One of the US’ finest bluesmen Kenny Wayne Shepherd is celebrating a landmark as his Trouble Is album turns 25, it is hard to believe but a lot of my musical heroes who I grew up listening to are in a similar boat as I tick off album after album, celebrating landmark birthdays here and there. 

That is no bad thing, it means for one that these albums stand the test of time, that way back when at the time of launch we just lacked the foresight to realise just how good these really were. It is understandable, it is easy to take an artist and a recording for granted, we assume we’ll be lucky enough to share in their longevity as an artist, watch them grow and enjoy the fruits of their labour and one such artist is the might Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He is a guitarist with a sound all of his own, a powerhouse bluesman who grew up listening to the greats and took it to another level with his own brand of contemporary blues-rock. The beauty here is that the KWS Band took the time to do a full reinterpretation of this classic album breathing new life into this blues-rock beauty.

“One of the coolest things about re-recording ‘Trouble Is…’ has been finding out – or verifying – how timeless this album really is,” says Shepherd, who is also leading a triumphant anniversary tour across the United States in 2022 and 2023, performing the album in full. “I’m so proud of what we accomplished, and also the fact I was just 18 years old when I did it. I mean, I had an experience with this album that most musicians can only dream about. ‘Trouble Is…’ sold millions of copies. There’s validation in all of that for me.” “Aside from Tommy, we got the whole crew back together, with Jerry Harrison co-producing once again,” reflects the bandleader. “And in the studio, it felt like no time had passed. If you play well together, you play well together. It worked back then and it worked just as well this time. It was all of us live in a room. That’s just how I do it, man. I’m old-school. Human beings need to be in the same room to be able to play music together.”

“During the ‘Trouble Is…’ anniversary tour,” says Shepherd, “everybody was commenting on how this album could be released today and still be just as relevant as it was 25 years ago. Making this album in 1997 was just a really monumental achievement. The new recording was a serious trip down memory lane for me. And I’m still so proud of these songs…”

KWS has laid a blistering path in his wake since his arrival on the scene breaking onto the scene as a young buck with a lot to prove and the chops to back up all that bravado, KWS is a killer player, technically brilliant. Still, he’s more about the feel, translating that emotion across in his gnarly playing style, aggressive and beautiful all at the same time balancing poise and presence in the same lick. The album contains the fan favourite ‘Blue On Black’ which is a staple of any KWS show and signalled the quality within the band delivering timeless classics with every recording. Kenny’s ability to fuse the modern with the traditional allows him room to explore and express himself as a guitarist without feeling the constraints of staying within the conventional blues path, what you get is a hard-hitting recording that has Kenny paying homage to all his heroes in his own way keeping it fresh and classy as you would expect. 

His guitar tone is biting at times, cutting through the mix demanding your attention, from bluesy overdriven tones to more contemporary distorted modulated licks he mixes it up keeping all the gear heads on their toes in admiration. A killer album from start to finish and a blast taking that trip down memory lane once again, Kenny and his band have been delivering solid recordings from day one and he will surely go down as one of the all-time American greats, Trouble Is gives you a taster as to why. 

Trouble Is … 25 is out now via Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group

The complete re-record of Kenny’s most successful album will be accompanied by a documentary about the making of the original ‘Trouble Is…’ and a live DVD filmed at The Strand Theatre in Shepherd’s hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana

Watch the lyric video for “True Lies” and pre-order the album HERE

Order Here

Track listing 

1. Slow Ride
2. True Lies
3. Blue on Black
4. Everything Is Broken
5. I Don’t Live Today
6. (Long) Gone
7. Somehow, Somewhere, Someway
8. I Found Love (When I Found You)
9. King’s Highway
10. Nothing To Do With Love