Greg Prato, for Ultimate Guitar, spoke with blues guitarist, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, about Five Finger Death Punchcovering is song Blue On Black.
Shepherd said, “…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 number one 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 number one 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.”
A video for Five Finger Death Punch‘s cover of Blue On Black [which also features Queen guitarist Brian May and Country singer, Brantley Gilbert] was previously released in April 2019, and posted here. Proceeds from the cover, were donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation, which benefits first responders and military. The single also performed well on the charts – peaking at number one on Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Song Sales Chart. [Dana’s note: I have reposted the video below, as well].
Shepherd recently issued his eleventh studio effort overall, Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 1.
One Response
Actually pretty much the only thing I like about FFDP is their covers. They do a really great job with covers. Some of their originals are good but overall I never was drawn to them for some reason.