Kenny Wayne Shepherd revisits debut three decades on

Fast forward three decades, and the now 48 48-year-old musician is not only preparing to hit the road to commemorate this milestone anniversary, but is set to release an entirely re-recorded track-by-track version of those songs in May. Audiences will be getting a taste of all this when he swings through The Paramount in Huntington on March 8.

When asked what he remembers about those heady times,

Shepherd admits it was the newness of the entire enterprise.
“I remember it was a lot of first-time experiences,” he recalled. “It was my first time making a whole project for a record company. It was my first time writing songs like that. It was a lot of first-time experiences and I was very much a sponge, figuring out how all this stuff works. The biggest thing I remember was when it was done–handing over the album to the record company. You put all this work into this record and then you give it to these people and it’s out of your hands at this point and you really don’t what to expect.”

He added, “It could have gone either way. Obviously, it went very well for us. But it could easily have been a situation where nobody cared and you had no control over that. You just put the record out, hope for the best and hope that what you did [excites] people.”

What did happen was the Shreveport, La.  native blew up. Not only did his debut chart gold that same year (eventually going platinum by 2004), it also spent 20 weeks topping Billboard’s blues charts. Shepherd even wound up behind B.B. King and Eric Clapton in Guitar World’s list of blues guitarists.

For the current tour, Shepherd is looking to play two sets, but the final decision of how it will be delivered is still being hammered out (“I don’t know if we’re going to take an intermission or if we’re going to blow through from one into the other. We’re not just doing the Ledbetter Heights album because that wouldn’t be enough music.”)

In looking back at when Shepherd’s debut was released, Stevie Ray Vaughan had perished in a helicopter crash six years prior and a number of up-and-coming guitarists,
including Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Joe Bonamassa and Eric Gales were being posited as the blues guitar equivalent of being the “next Bob Dylan.”

While some detractors tried to paint Shepherd as an SRV-wannabe at the time, the fact was that the young axe-wielder not only counted the late Texas guitarist as an influence, but personally knew him.

When it came to those supposed criticisms, Shepherd did and continues to embrace his old mentor’s legacy.

“At that time, it was a Catch-22,” he said. “A lot of people saw the comparisons that were being made to me. Other artists made the decision to not want to engage in talking
about Stevie Ray Vaughan because they didn’t want to get that comparison. To me, I felt like I couldn’t pretend that he didn’t inspire me the way that he did. It would have
been doing him a disservice. He was literally responsible for lighting a fire inside of me to play guitar the way that I do. You’re going to hear the influence and continue to hear it to this day. I owe it to him. If it were not for Stevie Ray Vaughan, there would not be a Kenny Wayne Shepherd.”

Aside from the stylistic nuances he picked up from SRV, Shepherd’s other similarity to the late guitar great is a reverence and appreciation for the blues icons that came
before him. Last year saw Shepherd go into the studio with nonagenarian vocalist Bobby Rush to cut “Young Fashioned Ways” followed by a subsequent tour. That outing
earned the duo a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues recording.

Buddy Guy wound up winning for Ain’t Done With the Blues in a category rounded out by Maria Muldaur, Keb’ Mo and Taj Mahal, and Charlie Musselwhite. Despite losing the Grammy,

Shepherd was thrilled by the experience and plans include recording more new material with Rush that ideally sees release by year’s end.

“That was a great record and while we didn’t win, it was all good because it’s great to be nominated,” Shepherd said. “There was stiff competition this year, but it just goes to show that there’s still really great music being made in the genre.”

Kenny Wayne Shepherd will be appearing on March 8 at The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington. For more information, visit www.theparamountny.com or
call 631-673-7300.