The RIDES: Stephen Stills, KWS, Barry Goldberg

The RIDES' Blues Supergroup-9/1 Tropicana Showroom Atlantic City

What do you get when you combine three all-star players into one collective unit and send them into a recording studio to create? You get THE RIDES! What started out to be a 45 year old revisit to the original Super Session started by composer, Keyboard impresario Barry Goldberg in the late 1960's turned out to be a three way collaboration between iconic guitarist, songwriter STEPHEN STILLS, contemporary schredder' Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Goldberg. The result: A Rockin' new band called The Rides and a new CD Release: Can't Get Enough.

 

 

The Rides took shape after Stills and Goldberg wrote together at their mutual manager Elliot Roberts’ recommendation. “It was like finding a long lost soul brother,” says Goldberg (who hadn’t met Stills before, their shared 1968 credit notwithstanding). “We connected on so many things, started jamming, and soon had begun writing our first song.” Next came Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and their three-way chemistry was immediate and intense. “The Rides are a perfect mix of generations, where three musicians who love and play the blues collide and create music that goes beyond all our other individual life experiences and career achievement,” says 36-year-old, Shepherd, who’s had six #1 Blues albums. Can’t Get Enoughis inspired by—and is an homage to—the now-classic 1968 album Super Session, which featured Stills on guitar on one side, and the late Mike Bloomfield on the other (Bloomfield had founded Electric Flag with Goldberg, who also played on Super Session, as did Blood, Sweat & Tears keyboardist Al Kooper).

The Rides bring a historic and distinctively American musical form into the 21st century, and Stills calls the group the “the blues band of my dreams.”        (courtesy of Kennywayneshepherd.net)

 

The Concert: The RIDES rocked the Tropicana Showroom Sunday night 9/1 to the delight of a near capacity crowd.

 

The songs: Featured tasty treats from the new CD Can't Get Enough, as well as power covers from Stills, Neil Young, Shepherd hit Blue On Black and the Goldberg written classic that sold millions as a hit single by Gladys Knight And The Pips' I've Got To Use My Imagination (1974 #4). A+

 

The 1965 Elmore James classic CRY For Me Baby is my absolute favorite on the new release and KWS did it great justice LIVE! A++

 

A smokin' blues-Rockin Muddy Waters cover Honey Bee, featuring the high-powered keys" of Goldberg to the delight of the crowd. A++

 

Stephen Rocked the full auditorium showroom with a resounding encore including Love The One Your With and closing with Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World! A++

 

 

 

The new CD: Can't Get Enough-A collection of newly written songs by this power trio plus homage paid to blues legends Elmore James and Muddy Waters to solo hits done in years past by these men! One selection was a previously unreleased song by Buffalo Springfield, Word Game.   A

 

Backstage Hello: THANKS to the gracious manner of the players themselves, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Barry Goldberg and the iconic Stephen Stills. It was great to stand on the same stage after the 4:30p soundcheck rehearsal to chat and share some moments with these A-list players! A++++