The Young Fashioned Ways Tour, starring blues icons Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Bobby Rush, kicks off this week with the second stop landing right here in Peoria at the Prairie Home Alliance Theater at the Peoria Civic Center on April 26th!
Bobby Rush was funny, energetic, and full of charm at last year’s Peoria Blues and Heritage Music Festival. It was my first encounter with him, and I was thrilled when he came down to sing and play right in front of the audience, engaging with people as he performed.
While I haven’t previously seen Kenny Wayne Shepherd perform live, between what I already knew and listening to the new album has me looking forward to what promises to be an exciting and unique experience when these two legends bring their collaboration to the stage.
With the tour coming to Peoria, I jumped at the opportunity to have a conversation with Kenny Wayne Shepherd to shed some light on what makes this collaboration special and what fans can look forward to.
We also talked about his start in music and how people sometimes mistake his early success for easy success.
“Even with an early start, it’s been years of hard work to get to this point,” he told me. “We worked incredibly hard, and we did it the old-fashioned way. We played crappy clubs, getting paid like no money, three one-hour sets every night with 15-minute breaks, maybe $150, $200 for the whole band, with like six people in it.”
He went on to say that putting in the work like that really builds who you are as a musician. “All that time playing on those stages is how you master your craft and learn how to entertain people. It helps you figure out who you are as an artist - and it builds character.”
Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s collaboration was natural. According to Shepherd, “all the right things just lined up.”
All of that hard work has given Kenny opportunities to meet and work with many other musicians over the years. I asked what it was like working with blues legend Bobby Rush. “It’s an honor,” he said immediately. “I mean, the guy is a legend. One of the originators. I’ve looked up to him for many years and have admired his music and the career he’s created for himself. It’s just not every day you get the opportunity to make a record like this with someone like that.”
The Young Fashioned Ways album, released March 21st, not only highlights their individual strengths - Rush’s expressive storytelling and lively harmonica, Shepherd’s aggressive yet emotive guitar work - but also the undeniable chemistry between them as they blend their sounds into something new.
When asked about that chemistry, Shepherd pointed to a couple common threads between them: they’re both from the same part of Louisiana, and they share a deep mutual respect, but went on to talk about how unpredictable chemistry between musicians can be. “Sometimes you just never know,” he said. “It’s not something you can fake or manufacture. It either is or it isn’t… I think all the right things lined up in the right places.”
Recalling the first time he and Rush played together, Shepherd smiled. “He was a special guest at my blues festival, the Backroads Blues Fest, and the moment he got on stage and we started playing together, I was like, Dude, this is special.” The idea for the album grew from that moment.
Of the ten songs on the record, five were co-written by the duo. Shepherd pointed to “Hey Baby” as one that stands out for him personally. He wrote it while Rush was away for a day to play a show. Alone in the studio, he laid down a full guitar track.
“When he got back the next day, I played it for him… and he started digging through his lyrics. He pulled out this sheet, walked into the room, and just sang the lyrics to the song. And it was perfect.” (Check out the video here for a related story.)
Is there anything Bobby Rush did during the sessions that surprised or inspired you?
It’s a great example of the intuitive, organic way the album came together - and of the rare musical connection the two share.
While Shepherd is proud of the record and hopes people listen to it (and recommended it to their friends and family), he also encourages everyone to experience it live.
“Musicians make records so we can play concerts for people,” he said. “We really are encouraging people to come see us do what we do best… entertain you and show you a great time. It’s a unique performance - two artists from different generations coming together for a very joyful musical experience.”
While both artists in this duo have been touring for decades, Shepherd made it clear this tour would bring a new experience, a completely different show than anyone had seen from either of them previously, “We start the show in a very intimate setting with a stripped-down band, which is very similar to what the record is and what it represents.”
After intermission, the full Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band is set to take the stage. Then Rush will join the full band to play some of the songs from the album that have a full band. Shepherd says it promises to be a really memorable experience, “for the audience and for us as well. I’m looking forward to it.”
I’ll be there next Saturday night, and I hope to see you there, too. Tickets are still available at the Civic Center Box Office or through Ticketmaster. You can find the link in the Facebook event HERE.
You’ve played in Peoria before. Did you get to explore Peoria much? Is there anything you enjoyed about Peoria?
Encouraging visitors to explore and fall in love with Peoria is important to me, so I couldn’t end the interview without asking what Shepherd had liked about our area on previous visits.
And, while it happened more frequently decades ago (I’ve heard many SRV-era stories) touring musicians will still occasionally stop in at local venues in Peoria now (like members of Tedeshi Trucks showing up at the Neon Bison’s open stage or Matt Maeson dropping in at Kenny’s Westside.) So I wanted to know if he had any specific places in mind. Watch the video for his answer.
Note: If an artists did tell me they were headed somewhere specific, that doesn’t mean I would share it. But his answer was interesting… where would you recommend he might go based on what he said?