Kenny Roby Shares ‘Vampire Song (Whatcha Gonna Do?)’ Single: Exclusive Premiere

Kenny Roby will release a studio album entitled The Reservoir via Royal Potato Family next Friday, August 7. JamBase is pleased to preview the LP by premiering its third single, “Vampire Song (Whatcha Gonna Do?).”

Roby’s first album in seven years was originally supposed to have been produced by Neal Casal. Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools took over as producer after Casal passed away a month before the sessions were set to begin. Kenny met Schools at a tribute concert held in Casal’s honor at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York last September. The Chris Robinson Brotherhood rhythm section of Jeff Hill and Tony Leone play bass and drums, respectively on the 16-track effort.

Kenny Roby shared the following about “Vampire Song (Whatcha Gonna Do)”:

Neal Casal and I were talking about the record and I had told him that after working some odd jobs here and there when I wasn’t touring that I was ready to jump back into music all the way again. Not do any other work if I could help it and just write, record and tour all the time. I’d gone in and out of doing that while raising my kids and being a family man. So anyway, I was supposed to send Neal some demos to hear. One day I get a text from him saying: ‘Where are my songs, FULL TIMER?!?’ I immediately sat down and finished ‘Vampire Song,’ made a quick acoustic demo and texted it to him. He texted me back, “This song is fucking great. Wow!” A little ribbing among friends.

This was the first song we recorded on the first day of tracking the record. We ran through it once, talked about a few slight changes then recorded the keeper take on take two. Everyone playing live in the room with a lead vocal. I love how Tony Leone and Jeff play on this track, so deep in the groove, and the interplay with Jesse Aycock’s lap steel and John Lee Shannon’s guitar.

We did overdub the silly choir style group vocal with all of us including Dave Schools (who took over as producer when Neal passed away) standing around a few mics. After a few passes of all of us singing terribly in falsetto, we got super punchy and couldn’t stop laughing. Probably the first time any of us had gut laughed since Neal passed away six weeks before. It sort of broke the ice I think for making the record. It was ok to laugh, cry and maybe be a little angry, confused and frustrated. We told a lot of Neal stories that week. It was a cathartic experience for me and I think for the other folks involved as well.

Stream “Vampire Song (Whatcha Gonna Do?)” below: