Getting to Know Kenny Wayne Shepherd
At the “Blues on the Fox” festival this weekend the featured artist is a remarkable musician named KennY Wayne Shepherd. If you do not know of him, you really should. In my opinion he is one of the greatest living guitar players around. He first burts onto the scene back in the late 90s as a nineteen-year-old with amazing guitar licks and apparently channeling the spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughan. His first big album that got lots of radio play was “Trouble Is” and it contained what is still one of my all-time favorite songs “Blue on Black.”
As always, I turned to YouTube and found Kenny and his band performing an acoustic version of this song for your enjoyment:
So, while some may accuse me of featuring an artist who is not technically a blues performer, I would have to say you are incorrect there. Just like Stevie Ray is known as a rocker these days, he did plenty of great blues tunes.
Here’s a live performance of Kenny doing “Shotgun Blues:”
Kenny is a bit like Carlos Santana in that he doesn’t do the singing. He lets his guitar do the work for him and, as you can see, that is more than enough.
So, if you are in town and want to see a great performance, I have to recomend the Kenny Wayne Shepherd one at “Blues on the Fox” this weekend. Sadly, because it is my birthday this weekend and I am out doing family birthday stuff that night, I will not be able to attend. If you do, however, and want to write about it here, just let me know.
Comments Off