ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 28, 1995
By Steve Newton
If a longhaired, bearded, beer-bellied guy in a teal Precidia pulls up next to you on a rain-soaked Vancouver street, there’s a good chance it’ll be me. And if the unmistakable strains of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar are escaping the vehicle’s minute confines, you’ll know it’s me, because his new Greatest Hits tape has taken up an indefinite residency in my tape deck of late.
Five years after Vaughan’s death I’m still enthralled by the Texas blues-rocker, and so is wunderkind guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. When he was seven years old Shepherd met the then–up-and-coming Vaughan backstage at a Louisiana gig his father was promoting, and his life hasn’t been the same since.
“He picked me up and set me on the side of the stage on his amp case,” recalls Shepherd, on the phone from his Shreveport, Louisiana, hometown. “I watched him play from there, and for the next six months I begged for a guitar, till I finally got my first one.”
Shepherd’s love of the SRV style can be heard in the first chords of “Born with a Broken Heart”, the opening track from the 18-year-old picker’s debut CD, Ledbetter Heights. He’s currently touring to promote that disc, and will visit Vancouver to open for B.B. King at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Thursday (January 4).
While not exactly a road-wearied veteran, Shepherd has been performing live since the age of 13, when, during a family trip to New Orleans, he encountered local guitar hero Bryan Lee.
“He asked me to sit in for a few songs,” says Shepherd, “so I just got up and jammed. Then he asked me to play for the rest of the night, so we played till about three in the morning, and we’ve been good friends ever since.”
As well as getting his own recording and touring career off to a promising start, the teenage prodigy has managed to repay his debt to the old blues greats that influenced him—via Vaughan—by adding guitar tracks to as-yet-unreleased recordings by Willie Dixon and Albert King.
He also gives a grateful nod of the Strat to the likes of John Lee Hooker, Lonnie Mack, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Albert Collins, and Huddie Ledbetter. (The title of Shepherd’s CD refers to an area of Shreveport that was named after 12-string–guitar legend Ledbetter.)
One rather surprising name that crops up in the Ledbetter Heights liner notes is that of the godfather of soul, James Brown, a longtime family friend who wrote a blurb for the CD saying that he picks Shepherd “to become one of the best entertainers in the business”.
“I’ve been jammin’ out to a lot of James Brown lately,” says Shepherd, eager to return the compliment. “I was listening to him today, actually, and he’s just got some killer grooves.”
Who says kids these days are ignorant?
To hear the full audio of my 1995 interview with Kenny Wayne Shepherd subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on nearly 300 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with:
Dave Martone, 2020
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, 2006
Joss Stone, 2012
Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, 2005
Jack Blades of Night Ranger, 1984
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David Lindley, 2002
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John Hiatt, 2010
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Steve Earle, 1987
Gabby Gaborno of the Cadillac Tramps, 1991
Terry Bozzio, 2003
Roger Glover, 1985
Matthew Sweet, 1995
Jim McCarty of the Yardbirds, 2003
Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, 2001
John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, 1995
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Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 1995
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Wayne Kramer from the MC5, 2004
Bob Rock, 1992
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Roy Buchanan, 1988
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Jason Bonham, 1989
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Joey Spampinato of NRBQ, 1985
Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, 2003
Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, 2003
Steve Kilbey of the Church, 1990
Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde, 1990
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Steve Stevens of Atomic Playboys, 1989
Billy Idol, 1984
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Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, 1998
John Bell of Widespread Panic, 1992
Robben Ford, 1993
Barry Hay of Golden Earring, 1984
Jason Isbell, 2007
Joe Satriani, 1990
Brad Delp of Boston, 1988
John Sykes of Blue Murder, 1989
Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, 1998
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Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, 1992
Myles Goodwyn of April Wine, 2001
John Mellencamp, 1999
Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 1999
Kenny Aronoff, 1999
Jon Bon Jovi, 1986
Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, 1992
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Stevie Salas, 1990
J.J. Cale, 2009
Joe Bonamassa, 2011
…with hundreds more to come