Three-time Grammy award-winning blues legend Bobby Rush and five-time Grammy nominated singer/songwriter/guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd have come together to release a new album, Young Fashioned Ways. The 10-track record is a very special collection of new blues songs that the two artists wrote and recorded together at Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
Their debut single, “Who Was That,” is featured in Lionsgate’s new film Flight Risk, starring Mark Wahlberg.
The duo is also hitting the road for a 24-city U.S. tour ending in August.
This is a LifeMinute with Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
00:02Hey, my name is Kenny Wayne Shepard, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:06Three-time Grammy Award-winning blues legend Bobby Rush and five-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepard
00:14have come together to release a new album, Young Fashioned Ways,
00:18a very special collection of new blues songs that the two artists wrote and recorded together at Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
00:26Their debut single, Who Was That?, has featured a new film, Flight Risk, with Mark Wahlberg.
00:33The duo is also hitting the road for a 24-city U.S. tour ending in August.
00:39This is a Life Minute with Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepard.
00:45Since I'm the oldest, let me tell you, I love the Young Fashioned Ways.
00:49I didn't come up with a title of this. I just wrote the song, a round song.
00:53It was a combination of a lot of people who have input said Young Fashioned Ways.
00:58I didn't say anything since I'm old as I am, so I'll let them have it.
01:01Now, my thought was, I'm going to do this record like I want to do it,
01:06and we're going to go back in later on and straighten what I've done up, I've messed up, do it over.
01:12And he said, well, you're the real deal.
01:14Do you mean, Tim, I don't have to go back and do this stuff over what I've done?
01:18He just let me be me, and I would just Bobby Rush, and that's all.
01:24And I can really be me.
01:32I mean, this record for me is something I'm really proud of because, you know, I'm a fan of blues music,
01:38and in the bio they reference, one of my favorite blues albums is an album called Hard Again,
01:43which is Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter, and Johnny Winter produced it, and he played guitar on it.
01:47When I was a kid, I used to listen to that album over and over again just to try to imagine what it must have been like
01:53to be Johnny Winter's making that record with Muddy Waters.
01:56And this was kind of like my moment to have something like that with Bobby Rush.
02:00If you want to turn somebody on to blues music, maybe they don't know what it is,
02:05and you want them to hear like the real thing, you know, you usually jump into the catalog.
02:11You go back several decades and find a record.
02:14You're like, this is it.
02:14This is what the blues is all about.
02:16But this is a brand new album that just came out that people are hearing for the first time,
02:22and it's the real deal.
02:24To me, it's one of those records that if I wanted to turn somebody on to the blues in today's world
02:29and let them know like what it sounds like and what it means to make a blues record,
02:34I would play them this album, and I'm proud to have been a part of that.
02:37We went in to do this, and I think we didn't have no idea what we're going to do.
02:44We just know we have the ability to do good music, and it led us to something else.
02:48The music took us someplace that we hadn't thought about where we was going,
02:52and really didn't rehearse or think about where we was going.
02:56We just going to do good music.
02:57And our respect for each other and the music that we love, it wasn't really a plan.
03:03Yeah, it was a really amazing experience going in the studio because neither one of us really knew exactly what we were going to do.
03:09I think we both had faith in our own individual talents and each other's talents.
03:15And then, like he mentioned, that there's a reason that we had been brought together to do this.
03:20We both kind of thought, well, we'll do something stripped down, you know, in acoustic.
03:24But as we were recording, we just left everything open and let the music tell us what it wanted and what it needed to be.
03:31Songs evolved, but everything started very stripped down.
03:34Just me and him sitting in a room together, a couple of acoustics, a vocal mic, and his harmonica.
03:40But some of the songs evolved into, you know, you got a whole band and a horns section, and some are totally stripped down, and some have different elements of different instruments.
03:49But it was a really interesting process, and it literally was like, it was a discovery process from beginning to end because we didn't know what we were going to do when we got there.
03:59And so every step of the way was like, all right, what's going to happen next?
04:02I mean, this is as organic of an album as you can get.
04:07There's no fancy production on it.
04:10Everything he sang is exactly how he sang it in the studio.
04:15There's no trickery.
04:16We didn't use the computers to try and make anybody sound better than their actual performance.
04:22And some of the songs, even with the band, with the full band, like the title track of the record, we just cut that live in the studio in like one take.
04:30The whole process was just as organic and real as it gets, and I think that's why the end result is so real.
04:36We were talking about this earlier as well, but when it comes to music, it's like the universal language.
04:44Especially when you're playing music together, all of a sudden there's this understanding amongst players.
04:50Even if maybe you might walk into it thinking, oh, well, you know, what could we have in common?
04:56We're decades apart.
