Following the success of his previous album ‘Lay it on Down’, May 31 sees the release of ‘The Traveler’, Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s ninth studio album via Concord Records and I can happily report that it has KWS pushing himself once more, not only as a fine songwriter but also with taking on plenty of vocal duties again alongside co-singer Noah Hunt. In a recent interview with The Rockpit, Kenny explained how he likes to continue to better himself by trying to produce something different, which in-turn ensures his fans get to hear something new and ensures Kenny remains unpredictable. There is certainly plenty of variety throughout the eight original songs and in addition to these there are two wonderful cover tracks too.
‘The Traveler’ kicks off in fabulous fashion with the infectious ‘Woman Like You’, as Hunt takes the vocal lead, with Kenny driving us on with his catchy rock-infused guitar work. There’s no easing off the quick start, as we continue the tempo with ‘Long Time Running’, before things turn a little bit more bluesy with ‘I Want You’ and again Shepherd’s classy guitar work comes to the fore. It’s rare for an album not to have a title track these days & one of the highlights for me on this release is the wonderful acoustic-based ‘Tailwind’, which references the traveler in us all, with the chorus “See how lightning fast we can run, With a little luck we might just catch a tailwind, Hey fellow travelers, Keep travelin’”, which I imagine also describes how Kenny’s spends plenty of his time with traveling between family & work, while his music also travels on through the processes of discovery & reinvention. It’s nice for an album to bunch three easier listening tracks together rather than just randomly dotting them about through the track listing and ‘Gravity’ follows this trend as the third of these songs. With the tempo raised once more, ‘We All Alright’ is the first song that KWS has written with the intention of dual lead vocalists with Hunt singing the verses & Kenny the choruses and it works wonderfully well. Another highlight is the stunning ‘Take It On Home’, which once again slows the pace with slight country undertones to it. The first of the cover songs is a fabulous rendition of Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Mr Soul’, which Kenny first managed to play with Stephen Stills & Neil Young at a benefit concert a few years back. ‘Better With Time’ takes us back into a bit more of a laid back feel, before the album closes with an outstanding cover of Joe Walsh’s ‘Turn to Stone’, which was tracked in one take in the studio to capture a ‘live’ recording with Shepherd letting loose on a wonderful solo. This is another fantastic album from start to finish from KWS, with plenty of tracks that could become ‘live’ favourites for years to come.
‘The Traveler’ once again showcases some world-class musicians alongside Shepherd & Hunt with drummer Chris “Whipper” Layton (formerly of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble), bassist Kevin McCormick and keyboardists Jimmy McGorman & Joe Krown.
“Making this album was an interesting process,” stated Shepherd. “I was home for a few months, and I wanted to spend some time with my family and not do any work for a while. But then we had a run of ten shows on the West Coast, so I figured, while I’ve got everybody out there, let’s be productive and make another record. As usual, I tracked more songs than we needed, but the good ones usually rise to the top, and those are the ones you finish.”
The Traveler is released on 31 May, through Concord Records.
Track Listing:
Woman Like You
Long Time Running
I Want You
Tailwind
Gravity
We All Alright
Take It On Home
Mr. Soul (Buffalo Springfield Cover)
Better With Time
Turn To Stone (Joe Walsh Cover)