If there is a music genre that has inspired millions of musicians around the world and influenced enormously music through the last century and beyond, that is most certainly Blues.
Born as an acoustic music style based often on guitar, harmonica and vocals, Blues has then grown in a more electric form, inspiring the birth of Rock'N'Roll as well as Blues-Rock, the latter exploding very much, in its early stages, in countries like United Kingdom and United States, to then finding a more global resonance and appreciation worldwide. Whilst Blues and Blues-Rock may sound complementary with one another, given their legacy, what can be called "Acoustic Blues" struggles a little, lately, to be embraced by new generations of music fans, maybe due to the sonic structure of the genre so different to Blues-Rock, where electric instrumentation has got a more relevant presence, ignoring, perhaps unconsciously but certainly undeservedly, the quality and the artistic depth present in the songwriting, playing and vocal performance of the traditional Acoustic Blues.
To create an ideal bridge between Blues and Blues-Rock, two giants in their own respective genres decided to get together to record an album of Traditional Blues, 91-years-old Blues living legend singer-songwriter, Harmonica Maestro and Grammy Awards winner Bobby Rush and Blues-Rock Guitar Supremo, singer-songwriter and Grammy-nominated artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, one of the greatest and most respected torchbearers of Blues-Rock of this generation.
The record, called Young Fashioned Ways, is a phenomenal window into the roots and core of Traditional Blues, born through the common love of the genre between Shepherd and Rush and through a personal friendship and huge respect for each other's musicianship developed in the last few years.
Bluebird Reviews had the enormous honour to talk with both Rush and Shepherd, long time friends of our website, about Young Fashioned Ways, its genesis, what this album means for them and touring together this album in the foreseeable future.
BR - Gentlemen, welcome, so good to talk to both of you and in such an auspicious occasion like this, the release of your album called Young Fashioned Ways, a record of great intensity, where the Blues goes back to its roots through such an inspired record like this. The first question I wanted to ask is to Kenny, about the time before you actually met and started sharing a stage together, when did both of you start acknowledging each other's songbook the very first time?
KWS = I can't remember the first time we met or our paths crossed. We happened to do some Blues Cruises together here in the States and we just ran across each other over the years. A couple of years ago, we had Bobby coming and play the Backroads Blues Festival (a Festival organised by Shepherd himself) and he was a Special Guest for the show, where he sat in with me and my band for a few songs. That was where, I believe, we really connected, musically, you know. We played together and we thought that there was something special, there, that maybe we could tap into.
BR - How challenging has it been for you both to pin the right moment to record the album, given your very busy personal schedules?
KWS = It took a few months. We came with the idea in June, to do an album together and then we finally came together in December or January, I believe. It took 6 or 7 months for us just to get our schedules nailed down and go into the studio to make the record. And then, it's taken more than a year for us to finally find the right time to put the album out, because, we had to have time in his schedule and my schedule for us to play shows together and support the record. So, the latter was actually even more challenging, once we made the record, because it was hard to find time within our busy schedules to tour the album together. We have got now shows both in US and in Europe and it's gonna be a great experience, because Bobby and I are going to get together and do some songs from this record and then I'm going to come out with the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band and do the KWS show and then Bobby will very probably join us back on stage for an encore. I think the fans are going to be in for a really fantastic evening, if they come to one of these shows.
B.Rush = I could find some time for sure for this project. When something this important comes up, I make space for it anyway. I just cancelled dates I knew I could reschedule, because I wanted to immerse myself very much on making this record. I just wanted to make the best I possibly could, for the album and Kenny did exactly the same, I feel. And listen, Blues is the motherload of all music and if you don't like the Blues, you probably don't like your Mama! (Smiles)
BR - Were you both clear about what songs would have appeared on the album, Kenny, I.e. did you and Bobby make any sort of pre-planning, when you both first entered the studio or was the whole record the result of a very spontaneous spur of the moment?
KWS = The whole thing, including Bobby's own songs, it was totally spontaneous. I really had no idea of what we were going to record, until we started recording. We had tried to have a couple of conversations before we went into the studio, but that really never happened (smiles). I really didn't know what songs he had in mind, didn't know what lyrics he had written, didn't know if we were going to do a completely acoustic record or an electric one, if we were going to play with a band or without a band. Although not knowing anything, I felt that this record was all about having faith in our respective, individual talents, being able to figure this out together, when we then got into the studio. And when we did so, the music just lead us where it wanted us to go, we went from one idea to the next, or, sometimes, we'd be sitting there and I would play some music for him and he would just going into his bag of lyrics and pull out some of them, starting singing to the music I was playing. It was just perfect and then just we went on recording and there it is, that was the idea. I had no idea that the four songs part of Bobby's songbook had been already recorded. For all I knew, those were new ideas of his, until after we were finished with the record and we started putting it all together. I think it was great because, in a lot of instances, we re-imagined those songs. I personally didn't hear the original version to those songs before Bobby and I were in the studio working on them, therefore I couldn't have been able to attempt to copy the original versions, because up to that point, I never heard them before. That really gave to both of us an opportunity to do completely new versions of said songs. In retrospect, I think of this as a great thing, because I was totally unaware of these songs and I was approaching them in the exact same way I would do with any new song, instinctively and with an open mind.
