March 17: Kenny Wayne Shepherd ready to rock the Capitol Center for the Arts

If You Go

CONCORD, NH – Along with wearing green, indulging in corned beef & cabbage and perhaps even having a drink or two, St. Patrick’s Day is often synonymous with Celtic and acoustic-driven tunes. On this day at the Chubb Theatre within the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, things are going to be a lot more amplified. That’s because blues guitar phenom Kenny Wayne Shepherd will be rockin’ the joint with his band. If you like kick-ass riffs, an abundance of charisma and just a flat out good time, then this show is for you. Texas blues-rocker Ally Venable will be opening things up with it all starting at 7 p.m.

Shepherd and I had a talk ahead of the show about his most recent release being made at a legendary recording studio, including a horn section on a ton songs and how people in New Hampshire work hard and play hard.

Rob Duguay: Your latest album “Dirt On My Diamonds” that came out back in November was written at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. How did you initially get linked up with the folks involved at FAME?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: We intentionally went down there to write these songs to soak up some of the vibe from that place because so many great records were made at FAME by so many legendary artists. We wanted to do a little something out of the ordinary and to soak up some of that vibe, which I feel really helped us create the record that we ended up putting out. It was a different experience, it was fun and it was exciting. One of the people that I write with, he’s a writer for the same publishing company that owns the studio, so he had the connection to be able to secure the studio time for us.

RD: Who initially had the idea who head down to FAME? Was it you? Was it your writing partner?

KWS: It was kind of a collaborative idea. Marshall Altman, who’s the guy I co-produced the record with, initially floated the idea of going down there. We talked about it, we considered all of the pros and the cons and there really weren’t a whole lot of cons; it sounded like something really cool to do. I’ve been on a mission for several years now to just do some things that are different, outside the box and sometimes outside of my comfort zone, because that’s where the magic happens, that’s where growth happens. This was just another example of us figuring out something to do that’s different and not the same old writing sessions that everybody else does all the time, so that was the idea.

RD: From listening to the album, one thing that really struck me was the bombastic horn section that is present in a bunch of the songs. Who were the musicians who filled those roles and how did you go about bringing them into the fold?

KWS: That actually started with the previous records. I’ve been easing my way into the whole horn section thing going back as far as my sixth album in 2011, which was “How I Go.” We did horns on one or two songs on that record, but then more recently, there’s an album called “Lay It On Down” that included some horns. That was the predecessor to “The Traveler,” which is our most recent release, so by the time I got into the studio for that record, I heard horns on one or two songs but then I wondered what it would sound like if we put them on everything. Even some of these songs that are just straight-ahead rockers, what would they sound like with a horn section?

I ended up putting horns on almost that whole entire record and we’ve continued that into “Dirt On My Diamonds.” It’s kind of an interesting sound, you don’t see a lot of horn sections, especially in rock bands nowadays.

RD: No you don’t, you’re right about that. You also did a rendition of Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” on the album, so what made you want to pick that song? Was it because he retired from touring last summer?

KWS: I think coincidentally the timing worked out, but that’s not why we did it. Ultimately, I keep a running list of cover songs that kind of catch my attention, I just jot them down and I whip them out when we’re in the studio. I’ve heard that song a million times in my life and one day it struck me that my band and I might be able to do a kick-ass version of it, so I put it on the list when we were in the studio. We had a break in between songs, so I was like “Hey, let’s try that Elton John song and see how it turns out,” and it turned out great. I thought it was a really great edition to this record, but it also gave us an opportunity to kind of show our appreciation.

When you cover somebody’s song, you do it because you appreciate the artist and their art, so it was an opportunity to show our appreciation [for Elton John] as he’s wrapping things up with his career.

RD: With this being volume one of Dirt On My Diamonds, can we expect volume two to come out at some point this year or do you have other plans in terms of recordings for the coming months?

KWS: Volume two is most likely going to be released in the fourth quarter of this year, so I’m thinking sometime between September and November. That’s a great thing because we’re playing the songs from volume one right now and with volume two coming out at the end of this year, that album will carry us into 2025 while giving us more material to play during those shows as well. It’s always good to have that engagement with your fans, give them something new to listen to and it gives us another album to tour on.

RD: What are your thoughts on playing the Capitol Center for the Arts this Sunday on St. Patrick’s Day? Do you get to play New Hampshire that often?

KWS: I’ve played so many venues over the years and I’m bad with names anyways, but when I walk into the building that’s when I know if I’ve been there before. That’s when I’ll remember things by sight, not by name. I’ve been doing this for 30 years, so I’ll be surprised if we haven’t played the Capitol Center for the Arts before because we’ve played just about everywhere. We often go to a place up in Hampton Beach when we play New Hampshire and we sell it out just about every time we go up there, so we have a strong fan base in the state and in the Northeast in general. Those people work hard and they play hard, so we always anticipate a lively crowd and a great show.