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originally published: 04/29/2022

(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The newly renovated State Theatre New Jersey and SLP Concerts present Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band as a stop on their U.S. tour celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the release of Trouble Is… with special guest Samantha Fish on Friday, May 20, 2022. For this performance, rock and blues music fans will be able to see the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band perform Trouble Is… in its entirety. Tickets range from $34.50-$100.  

In 1997 rock and blues music fans were impatiently waiting for the sophomore release by, what the press still referred to as, a teenage phenom. On October 7th the world finally heard Trouble Is… by the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band and it demonstrated to the press and public alike that Shepherd was an artist with a boundless future ahead of him.  

After the wildly successful debut of his first platinum selling album, Ledbetter Heights, Shepherd set out to write and record his second album. “No one was expecting me to match the success of Ledbetter Heights, but when we got into the studio and the album started coming together, we knew we had something really special.” Despite a select few (very few) critics, who tried to dismiss Shepherd as a “flash in the pan” due to his age, radio stations across the U.S. added song after song to their playlists—in heavy rotation—and the fans devoured the music. 

Trouble Is… went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. It featured four Top 10 hits, “Slow Ride,” “Somehow, Somewhere, Someway,” “Everything Is Broken,” and the #1 mainstream rock hit “Blue on Black,” spending an astonishing 104 weeks on the Billboard Charts. Shepherd won two Billboard Music Awards, including for Rock Song of the Year, and received his first of many Grammy® nominations. Twenty-five years later, Kenny Wayne Shepherd is still releasing groundbreaking music, accumulating awards, touring the world, and performing for ever-expanding audiences while those few critics have likely found new career paths.  

Trouble Is… was produced by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Harrison and was the beginning of a long-term collaboration between Harrison and Shepherd. The album also features musical powerhouses including Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, and Reese Wynans, as well as James Cotton.  

 

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Kenny Wayne Shepherd is over two decades into a recording career that began when he was just 16. He 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 nine #1 blues albums and a string of #1 mainstream rock singles. 

Over the course of her career as an award-winning artist, singer/songwriter/guitarist Samantha Fish has brought extraordinary power to her self-expression, capturing her inner world in combustible riffs, visceral rhythms, and spine-tingling vocal work. On her new album Faster, she joins forces with superproducer Martin Kierszenbaum (Lady Gaga, Sting, Sheryl Crow) and imbues even more intensity into her electrifying brand of blues/rock-and-roll. With Fish accompanied by legendary drummer Josh Freese (Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, The Replacements) and bassist Diego Navaira of The Last Bandoleros, the result is a singular body of work both irresistibly galvanizing and emotionally raw.  

For tickets, more information, or group discounts, call State Theatre Guest Services at 732-246-SHOW (7469) or visit online at STNJ.org. State Theatre Guest Services, located at 15 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick NJ, is open by phone and email only, Tuesday through Friday from 11:00am to 5:00pm. For in-person purchases, Guest Services is open Tuesday through Friday from 12:00pm to 4:30pm. Additional ticket and transaction fees may apply. 

After major renovations, State Theatre New Jersey has reopened and celebrated its 100th Anniversary in December 2021 in a fully renovated theater including newly renovated lobbies, all new restrooms, upgraded HVAC systems, a new elevator for access to all levels, and brand-new theater seats. Originally built as a silent film and vaudeville palace, State Theatre’s historic significance was honored by PBS by featuring it in its documentary series, Treasures of New Jersey, in the fall of 2018. “Treasures of New Jersey: State Theatre New Jersey” can be streamed online.

Today, State Theatre is the largest performing arts center in Central New Jersey and has welcomed more than six million people through its doors since reopening as a non-profit performing arts center in 1988. State Theatre New Jersey is a cornerstone of the cultural vitality of Middlesex County and averages a total economic impact on New Brunswick and the surrounding area of more than $18 million a year. The mainstage programs have featured high-caliber artists such as Diana Ross, Tony Bennett, Kevin Hart, Ringo Starr, Melissa Etheridge, John Leguizamo, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Program offerings include Broadway, orchestra, family, dance, comedy, rock/pop, jazz, Performances for Schools, and Sensory-Friendly Performances. 

State Theatre New Jersey’s programs are made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.