On May 1, blues legend Bobby Rush returned to Arkansas for a one-night performance along with Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Temple Live venue in Fort Smith.
Prior to the 8 p.m. show, Rush and Shepherd shared a few thoughts about their collaboration on the newly released “Young Fashioned Ways” album.
Rush came off stage from a preshow sound check to introduce a reporter to Shepherd, who was relaxing in a lawn chair while having a cigar outside his bus.
Rush, the 91-year-old bluesman, began to elaborate on the experience of how he got together with Shepherd, who’s been called one of the world’s all-time great guitarists.
Rush is a three-time Grammy award winner, and Shepherd is a five-time Grammy-nominated musician, according to his website.
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“First of all, this is one of (the) best things to happen to me in my lifetime and I’ll tell you why,” Rush said. “I’ve recorded with people and a lot of people have been guests on my records. But as a bluesman from Louisiana, I never thought I’d meet a guy like Kenny who wanted to do something like this with me.”
“Even though there is over 50 years difference in our age, he grew up less than 40 miles from where I was born in Haynesville (Louisiana). I knew his father long before I knew Kenny. He was a radio DJ in Shreveport and show promoter who used to play a lot of blues. He’d play my records on the air and show up at gigs where he’d be the only white guy in the place. He respected what I was doing as a bluesman,” said Rush.
Rush said he had a guest spot on Shepherd’s Backroads Blues Festival in Lewiston, N.Y.
“He liked the way the crowd got into me and I liked the way the crowd got into him. He always loved John Lee Hooker, he loved Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and he loved Bobby Rush too,” Rush said.
At this point a minor discrepancy arose in the story. Rush said following the festival, he suggested to Shepherd they work on a record together. According to Shepherd, he claimed he made the suggestion to Rush. Either way, the duo began putting together the epic project.
“I was concerned about where we would get together. He was in Nashville and I was in Jackson so I thought about Royal Studios in Memphis where Al Green recorded. We had both recorded there before so it was a good fit. I called the Reverend (Al Green) for his rhythm section and they came in and laid down backline,” Rush said.
“I had a stack of lyrics already written and went through picking out ones I thought Kenny might like. The first one we did was ‘Who Was That?’ which became our first single off the album. It came out so good he asked, ‘What’s next?'” Rush said.
“I pulled out a sheet and read the lines, ‘I got three things on my mind, making money, making music and making love to you. All three of a kind, two stays on my heart and one stays on my mind.’ He liked it and it was the next song we recorded titled, ‘Make Love to You.’
“I had to go to Nashville to play a gig so I told him before I left, ‘Just lay down any kind of guitar tracks you like. Whatever he put down I’ll have a song to fit your melody.’ That’s pretty much how the whole album went down.”
Summing up, Rush said, “We are going to set a precedent for the rest of the world. I’m a black guy and he’s a white guy, I’m an old guy and he’s a young guy. This is a blues thing that’s making a statement about how the world ought to be standing together on common ground.”
Shepherd added his details to the collaboration.
“I’ve known about Bobby for years but I’d never seen him play until he performed at my blues fest,” Shepherd said. “When he got up on stage, I instantly knew we had to work together.”
“Bobby and I have a lot in common. You can’t fake chemistry and we have it. There is obviously something special happening when we play together. It’s a testament that race doesn’t matter and age doesn’t matter. At the core we are all spiritual beings that can connect in ways far more in common than different,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd concluded, “The world is so full of division today but the moment you start playing music, that all goes out the window.”
When the lights went up, Shepherd and Rush shared center stage side by side. Shepherd’s blistering guitar runs and Rush’s stellar harmonica playing along with his legendary vocals thrilled the full house with an hourlong set on “Young Fashioned” blues.
Rush continued on to Memphis on May 2 to perform his traditional act at the Riverbeat Music Fest while the duo got back together May 3 as the Blues Tent headliners for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
With multiple dates scheduled across the country, the Young Fashioned Ways tour will return to Arkansas for a 7 p.m. Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort performance on Oct. 4.
