Kenny Wayne Shepherd says he’s proud Five Finger Death Punch chose to cover his song ‘Blue On Black’
The song, ‘Blue On Black’, originally appeared on Shepherd’s 1997 album Trouble Is… and was covered by Five Finger Death Punch on the bands And Justice For None album.
The band later teamed up with Kenny Wayne Shepherd himself, Brian May from Queen, and Brantley Gilbert for a new version of the song with music video. The artists donate all proceeds from sales of the single to the Gary Sinise Foundation.
In an exclusive interview with Ultimate Guitar, Kenny Wayne Shepherd was asked to share his thoughts on Five Finger Death Punch’s ‘Blue On Black’ cover and whether he felt it had introduced the song to new audiences.
“Absolutely. I think it’s great, I think it’s awesome. I was very happy to be a part of that. I was proud that they chose my song to do. You know, Shinedown had done an acoustic version a few years prior, but I don’t think they put it on an actual record. They just put it out on YouTube or whatever. But you know, that’s one of those songs. I’d just kind of been waiting for somebody to come along and cover it. And the great thing about that song is anybody can cover that song. Like, I’m waiting for a country artist to cover it – because they can have a #1 hit at country radio with that song.”
“And it’s like, yes, I helped write the song, so maybe I’m a little biased, but I think completely objectively all bias out the window. A great song is a great song. And I think that song is a bona fide hit song. And it’s already been a #1 hit twice in its life. So I was just really thrilled that they did it. They put their own personality in it, which I think that’s what any artist should do when they’re covering somebody else’s music. And I was really proud.”
“And yeah, I think it introduced a younger audience because you know, it was 20 years earlier when I put it out. So now you got 20 years later. And there’s a lot of young people that are fans and those guys that probably never heard the Kenny Wayne Shepherd version before. And then they find out, ‘Oh, who’s Kenny Wayne Shepherd?’, and then they go listen to it. And they’ve been turned on to the history of the song, as well.” (Extract from Ultimate Guitar)