cool, because I was the first person to play that guitar on stage since Hendrix. It’s one of the most iconic Stratocasters ever made and I felt like on that day I was living out every guitar player’s dreams.

I got to play it on the Fallon show and then also took it on stage with me that night. It sounded great. It wasn’t set up for my playing. I have my own preferences and stuff and I had to do some tweaking to get it set up. It was set up for a left-handed player and of course I’m right-handed, so I tweaked a few things and it sounded great. It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget.

Matt: I’m sure you’ve gotten over being nervous before a show, but with all the history behind that Start, and then playing it for millions of people on Jimmy’s show, were you a little nervous backstage before you walked out and played that guitar?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Yeah, I mean sure that was a huge moment. Obviously I wanted everything to go well. I had never touched the guitar before that day, but I was able to play it for a few hours backstage before we began filming the show. I felt like me and the guitar got to know one another. I was grateful to have the opportunity to do it and to play the guitar in front of a full house of people. It was very cool.

Matt: With the success of your new album, plus the Hendrix tour and Jimmy Fallon show, have you had time to start working on a new record?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Yes, I’ve been working on the new album for some time now. We’re in the mixing process and I’m flying out to the studio today to work on the first 5 tracks that we’ve recording. I think if we continue on schedule we’ll have a new studio album out this May. I’m really excited about it and I think people will be really pleased.