BR - Kenny, we were intrigued by the fact that, despite you being an excellent singer too, you left the vocal duties of the whole record to Bobby. Was this decision a spontaneous one, when you started working on the album or you both knew beforehand that Bobby was going to take all the vocal duties on Young Fashioned Ways?
KWS = Well, out of respect and common sense, to be honest with you, I wanted him to do all the vocal parts, because I knew that this record was going to be a straight forward, authentic, traditional style Blues album and Bobby just has that sound in his voice, I mean, it just comes naturally out of him. That's the sound that I wanted for this record, I wanted it to sound completely like two worlds colliding, you know, like, he is bringing the generation of the originators of the genre, while I bring the generation that tries to keep the genre moving forward and into new different directions and so I thought, we need that authentic voice to go with my different approach to some of the music and I think that probably was the best blend that we could achieve for this record.
BR - Bobby, we understand that when you and Kenny got to the studio to record the album, you showed up with so many lyrics you had written purposely for this record that there was enough material for almost ten records! Given the fact that you have recorded at least 400 plus originals, in your phenomenal career, where do you find still the inspiration to write new songs in an almost effortless fashion?
B. Rush = I write lyrics every day and I have been doing this for as long as I remember. I write about all different experiences happening to me every day around the world and there's so much that still needs to be added to my already abundant catalogue. I could potentially put out a record every week, with all the lyrics I've got and still do pretty well, ha! (chuckles) With this record, personally I wished to make a statement to the world that a black guy and a white guy can work very well together and show the world that it's all a matter of love. We both love music and we both love the Blues and perhaps, both Kenny and I can make the world a better place by working together in such great harmony.
BR - Bobby, on Young Fashioned Ways there are four of your songbook's all-time classics, such as Uncle Esau, Make Love To You, 40 Acres and G String. How challenging was it for you and Kenny to choose, out of your vast music catalogue, those songs in particular as the ideal ones for this album?
B. Rush = It was difficult, because I needed to pick something that was ideal, both for myself and for Kenny. You gotta understand that I am in the US and I need to be very mindful of what I do and say, in my songs, because the storytelling must adhere to what a black man and a white guy got to say, therefore we gotta be careful not only in terms of storytelling, but also about the lyrics. And we wanted, at the same time, also to make a statement, through this record, about the fact that this is fundamentally a record made by two men that love the Blues, where the colour of each other's skin is not relevant, because it's all about the Blues and our love for it. Regardless of me, being an old man, who has been through a lot of ups and downs in his life, this record is hopefully going to be also a statement about knocking down racial barriers, in our country as in many parts of the world. Now is the time to pick up the pieces about this, because if I can do it, Kenny Wayne can do it, so can other more musicians in the world. It got to start from somewhere and hopefully, thanks to this record, we can both make the ball rolling worldwide about this.
BR - Kenny, for you, recording a traditional semi-acoustic Blues record like Young Fashioned Ways it must have been a little like stepping back to 2008, in some way, when you recorded that phenomenal record and documentary called 10 Days Out (Blues From the Backroads). Whilst you were recording with Bobby, did you have at any point any flashback of you playing with all those Blues Heroes almost two decades ago, while you were sitting in the same room playing and recording at the same moment with another living Blues legend like Bobby?
KWS = Well, of course, this felt like familiar territory for me, because I did that whole project (Blues From The Backroads) and I played with all these guys and we made that record and that whole experience was as spontaneous as the one with Bobby, meaning that there was no rehearsal involved, nothing, we just showed up, set up and played music with those people. We made an album and a film, out of that experience, as you know. In my whole life, I have been playing with people older than me, you know, with a lot of Blues legends, from B.B. King to Buddy Guy, Pinetop Perkins and so forth and so on. Even my work with Stephen Stills and the band The Rides, it's dealing with people from generations older than me but, you know, with so much talent. I thrive on that because, you know, these guys, they have a certain perspective that a lot can be learned from and so I have always been very eager to work with people like that.
BR - Bobby, I believe that this is the first time, both for you and Kenny, that you joined forces with another artist to make an album. What is, besides your personal friendship with Kenny, the aspect you enjoyed the most in recording with him on this record?
B. Rush = His ability to play (guitar) is incredible. I was not fully aware of how much talent he showed me to have, throughout the time we have known each other and how passionate he is, about Blues, the traditional one, so to speak. And the way he plays and feel it on his own skin, it was something that transpired immediately to me, when we started recording. What I didn't know also, it was how much he loved me playing the Blues, the way he treated me (and still does) so graciously, before we started working together and when we then entered the studio. He is one of a kind, no doubts whatsoever.
BR - You both gentlemen stated, in the Press Kit accompanying the release of Young Fashioned Ways, that this album is a "rare thing". Did you mean that in the way that Traditional Blues is something that is finding less and less space, within the contemporary music scene, or perhaps you meant the way you worked together recording the album, in an acoustic form first and then, when needed, having the studio musicians adding more layers of sound?
