Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s career launched to stardom when he was only 18 years old with his debut albumLedbetter Heights,featuring his explosive guitar solos that blended rock with traditional blues. This album earned platinum status and brought blues-rock to mainstream success. Now Shepherd takes his electrifying blues-rock sound to The Paramount in Huntington on March 8 with theLedbetter Heights 30th Anniversary Tourcelebrating his breakthrough album.

“In a lot of ways, this is the album that gave me everything,” says Shepherd. “Revisiting it put me back in touch with the wonder and excitement of those days. I didn’t know what lay ahead. I just knew I loved playing the blues.”

At only 13 years old, Shepherd was signed to a major label, and fame followed shortly after with the 1995 release ofLedbetter Heights.Since then, Kenny Wayne Shepherd has earned six Grammy nominations, two Billboard Music Awards, two Blues Music Awards and two Orville H. Gibson Awards. His albums have gone platinum and gold.

This native of Shreveport, Louisiana, was introduced to some musical greats by his dad, Ken Shepherd, who was a DJ and concert promoter. When he was only 7 years old, his dad took him to a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert where he was mesmerized by Vaughan. That set Kenny Wayne Shepherd on his career as a blues-rock guitarist. Like his idol, Shepherd is self-taught and doesn’t read music, but that seems to have only freed up his soulful musicianship. Shepherd has earned the reputation as one of the greatest blues guitarists of his generation.

As a snapshot into his personal life, Shepherd has been married to Hannah Gibson, the eldest daughter of actor Mel Gibson, since 2006, and the couple has six children.

Joining Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Paramount on March 8 is his band of consummate musicians, including powerful vocalist and guitarist Noah Hunt; Sam Bryant, who was the drummer on the first tour during the initialLedbetter Heightsrelease; Kevin McCormick on bass; Joe Krown on keyboards; Doug Woolverton on trumpet; and Charlie Di Puma on saxophone.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd gave this interview just prior to hitting the road for theLedbetter Heights 30th Anniversary Tour.

I guess, because I survived it all. Thirty years later I’m still talking about it so I guess that was prepared, but I didn’t know what was actually going to happen. I was cautiously optimistic. We could put this record out and nobody will care or we could put it out and the people might react to it. Thankfully, we released it and they reacted in a positive way very quickly, so it was the beginning of a career that’s going on over three decades now and I’m grateful, but I was a kid so I really didn’t have any idea what to expect.

It’s really exciting! To celebrate 30 years of making music, doing what we love to do and building a fan base that’s been with us for this whole journey is a big milestone worth celebrating. A lot of people have an attachment to this record because it takes them back to when they first heard about me and were first turned on to my music. “Deja Voodoo,” “Born with a Broken Heart,” and “Aberdeen,” which were the singles on that record, got tons of airplay on the radio and did extremely well. So, there are people that are very familiar with this record and it’s a nostalgic thing I think both for them and for me as well.

I love playing guitar and I gravitated towards the blues. There was something about the music. It was just the emotion that guitar players put into playing the blues that really attracted me. I listen to all kinds of music, but when I pick up the guitar I want to play the blues.

Source: LI Press