04:57We actually have a lot in common.
04:59The moment you start playing music, all that goes out the window because you're relating on a level that has nothing to do with surface or age or anything else.
05:09All of a sudden, it's almost like you're connecting on a spiritual level.
05:13The bottom line is it's like you're feeling the music.
05:15He's feeling the music.
05:17You don't have to be a certain age to feel music.
05:19You don't have to be a certain age to be moved by what you're hearing and what you're playing.
05:24Yeah, the age doesn't matter, but I think the knowledge of the music doesn't matter.
05:29What you have, Ken, is the knowledge of the music because we talked about me doing what I'm doing, singing the blues like I sing it.
05:39You're a singer, but you don't sing that kind of a blues.
05:42I like the Moody Waters of Auburn Rush of Utah Lake.
05:45And you recognize that.
05:46I recognize that I don't sound like the country western guy.
05:50And I knew that.
05:52So I can't fool myself.
05:54And that's what I respect about you.
05:56You knew you couldn't sound like a Moody Waters.
05:58There's two different kind of things.
06:00And you recognize that.
06:01I don't have no favorite song, but I do have a song I will recite.
06:06I was talking about three things I wanted to do in my life.
06:11These three things I wanted to do.
06:13Making money, making music.
06:14Now, these things I like, these three things I like to do.
06:19All three of a kind.
06:21I got two of a heart and the other one on my mind.
06:26And those kind of things, I just love to tell those kind of stories.
06:29He's a master storyteller.
06:30And I admire his lyrics, you know, and the way he tells the story in such a way.
06:36It's so creative.
06:37But as far as favorites, it's like with every album that I ever do, my own personal records
06:44or like a collaboration like this, you kind of go through phases of like, well, this one's
06:49kind of my favorite now, and that one's my next favorite, and it evolves, and I gravitate
06:55towards certain songs.
06:57I started, I loved Who Was That?
07:08Because I thought, you know, that's why it's the first track on the record.
07:11I love the energy of it.
07:13It makes you feel good.
07:15And then, oh, hey, baby.
07:24Then I was really, really digging on that one.
07:28Now I'm really digging on You So Fine.
07:32When I had just like the very, very rough recordings as we were making the record, and I would go
07:37back and listen to stuff before I started mixing the record.
07:41And through that process, it was how long, 40 Acres.
07:44And that was one of the ones that was really cool to me, the way it came together, because
07:48he had gone out and picked up a guitar and started playing it by himself at first.
07:55And I was in the control room doing something else, and he was just out there, and he started
07:58singing and playing.
07:59And he did it enough to where I could hear what the lick was on the guitar.
08:04But then he came into the control room with me, and I asked if I could have the guitar.
08:10And so I started playing the riff.
08:12And so then all of a sudden, we're sitting in the room, in the control room, and they're
08:18putting microphones up, and they're getting him a microphone, and we just recorded right
08:21there.
08:22We weren't even planning on recording it in that moment, but it just started coming
08:26together.
08:27So we just captured it right there in a very unconventional way, because normally you would
08:31never record a song in the control room.
08:34You go out into the live room for that kind of stuff.
08:36But it was literally, everything was just happening so naturally, and you had to be ready to capture
08:42the moment whenever the moment occurred.
08:44So that one was always really special to me as well.
08:47We did some rehearsals, and basically the run of the show for now is, he and I are going
08:54to go out, and we're going to open the show and do a whole set together of songs from this
08:59record with a very stripped down version of the band, and make it feel like real intimate,
09:05you know, like the audience is sitting right there with us, you know, almost want to draw
09:09them in to like, they feel like they're on the stage with us.
09:11And we'll take a break, and then we'll come back out, and I'll do some stuff with my band,
09:15and then we'll bring Bobby back up towards later on in the show, and then do the more
09:19electric sounding songs.
09:21And so you'll get Kenny Wayne Shepard and Bobby Rush doing a set of music that's really
09:27cool and intimate, which will be different for anybody who's ever come to any of my shows
09:31or his shows.
09:32And then you'll get the Kenny Wayne Shepard Band experience, and then you'll get the
09:35Kenny Wayne Shepard Band and Bobby Rush experience as well at the end of the things.
09:39And that's all subject to change too, because just like this record, we just let the music
09:43dictate what it wanted and what it needed to be.
09:46And so we'll do the same thing.
09:48We have intuition for doing this for so many years.
09:51It's just like, we'll see how the people respond.
09:54It's going to be a very, very special experience.
09:56I'm anticipating that there's going to be a lot of people that are going to show up
09:59that have seen one of us or both of us at some point in the past, and they're going
10:04to get a really cool, unique, one-of-a-kind experience for this tour.
