Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a Dr. Dre fan. Perhaps you didn’t guess that from Shepherd’s blues-rock hits like “Blue on Black“ and “Deja Voodoo,” from when he was a young guitar phenom carrying on the lighting of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, back in the mid ‘90s.

A Dre inspiration does manifest though, a couple places on Shepherd’s latest album, “Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 1.” Particularly track three, “Best Of Times.” The song’s built with sticky synth, nasty wah-wah, click-clack grooves, and lyrics about lows and highs.

“The most musical hip-hop that I heard,” Shepherd tells AL.com, “was the stuff that Dr. Dre had produced. Because he knew the importance of instrumentation. It was just always interesting to me how he would take something old, and add something new to it, and then come out the other side with something really interesting. And that’s kind of been my approach to my music as well.”

Released in November, the strong “Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 1″ is either Shepherd’s 10th or 11th studio effort, depending how you count 2022′s “Trouble Is…25,” an anniversary rerecording of standout sophomore LP “Trouble Is…”, the first Shepherd disc to feature soulful vocalist Noah Hunt, who remains in the band to this day.

“Dirty On My Diamonds” was mostly recorded in Los Angeles. But the material was written entirely in Muscle Shoals at storied FAME Studios.

The country-funk sound FAME’s known for can be heard immediately on Shepherd’s album right from go. The title track opener’s a soul-rock anthem with sweaty horns and a Tasmanian-devil sounding guitar solo.

Shepherd, a Louisiana native, says of Muscle Shoals, “That’s one of the reasons why we went there was to get some of that vibe and inspiration from all the incredible music that has been created down there. And FAME is like walking into a time warp. That place is relatively for the most part unchanged from the way it was back in the day, so the vibe is soaked into the carpet, the walls, everywhere.”

By the time Shepherd and his deft band were ready to record, he was out on the road. They were out in L.A. when their schedule opened up, so that’s where they cut. “But this album wouldn’t sound the way it does,” Shepherd says, “and wouldn’t be the album that it is without us having had made that trip [to Muscle Shoals.]”

Other “Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol. 1″ essentials include the headbanging R&B of “Bad Intentions” [which hints to Shepherd’s fondness of Metallica] and Prince-y ballad “You Can’t Love Me.” There’s also a hot cover of Elton John rocker “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.” Closing blues “Ease My Mind” gives Shepherd a tapestry for his world-class guitar skills, which have always exuded ability and ache beyond his years.

Shepherd didn’t really start singing on his records until four albums in. But he’s evolved into an effective vocalist, and with he and Hunt splitting lead vocals it adds to the music’s spectrum.

Back when he was writing what became his platinum-selling debut album, 1995′s “Ledbetter Heights,” Shepherd was just 16. He recorded it at age 17, during the last three months of his senior year in high school. He was only 18 upon the release of “Ledbetter Heights.”

“That whole album was reported the old fashioned way,” Shepherd says of his debut. “Everything was recorded to tape. You know, we had to splice things [together using a razor blade] and punch-in and overdub things the old fashioned way. It was a really great experience.”

The first three albums of Shepherd’s career, he only sang lead vocals on one song. Shepherd explains, “Everybody agreed that I played guitar beyond my years, which was one of the interesting things about it. But when I opened my mouth, I sound like a kid. And that was not the voice that I heard from my music. I had standards and if my voice didn’t meet those standards, I was gonna find somebody’s somebody else who whose did.”

Things worked out just fine that way, Shepherd says: “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, just imagine if you’d have been singing the whole time where you could be today,’ because everybody thinks you got to be this certain kind of package. But I believe if I would have allowed myself to be talking to singing at that young age that I wouldn’t have the success that I’ve had. And with Noah in the band for 27 years, having two lead vocalist enables us to cover much more material and record all kinds of different stuff.”

Shepherd’s second album, the aforementioned “Trouble Is…”, also went platinum, selling more than a million copies. The disc featured “Blue on Black,” which evoked the sound of classic Bad Company and Free records. A collaboration between Shepherd and studio songsmiths Mark Selby and Tia Sillers, the song topped the mainstream rock chart and was all over late ‘90s rock radio.

“That song really came together really quickly,” Shepherd recalls of “Blue on Black,” “and actually almost didn’t even make the record. It was the very last song that we recorded. The guys from Double Trouble [late blues great Stevie Ray Vaughan’s former rhythm section, who played on ‘Trouble Is…’], they had a car waiting for them to take them to the airport and were trying to get out the door. ‘Oh no, we just need to do this one song really quick before you guys leave.’ We just barely got it. It’s crazy to think that song almost didn’t get recorded.”

Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton anchors Shepherd’s current live band, which also boast a horn section, vocalist Hunt, bassist Kevin McCormick (whose resume includes Melissa Etheridge, Jackson Browne and Crosby, Stills & Nash) and New Orleans keyboardist Joe Krown.

The success of “Ledbetter Heights,” and its hit single “Deja Voodoo,” and “Trouble Is…” helped score Shepherd a tour opening for hard-rock legends Van Halen. This was the era Van Halen was fronted not by David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, but by Gary Cherone of Boston rock band Extreme.

On tour together in ‘98, Shepherd became friends with guitar great Eddie Van Halen. Decades later in 2015, the two acts combined to tour again, this time when Roth was back at the mic for VH. For fans, the pairing of Van Halen and Kenny Wayne Shepherd made for an excellent concert bill. Lots of great guitar playing and songs, but totally different sounding acts, although both blues-based at atomic level.

Of his bond with Eddie Van Halen Shepherd says, “I mean, first of all, he was just incredibly complimentary to me, very outgoing. Musically we connected the way we did, but on a personal level we connected incredibly well. Both times we were touring with those guys, every single day he would come find me. We’d sit and talk and spend time together. He really made an effort early on to go out of his way to be nice to me.”

The connection between them continued in the years when they weren’t touring together. Van Halen and Shepherd remained in touch up until 2020, when Eddie died at age 65 after a long battle with cancer, a loss that continues to be heavily felt in the rock community.

“He’s like the Michael Jordan of rock guitar,” Shepherd recalls of his friend. “So everybody, at a certain point is going to be emulating something that you’re doing. Nothing was I was playing was even attempting to come close to sounding like Van Halen, but I think that’s kind of what made it work musically so well. My band is obviously very guitar-centric, but we’re not trying to out rock, Van Halen, you know? And that’s why we did it more than once.”

As far as possible future collaborations, if roots music superstar Chris Stapleton ever wants Shepherd to lay down guitar on a track, Shepherd would definitely answer the phone. “He’s mainstream because he’s reached a lot of people not because he’s pop. Chris Stapleton’s the real deal and I would certainly enjoy do something with him.”

And the next Shepherd release might be sequel of sorts to his latest, the Muscle Shoals-written “Dirt On My Diamonds.” He says, “Our goal is to do another trip like that and write the songs and record them down there next time.”

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band performs 7:30 p.m. February 22 at the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall at Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Tickets start at $39 plus applicable fees via ticketmaster.com and the VBC Box Office, address 700 Monroe Street. More info at kennywayneshepherd.net.

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