Kenny Wayne Sheppard
In 1995, a teenage blues guitarist named Kenny Wayne Shepherd single-handedly help bring the blues back into the mainstream.
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His debut album Ledbetter Heights topped the US Billboard Blues chart where it remained for 20 weeks.
Australian readers will remember Sheppard’s 1998 hit single Blue On Black.
Since then, he has carved out a successful career, and is a leading ambassador of the blues.
Sheppard recently re-recorded Ledbetter Heights to celebrate its 30th anniversary and to underscore its importance to his career.
“This is the record that introduced me to the world and I thought it would be fun to revisit the record now with the experience and perspective I have as a more seasoned musician,” Sheppard said to Musical Musings.
“As young as I was when I wrote and recorded Ledbetter Heights, I knew I wanted to be a career artist rather than a pop star.
“I wanted the songs to be timeless, and revisiting all of those songs 30 years later, I feel like my teenage self was on the right track.
“I think the re-recording shows that too.
“I hope people hear a maturity and an evolution in the approach on the new record.”
Sheppard has noted many times the profound influence of legendary blues master B.B. King on his life and music.
“I met BB when I was 15 years old, and over the years, I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with him,” he said.
“I toured with him countless times, and he was always encouraging, kind and supportive.
“He offered me musical advice, business advice and personal advice.
“He was always very supportive of the younger generation and I will always be grateful for his support.
“Our friendship deepened over time and I really did consider him to be like a second father.”
Sheppard first toured Australia back in 1999 and was recently due back on our shores to appear at Bluesfest.
“I have some very fond memories of that first Australian tour,” he said.
“Experiencing the culture and the people left a great impression on me, I’ve always looked forward to our trips there.
“It was so disappointing that Bluesfest was cancelled, as we were really looking forward to it.
“I am hoping to get something else together to get back to Australia, it really is one of my favourite places.”
Over the course of his career, Sheppard has toured with likes of Van Halen, Bob Dylan and Aerosmith.
During a performance on his 1999 tour with The Rolling Stones, and in front 80,000 people, Sheppard experienced an onstage mishap.
“I was on this huge stage and just got caught up in the moment,” Sheppard said.
“And I started to run to the other side of the stage — but my 30-foot cable wasn’t going to cover the 100 feet of stage I was trying to span, so I ran out of cable and it unplugged in the middle of the guitar solo.
“Fortunately, I recovered quickly.
“Playing with The Stones was an incredible experience.
“I was a kid, and to be out with, arguably, the biggest rock band in the world, was just amazing.”
For more details about Kenny Wayne Sheppard, visit: https://www.kennywayneshepherd.com/
Music news
In a recent interview, legendary rocker Rod Stewart said 2027 may be his last year of touring.
The 81-year-old, who has been a road warrior for over 60 years, continues to perform shows as part of his One Last Time farewell tour that was launched in 2024.
Heavy metal merchants Slipknot have announced that an experimental album titled Look Outside Your Window that the band recorded in 2008, but was never released, is finally going to be issued next month as a physical release.
Danish Eurodance group Aqua, better known for their 1997 hit Barbie Girl, has announced after 30 years, they’re calling it a day.
The new Michael Jackson biopic has helped ignite a resurgence in Jackson’s catalogue, with many of his songs and albums back into the charts around the world.
In the US alone, last week, Jackson’s solo catalogue saw 161 million official streams generated, and 46,000 albums sold.
This week, Nineties alt-rockers The Smashing Pumpkins announced an extensive North American tour.
Titled The Rats In A Cage tour, it will kick off in September and run through to November 2026.
Dateline: 1979 – Dream Police by Cheap Trick
American power-pop rock group Cheap Trick emerged from the American heartland in 1976, after many years of slogging it out on the American Midwest bar circuit.
In 1978, Cheap Trick entered the studio to record what would become their most successful album Dream Police – they had already put out three albums, Cheap Trick (1977), In Color (1977) and Heaven Tonight (1978) and had reached a vital make or break point in their career.
Just prior to entering the studio, the group undertook a tour of Japan where a live recording At Budokan was later issued as a Japan only release.
This became the turning point for Cheap Trick, as due to the demand for import copies, it prompted their record label Epic Records to release a domestic version.
Recording Dream Police, Cheap Trick decided not to continue with the direct, stripped-down sound of their previous releases.
Instead, the group went for its biggest, most elaborate production to date, taking the synthesised flourishes of Heaven Tonight to extremes.
Underneath the gloss, there are a number of songs that rank among Cheap Trick’s finest, particularly the paranoid title track, the epic Gonna Raise Hell, the punk-like I Know What I Want, (featuring bassist Tom Petersson on lead vocals) the Beatle-esque Voices, and the melancholic closer, Need Your Love.
The album was released in September, 1979 and went go on to reach No.7 on the Australian album chart with the title track peaking at No.5 on the singles chart.
This firmly established the group’s reputation and its place in music history, and the group would continue to have success in the ensuing decades that followed.
Music chart
Fifty years ago, this week in 1976 on the Australian Top 40 chart, the Top 5 singles were:
No.1 Fernando — ABBA
No.2 December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) — The Four Seasons
No.3 Bohemian Rhapsody — Queen
No.4 I Hate The Music — John Paul Young
No.5 I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do — ABBA
Fun fact
The first woman in country music history to top the US country charts, was Kitty Wells in 1952 with the song, It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels. And Carrie Underwood was the first woman to have four country albums reach the top spot on the Billboard Top 200 album chart.