He`s only 42 years old but already has nine solo albums under his belt and a couple with side project The Rides, the band he formed with the legendary Stephen Stills. Metal Express Radio's Mick Burgess spoke with Shepherd prior to the start of his UK tour, which includes a headlining appearance at the Ramblin` Man festival, to talk about Shepherd's new album, The Traveler.

MER: When did you start writing for the record, The Traveler?

Shepherd: "I'd write in between tours so whenever I had an opening and some time I`d take time to start writing. I accumulate ideas randomly and store them in my file and when I see an opening in my schedule, I start sifting through my ideas with the people that I write with.

MER: It seems to draw on more of a country influence than your earlier albums which are from a more blues direction. Is this a reflection of the music you`re listening to at the moment?

Shepherd: "Not so much the music I`m listening to but more the music that I`m writing at the moment. I don`t think that there`s such a big country influence in there; in fact I think country has moved more in my direction than me moving in a country direction. A lot of country sounds more like `90s rock music now. On the last record, Lay It On Down, we did a song called 'Hard Lesson Learned' where we included a lap steel and that was more country than anything we`ve ever done. I`d actually say this new record is in more of a rock direction than anything else. There`s definitely blues and rock on this record."

Read the complete interview here.