Award-winning actor, poet and cultural practitioner Sheldon Shepherd will release his debut album, Give Thanks, on September 18, presenting an 11-track body of work rooted in Jamaican Dub Poetry, Roots music and the enduring power of cultural memory.
Produced by NoMaddic Movement and distributed by Tuff Gong International, Give Thanks brings Shepherd’s distinctive voice and storytelling into a musical landscape that moves through Dub, Reggae, Dancehall and wider global influences while remaining grounded in the sounds, references and messages that have shaped Jamaican cultural expression.
Ten of the album’s 11 tracks are dub-poetry musical works. The eleventh offers listeners something particularly intimate: an excerpt from an hour-long reasoning Shepherd recorded with legendary Jamaican graphic artist Neville Garrick while preparing to portray Garrick in the Bob Marley biopic Bob Marley: One Love.
The album looks backwards in order to move forward, drawing on history, memory and the work of those who came before as sources of confidence, identity and purpose in the present.
Musically, the project is both familiar and exploratory. Elements of Dub, Roots Reggae, Dancehall and other musical traditions are woven throughout its narrative, creating a layered soundscape for Shepherd’s poetry, observations and reflections on life, culture and gratitude.
The album arrives on September 18, Shepherd’s earthstrong, making its title even more personal.
“I started a thing years ago where I ‘give’ on my birthday as a way to show how grateful I am for the support I have received in this life,” Shepherd explains. “It is more mystical and divine than anything else. I don’t take the credit for this album. It came to and through me, as opposed to from me like a conduit or vessel.”
For Shepherd, Give Thanks is therefore more than the title of his first album; it expresses a way of approaching life.
“For me, every day is better than the one before,” he adds. “So I give thanks.”
ABOUT SHELDON SHEPHERD
Sheldon Shepherd is a Jamaican actor, poet, musician and cultural practitioner whose work moves across poetry, theatre, film, music and performance. Widely recognised as a member of the acclaimed collective No-Maddz, Shepherd has developed a distinctive artistic voice grounded in Jamaican language, memory, music and lived experience. His screen work includes his portrayal of Neville Garrick in Bob Marley: One Love and his most recent work in Sky TV’s five-part original thriller, Possession.
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