Thom Shepherd Talks With Dave About Outlaws & Legends, His New Single + More in Exclusive Interview

Thom Shepherd is one of my favorite people, and I've made it pretty clear that's how I feel. He's a kind, upbeat, positive person who also happens to be a heck of a songwriter and singer. So, needless to say, when it was time to set up interviews to promote the 3rd annual Outlaws & Legends Music Fest, I jumped at the chance to line up an interview with Thom.

The first part of our conversation included Thom catching us up on what's been happening since the last time we talked, about 4 months ago. "Things have been going good, my new single 'Simplify' is still working its way up the charts. It's at #11 this week, and it's at #14 on the Texas Music Chart, so doing great. Heading toward the Top 10, and things are going good. Doing a lot of shows and doing a lot of traveling.". But it's not all about promoting his own music, Shepherd is still shopping his music around to other artists, as he tells us, "One of the songs that's on that CD actually written with Kyle Park, called 'The Night Is Young' and it was his first #1 here recently...Kyle's record just came out this week and I've got two songs on that.". He also mentioned that his songs will be featured on upcoming CD's by Charla Corn, The Rankin Twins and a duet by country legends Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan. Remember folks, it's not name-dropping when it's all true. Check out part 1 here:

In the second half of my Thom Shepherd interview, he gave us specifics about what his role is in the Outlaws & Legends Music Fest, explaining that he will actually have three performances. "Well, they've got us playing three times on Saturday...I guess we're like the in-between entertainment as they're changing acts out. We play at 6:15, right before Mark Powell, Jamie Richards and Lee Roy Parnell take the stage, and then we're playing at 8:00 right before Randy Rogers goes on. And then we're playing at 9:30, right before Merle Haggard takes the stage. So, you could look at it one way, you could say Randy Rogers is opening for us on that slot [laughs]...but not really.". Take a listen:

Even if you're not familiar with his name, you're probably familiar with some of Thom Shepherd's songwriting. His biggest hit, Craig Morgan's 'Redneck Yacht Club' reached #2 on the country music charts in 2005. But he's written tons of other great songs recorded by the likes of Montgomery Gentry, Kevin Fowler, George Jones and several more. Now that Shepherd has shifted his focus on recording and performing his own music, people are starting to realize what a well-rounded talent he is. And you won't find a nicer guy, either. All the best to Thom, and I hope I get the privilege of talking with him again down the road.