“Ever since back in the 90s, when Fender started doing the Signature series, that was something for the elite musicians. People like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck have signature series guitars. Naturally I was extremely excited and honoured when they asked me if I wanted to help create a Kenny Wayne Shepherd edition Stratocaster. It was a great experience and process. We came up with three different models, the same specification but different appearances. And I play them all the time on stage. You’ll see them when we come to your town.”
Now Kenny is a huge name in his own right, with his own brand of blues-rock. He has sold millions of albums, had seven top 10 singles on the Billboard Blues Charts, been nominated for five Grammy Awards and worked with legends including BB King, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.
Ringo Starr has been a personal friend for 12 years and Kenny played on a couple of songs on his 2012 album. Ringo has returned the favour and is one of the big names featured on Kenny’s latest album, Goin’ Home.
Kenny will be playing songs from it and his extensive back catalogue at Sheffield’s Plug.
In an exclusive interview - listen to it in full at thestar.co.uk - he said: “If you are a fan or blues music, guitar playing or just good music in general - this is the show for you.
“We’re going to do songs from previous albums, an extensive catalogue, after being in the business for over 20 years - but we are also going to focus a lot of attention on the new record, Goin’ Home.
“It’s a traditional blues album where we go back and record songs by some of my bigest heroes and musical influences. So old and new songs.