Jimi Hendrix once said the blues are easy to play, but hard to feel. But that didn’t stop him from paying homage to elders in the genre via covers of Muddy Waters (“Mannish Boy”), Howlin’ Wolf (“Killing Floor”) and Albert King (“Born Under a Bad Sign”). It’s a sentiment guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd will be emulating when he hits the stage at Flagstar at Westbury on March 28.
This mindset of tipping his creative cap to his musical forefathers is something Shepherd has fiercely embraced ever since meeting the late Stevie Ray Vaughan backstage in 1984 when the Louisiana native was only seven years old.
Six months after that fateful meeting arranged by his father, a promoter who booked SRV and Double Trouble to headline the Louisiana Music Festival, young Kenny Wayne started working on his six-string craft. At the forefront of it all was paying homage to those elders, the way Muddy Waters did for Big Bill Broonzy, Hendrix did for Waters and SRV did for Hendrix.
“I’ve always felt that you’ve got to give credit where credit is due,” Shepherd said. “And it’s an example that was set before me. A lot of my heroes always talked about the people that inspired them and paved the way for them to be able to do what they do. I think everyone should do that. I’m just trying to show that respect.”
That need to acknowledge the elders continues well into 2025, where the 47-year-old father of six has quite the full touring dance card. He’ll be hopping on and off the Experience Hendrix Tour, which will find him sharing a bill with many other storied guitarists, including Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Eric Johnson, Zakk Wylde, Ally Venable, Marcus King, Dweezil Zappa, David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos, Devon Allman and Samantha Fish.
It’s all a huge juggling act for Shepherd, who is not only playing on the Experience Hendrix Tour but also supporting his latest effort, the second volume of Dirt On My Diamonds, which dropped in September of last year (Volume One came out in November 2023) and also hitting the road with a musical elder statesman.
“Later in the year, I have a record I produced and played on by a bluesman by the name of Bobby Rush,” Shepherd said excitedly. He’s 91 years old, still killing it and we did a whole record together called Young Fashioned Ways. It’s just straight-up, real deal, 100 percent authentic, killer blues.”
As for Experience Hendrix Tour, expect the former blues prodigy to be digging out Jimi B-sides (“Gypsy Eyes”) and fare from Are You Experienced (“I Don’t Live Today”) and Electric Ladyland (Earl King’s “Come On” and “Voodoo Chile/Voodoo Child [Slight Return]). Like Hendrix before him, Shepherd’s reverence for the blues and its forefathers runs deep.
No surprise given the fact that Shepherd’s earliest musical memory was seeing John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters on a double bill his father booked when his son was only three.
As for Shepherd, with such a deep catalog to draw from, he promises plenty for fans, both old and new, on his tour. Throw in the fact that his 1995 debut Ledbetter Heights turns 30 this year and his sophomore bow, 1997’s “Trouble Is,” passed the quarter-century mark a couple of years ago, and concertgoers can expect to hear many favorites alongside the man’s newer jams.
“People come and want to hear ‘Blue on Black’ or ‘Deja Voodoo’ and of course, we love playing those songs,” he said. “I’m very fortunate because I never record a song that I didn’t actually like. I don’t mind playing any of my songs, even if they’re 30 years old. But we do get excited to play new material because it’s just something different. I’m excited to integrate some of the songs from Volume Two into the show, so you’ll hear some from Volume One and some from Volume Two. It should be a good balanced set list full of songs that people are very familiar with and, hopefully, songs that they’re getting familiar with.”
With plans including a 30th anniversary track-by-track re-recording of Ledbetter Heights and a rock covers album of songs by artists including Genesis, Billy Idol and Pink Floyd, not unlike the concept behind 2014’s Goin’ Home (“…that was more the soundtrack of my childhood as far as blues goes), Shepherd is staying two or three albums ahead of himself, which has served him quite well throughout his career.
“What it always comes down to is that I’m continuing to try and find things that I haven’t done before to keep it interesting for both us and our fans,” he said.
