Put an ear to the door of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, back in late 2019 and you’d have heard it. The first stirrings of a new studio album from the man who pulled American roots into the 21st century. Melodies forming, riffs taking shape, grooves building, stories of loss and redemption spun by a crack team of sympatico songwriters. The road from that first writing session to the finished copy of Dirt On My Diamonds you hold in your hands, smiles Kenny Wayne Shepherd, has been quite a ride. “Every record I make is a moment in time. And this is a really special moment.”
As for the guitar community that follows Shepherd’s every move, the fire and soul across this tracklisting should more than satisfy. “I really like the lead guitar tone from Man On A Mission,” he says. “Then there’s Bad Intentions. I guess that song is like Muddy Waters’ I’m A Man, the guy pounding on his chest, talking about how badass he is. So the guitar tone is really ripping and aggressive, right on the edge, with a lot of hair. I mostly used my favorite ’61 Strat, but when I go in the studio, I have no idea what I’m gonna play – and I just play whatever happens.”
And finally, as befitted this most playful of album sessions, Shepherd dipped into his mental jukebox for a rabble-rousing cover of Elton John’s Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting. “I always keep a catalogue in the back of my mind of songs I think my band could bring our thing to. The timing worked out well because Elton is doing his farewell tour. Also, I love his guitar player, Davey Johnstone. He’s a friend, too, and when we recorded that song, I sent him a message saying, ‘Hey man, we’re gonna cover Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting – I hope I don’t screw up your guitar parts’. I almost asked Davey to come into the studio and play it, so that I knew it was 100 per cent correct!”
But then, as he says, perfection is overrated. At a time when mainstream music is polished, quantized and airbrushed of soul, Dirt On My Diamonds sees Kenny Wayne Shepherd catch eight shards of honest human emotion and serve them up raw for an audience that needs real music more than ever. “I just feel a responsibility to make the best music I can make,” he concludes. “And I’m really excited to see what’s gonna happen with these songs when we take them out on the road…”
