Review: Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Young Fashioned Ways
Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Young Fashioned Ways
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: Deep Rush Records – Thirty Tigers
Release: 2025
Text: Martien Koolen
The ninety-one-year-old/young Bobby Rush has been singing the blues longer than most of us have been alive and now he joined up with blues guitar picker Kenny Wayne Shepherd to record ‘Young Fashioned Ways’. This rather unique album contains five new co-written tracks, four re-recorded classic Bobby Rush songs and finally: a reworked version of Muddy Waters’ song Young Fashioned Ways; hence the title of this album of course…
Besides Bobby Rush (vocals, mouthorgan), Kenny Wayne Shepherd (guitars), the full band further consists of: Darryl “DJ” Pruitt (bass guitar), Steve Potts (drums), Charles Hodges (keyboards), Doug Wolverton (trumpet) and Charlie Di Puma (saxophone). The album kicks off with Who Was That – this song was released as a single and can be heard in the movie Flight Risk – and this song sets the tone for the rest of the album for sure. Who Was That features: a steady drumbeat, the howling mouthorgan from Rush and that typical guitar sound of Shepherd, resulting in a rather groovy, powerful blues track indeed.
Follow up 40 Acres (How Long) is a completely different song, featuring only acoustic guitars, mouthorgan, Hammond organ and rhythmic hand clapping. Make Love To You, really reminds me of Jimi Hendrix – the best guitar player ever – as it sounds like a jam session with lots of improvisation and Shepherd’s wah-wah pedal does the trick here. This song also reminds me of another guitar hero, namely Gary Clark Jr. Another highlight of this truly remarkable album is the “title” track Young Ways, a masterful and beautiful rhythmic electric blues piece with both Rush and Shepherd at their best indeed! This track is based on Willie Dixon’s Young Fashioned Way and Shepherd and Rush honour blues legend Muddy Waters with this song, as he once made this track extraordinarily successful.
Shepherd’s best guitar solo, as he turns up the distortion at full force here, can be enjoyed in Hey Baby (What Are We Gonna Do). Overall, ‘Young Fashioned Ways’ is a wonderful record with Rush’s smooth vocals, Shepherd’s crunchy guitar playing and an amazing backup band indeed, as this album is a celebration of blues, rock, and soul, showing the outstanding musical talents of two top notch musicians at full force.
Play it LOUD and enjoy. By, the way, I am really looking forward to hearing/seeing these two top musicians at the Bospop Festival in July this year.
Tour:
13 juli: Bospop – Weert
14 juli: Melkweg – Amsterdam
Tracks:
01. Who Was That
02. 40 Acres (How Long)
03. Hey Baby (What Are We Gonna Do)
04. Uncle Esau
05. Make Love To You
06. Long Way From Home
07. G String
08. You So Fine
09. Young Ways
10. What She Said
Website:
https://www.bobbyrushbluesman.com/
https://www.kennywayneshepherd.net/