Where Was The Blue On Black Music Video Filmed?

I've got a soft spot for music videos that lean into place, and 'Blue on Black' actually exists in two visual lives. The first, by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, uses the kind of studio/club spaces and nearby city blocks you’d find in North Texas — it’s all blue hues, tight shots, and simple storytelling. Then the 2019 rework with Five Finger Death Punch and Brantley Gilbert goes big and was shot around Los Angeles. Think warehouse performance scenes, gritty streets, and some open‑road footage that looks like it was filmed on Southern California freeways and desert outskirts. The L.A. setting gives the newer clip a wider, more polished look compared to the hometown grit of the original, and I enjoy both for different reasons — the original feels raw and personal, while the newer one feels cinematic and somewhat patriotic.

I tend to notice direction and setting more than most people, so the two visuals for 'Blue on Black' always stood out to me. To cut to the point: the late‑90s performance video was produced close to home for Kenny Wayne Shepherd — filmed in studio environments and local Dallas/Fort Worth locations, which is why the visuals feel small, smoky, and intimate. The 2019 collaborative video, however, was realized on a different scale and primarily shot in the Los Angeles area. It uses an industrial warehouse for the full‑band sequences and a variety of exterior locations — city streets, highways, and sunlit expanses — to build a cinematic narrative.

Stylistically, the original’s compact production highlights musicianship and mood, while the later video leverages L.A.’s production resources to create more sweeping imagery and narrative beats. If I had to pick, I’d say the L.A. filming makes the 2019 clip more dramatic, but the Dallas studio vibe of the original is what hooks me emotionally.

If you've ever wondered where the 'Blue on Black' music video was filmed, I can geek out about this a bit — there are actually two main versions people talk about, and they lean on the same visual DNA: gritty performance shots mixed with wide-open, lonely landscapes. The original video for 'Blue on Black' by Kenny Wayne Shepherd from the late '90s favors that smoky club/warehouse look for the band footage, then cuts to arid backdrops and open roads to sell the song's nocturnal, melancholic vibe. It has that classic late-90s rock video feel — lots of blue-tinted lighting, close-ups of guitar playing, and atmosphere more than plot. From a fan’s viewpoint, it feels like it was put together around Southern California or the American Southwest: a handful of interior soundstage or club-style performance shots interwoven with exterior desert or highway clips to give the song its lonely, cinematic mood.

The 2019 collaborative version of 'Blue on Black' — you know, the one where the heavier band teamed up with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and a country singer — goes bigger and more cinematic. That video was filmed in Southern California as well, mixing studio/stage performance footage with exterior desert and highway sequences. The production clearly leaned into contrasts: stark sunlight and scorched earth outside, versus cool, moody blues on the stage. Visually it ties the song’s melancholy to those wide vistas; the desert/highway imagery underscores the loneliness the lyrics hint at. Technically, the remake uses more modern camera moves and lighting, so even if some locations overlap regionally with the original, the newer edit feels more polished and intentional about its storytelling.

I love both takes because the locations — whether you call them Los Angeles backlots, Mojave-adjacent highways, or soundstages — serve the song instead of stealing the show. The combination of performance shots in intimate, moody spaces and sweeping outdoor scenes is what makes each version feel cinematic. If you pay attention while watching, you’ll notice the blue color grade across both videos and how the open road becomes almost like another character. Personally, I’m drawn to how those dusty, sun-bleached places give the song room to breathe; it’s a weirdly comforting kind of loneliness, and that’s why I keep coming back to both videos.

Short and concrete: there are essentially two notable videos for 'Blue on Black.' The original Kenny Wayne Shepherd clip was filmed in a studio and around the Dallas/Fort Worth area — small, blue‑lit performance shots and nearby streets. The 2019 remake with Five Finger Death Punch and Brantley Gilbert was filmed mainly in Los Angeles, using a warehouse for band footage and various urban and highway exteriors for the cinematic pieces. I like the homey grit of the first, but the LA production has a slick, big‑screen energy that’s fun to watch.

There are two widely seen videos for 'Blue on Black,' and both were filmed around Southern California and desert locations rather than in some far-flung country. The original Kenny Wayne Shepherd-era clip mixes close-up performance footage shot on a stage or soundstage with exterior shots of empty highways and arid landscapes — classic late-90s rock-video territory. The 2019 collaborative version similarly blends studio performance with wider, cinematic desert and road scenes, using the Southern California landscape to heighten the song’s melancholy. From a fan’s perspective, the locations work because they echo the song’s themes: isolation, reflection, and that cool, blue-tinted mood. I always notice the way the open road and the night-lit performance spaces play off each other, and it’s why both videos still feel compelling to me.