10:08And I think a lot of people are going to come to see us, hear us about two of us,
10:13but I can tell you now that when Kenny Wayne Shepard and I on stage together and they're
10:20going to see their love and respect from each other.
10:23Love for music, love for people, and I treat people like I wish to be treated.
10:31That's my personality.
10:32I don't have to put on no air.
10:34I guess everybody can see that I love people.
10:36And I don't have no chip on my shoulder about where I've been, what I've done, how I've been
10:41treated, because most of my treatment comes from me.
10:45But I'm here to just play my talent and do what I need to do.
10:48And it's going to be something that Ken and I are going to make a statement to the world.
10:54I don't want people to look at the two men like a black and white issue.
10:57There's two men from Louisiana that have love and respect for each other, and their music
11:02is going to do it and do it well.
11:05I grew up around music because my dad was in the radio, and we had music playing around
11:09the house, in the car, everywhere we went 24-7.
11:13And he loved all kinds of music, and so do I.
11:16So I was raised on everything from gospel music to funk and jazz and R&B and soul and
11:23country and southern rock and roll and everything in between.
11:26I just kind of soaked it all up at a very young age.
11:29And then I started playing.
11:30The first time I got on stage, I was 13 years old down in New Orleans on Bourbon Street.
11:34And that's when I found out that maybe I could actually entertain the people.
11:38And that kind of was the beginning for me.
11:40I just can't remember a part of my life where music wasn't a big part of it.
11:45We went to see every concert that came through town.
11:47Because when you work at a radio station, you get free tickets to just about every show,
11:52and you get to meet the band because they want you to play the records and stuff.
11:56So my dad met everybody, and we always go backstage, and we'd go see every concert.
12:00So it exposed me to all these different parts of the music business at a very young age,
12:05especially the touring world and what it means to put on a concert.
12:08Nobody knew, including myself for a long time, that all that was going to help contribute
12:14to the artist that I was eventually going to become.
12:16Music's been a part of my life as far back as I can remember.
12:19And I got turned on to blues music.
12:20My first concert, my dad took me to see when I was three years old.
12:23He took me to see Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
12:25I don't remember that.
12:26Obviously, I was three years old.
12:28But I do believe that that had to have left an imprint on me.
12:31And that's probably what sent me down the path of my love and appreciation for blues music,
12:37was that exposure at such a young age to those artists.
12:42Oh, I have so many.
12:43When you've been here long as I have, I have so many.
12:46I think Ray Charles, I was at the New York, 19...
12:51There's no favorites for me.
12:56It's just all the things that I feel like are learning experiences.
12:59But this is certainly one of my favorites.
13:01And I mean, I know that sounds like a predictable answer, but this is definitely a highlight.
13:06I mean, my first album came out 30 years ago.
13:08So I've been doing it for a little bit of time myself.
13:10So there's a lot of highlights.
13:12Making this record with him was such a great experience.
13:14I think the end result is an incredible record.
13:17And I think the tour is going to be an incredible experience for both of us and for our fans.
13:21This one is still in the process of happening.
13:24We can't live for yesterday and we can't know what's going to happen tomorrow,
13:27but I know what's happening right now.
13:28And this is special.
13:30Well, I think blues music is about life.
13:32It's about human interaction.
13:34It's about relationships.
13:36It's about ups and downs, lefts and right.
13:39Every single bit of it is just really about living life.
13:42And I think that's why people can relate to it.
13:44At the end of the day, for me, blues music has been my employer.
13:47It's been my therapist.
13:49It's been my comfort.
13:51It's been my companion.
13:53You know, it's been so many things in so many ways.
13:56I can't even imagine my life without blues music.
13:59Well, personally, blues is what I know and blues is all I know.
14:03And I often use the word that blues is the mother of all music.
14:07If you don't like a blues, you probably don't like your mama.
14:09But blues, it's not just something that makes you feel bad.
14:15It's not just something that makes you feel good all the time.
14:18The same thing makes you laugh.
14:20The same thing makes you cry.
14:22But you could say, but when you lose your love for someone or something happened in life,
14:28it's called the licks of the blues.
14:30It sounds sad.
14:31But then again, it's happiness because I remember the saddest time to me was on a Monday morning
14:39when I had to go back to court after being off to begin having a party.
14:43But the good time was always on a Friday or Saturday when I was getting off to get ready to go to the club to play the music.
14:52The thing you learn from the blues and the thing you go through, it's just part of life.
14:57Glad to be where I am there in life.
15:00Know and learn what I have learned through the blues.
15:04To see more of this interview, visit our website, lifeminute.tv.
15:09And don't forget to subscribe to our podcast, Life Minute TV.
