Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s “Diamonds & Gold” Premieres via Guitar Player

Billboard recently premiered the album’s title track, noting, “The gentle ‘Lay It On Down’—which Shepherd co-wrote with ‘Blue On Black’ collaborators Mark Selby and Tia Sillers—certainly represents something different for Shepherd and company.” Shepherd went on to explain, “It’s, like, a midtempo ballad, which surprises some people, but I love ballads. I grew up in the era of the power ballad. That was the biggest thing on the radio when I was a teenager, those rock ‘n’ roll ballads. So I’m a sucker for a good ballad and wanted to have one on this record.” Additionally, CMT Music premiered the video for the album’s first single, “Baby Got Gone,” calling it “the most rollicking country-infused rock track you’ve heard in a long time.”

Shepherd’s band on Lay It On Down features his long-time lead vocalist Noah Hunt, the rhythm section from Shepherd’s supergroup side project The RIDES, Chris Layton (drums) and Kevin McCormick (bass), and keyboardist Jimmy McGorman. “I’m proud of the album we have delivered to the fans and I think they’ll be excited by what they hear,” notes Shepherd. “The band we’ve assembled did a fantastic job bringing these songs to life and conveying the musical message to the listener. Now we are looking forward to bringing this new music to the live show to watch it develop even more.” Shepherd further discusses the writing/recording process in the new album’s video trailer, watch/share it at https://youtu.be/xW6HfiJ-WYQ.

Shepherd will celebrate the album’s release with a U.S. tour that kicks off August 9 in Westbury, NY. See below for a list of dates; additional shows to be announced shortly.

Lay It On Down finds Shepherd two decades into a recording career that began when he was 16. Shepherd has sold millions of albums worldwide and, in addition to his five Grammy nominations, he has won two Billboard Music Awards, a pair of Orville H. Gibson awards, the Blues Foundation’s Keeping The Blues Alive award and two Blues Music awards. He’s had six #1 blues albums and a string of #1 mainstream rock singles, and his acclaimed documentary project 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads was the top-selling blues album of 2007. Shepherd’s last release, 2014’s Goin’ Home (Concord Records), debuted at #25 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart and spent several weeks at #1 on the Billboard Blues chart.

LAY IT ON DOWN TRACK LIST
1. Baby Got Gone
2. Diamonds & Gold
3. Nothing But The Night
4. Lay It On Down
5. She’s $$$
6. Hard Lesson Learned
7. Down For Love
8. How Low Can You Go
9. Louisiana Rain
10. Ride Of Your Life

THE KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND LIVE