KWS = I think it's a bit of everything you said. First of all, there's not a lot of real, traditional Blues albums like these been made nowadays and the two generations of musicians coming together, like, being decades apart, age wise. But, you know, we both come from Louisiana, there's just so many elements combined together that makes this album so special and part of the recipe that makes a record like this unique as I feel it is.
B. Rush = Do you know, this is indeed a rare thing. Finally, at my age, a guy from my home state, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, shares with me the common love for Blues and for what I do and write and sing. I had to wait for a long time for something this beautiful to happen to me, as a black man playing the Blues. Because Kenny Wayne didn't take a look at the colour of my skin, we were just talking the same musical language and that is the place where we shared not only a common musical ground, but also huge amount of love and respect for one another.
BR - Let's talk a little about the musicians chosen to play on the record with you gentlemen, authentic class musicians like Steve (Potts, drums) Doug (Wolverton, trumpet), Charlie (Di Puma, saxophone), Darryl (Pruitt, bass) and Charles (Hodges, keyboards and B-3). Together with their undoubtedly strong talent and skills, was the choice of working with them also partly dictated by logistic reasons, i.e. being the recording studio in Memphis?
KWS = Well, yes, if you are in Memphis, for sure. OK, look, here's the thing; when Bobby and I went to the studio and started recording, there was just the two of us, there was any other musician. Then, as we started recording, you know, as a producer, I am listening to the music and I am letting the music tell me what it needs, its meaning and so I am starting hearing other instruments, besides just me and Bobby. Obviously, if you going to get somebody in the studio today, you gotta look for people who were local and talented. One of the great things about Memphis, Tennessee, is that there you can find there some of the greatest musicians on the planet and there was a lot of great guys to choose from. Think of someone like Steve Potts, for example; he played on drums on my very first album Leadbetter Heights and he has played since with so many legends, in all these years.. every musician that took part to the recording brought so much talent and were just a phone call away from myself and Bobby, people who, also, coincidentally, happened to me both friends of mine and Bobby's. It kept it kinda like it was fun, it was comfortable, felt like making music amongst friends.
B. Rush = It's like Kenny said. They were brilliant. I knew they knew my music and we have been knowing each other for a while. When they came to the studio, all I needed to do, it was just being me and they just did the rest.
BR - In April, you both will embark an US Tour in support of Young Fashioned Ways that will see you playing something like 25 dates. What can yours and Kenny's fans expect to hear, Bobby, in terms of setlist you are both planning to bring on stage?
B. Rush = Well, I guess that when we get to rehearse, then we will both discover what may work, on stage and what may not from time to time and different venues, as true professionals like us would do every time. Obviously, we will also get the pulse of what people may enjoy more, song wise, as we start kicking off the tour and find out the fans' reaction. To me, it's so important to bring this show to the crowds, because I feel that younger generations have not been informed or educated enough, about the history and the roots of the Blues and sharing the stage with Kenny, it will give maybe the opportunity to a lot of young people not only to appreciate once again the marvellous songbook Kenny has, but also, through our songs, to understand a bit more where all that Blues came from, in the hope to, hopefully, initiate some of them to dig deep into Traditional Blues and what Traditional Blues still brings, to these days, to music all over the world.
BR - A record like Young Fashioned Ways, performed in the way you both did, it's among the most genuine sonic food for soul that any respectable music fan can hope for. How much did the experience of recording together enriched emotionally you both?
KWS = We had so much fun working together from the moment we met. Here we are, two Louisiana guys working together and Bobby is such a smart guy. He sees beyond the moment, because he knows what takes making a name for yourself and that how hard you need to work to be successful. What a great guy.
B. Rush = Well, from my point of view, on a scale from 1 to 10, he gets a very high mark for sure, because I was so impressed not only by his musicianship, but also by the way Kenny respected me as a man and as an artist. All he wanted me to do, it was for me to be Bobby Rush. I didn't know if he knew anything about me, when we met and I discovered that he knew my music perhaps more than I do myself, but, back then, I didn't know that. When I got into the studio with him, I had prepared songs that I thought he knew and I was kinda taken by surprise when he chose some of my songs for the album that he never heard of, whilst at the same time, he knew some other songs that I certainly wasn't expected him to know. Then, there is the way he plays guitar, he is such an incredible guitarist. If you listen to the original versions of Uncle Esau, Make Love To You, 40 Acres and G String and compare them to the versions that Kenny and I did for this album, you'll be amazed by how much he dressed those songs in his own way and style, never even attempting to listen to the originals and try to make a carbon copy of them. I am so blessed to have a friend like Kenny, in life, I am so blessed to have so many devoted fans and lots of good people like you guys at Bluebird Reviews, giving me and Kenny the chance to talk about Blues and this great record that Kenny and I just did. I was 83-years-old, when I won my first Grammy and I am so thankful to God for having still the will to learn and get excited by what I do for a living.
You can find the complete list of Tour Dates of the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band and Bobby Rush on Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Official Website
