by Danny Coleman
originally published on Rock On! This Week’s Sound Bites (NewJerseyStage.com)
“I’m definitely excited about it,” said a very enthusiastic Kenny Wayne Shepherd as he readies to launch a massive U.S. tour celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of his debut record “Ledbetter Heights.”
Shepherd, a self-taught prodigy who graced his first stage at the age of 13 when blues player Bryan Lee invited him up is one of the rarest of artists who knew what they wanted, went hard after it and successfully grabbed it with gusto.
Going from signing his first recording contract while still in his teens to now celebrating that initial offering’s thirtieth anniversary must be very satisfying but how interesting of a time was it given his age, school work and the excitement of being on the verge of recording his music when the process began?
“Well, ya know, there was a lot going on really,” he began with a slight laugh. “I mean I was a teenager and I signed my record deal when I was 16 and started immediately writing songs for my debut record that I recorded at the end of my senior year in high school when I was still 17, so there was a lot. I’m a teenager, I’m going through all of those teenage experiences, then I’m also chasing down my dream and having this opportunity to try and do something with my music and then recording it, trying to graduate high school, there was a lot going on and then also trying to figure out how to make an album that I feel like has an identity that represents who I am and who I want to be as an artist; and learning, I had done some recording sessions before but there were a lot of first time experiences, co-writing songs with people, making an entire album in a recording studio and putting it out there for the world to listen to, there was definitely a lot going on.”
“What’s interesting was,” he continued, “When I was in school, most people didn’t believe me when I told them I’d signed a record deal (Laughs), they all thought I was lying; it wasn’t that common for somebody to do that from my hometown. So, it was interesting, all of the skepticism but I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was writing songs that I felt inspired to write, I went in and made the best record that I thought I could make at the time. When you put a record out, you hand it over to a record company and then it’s out of your hands, it’s out of your control and you just hope that they know what to do with it. They have the resources to give it its best shot and then you just wait and see what happens and you never know if anybody is going to respond to it or not or if they’re gonna like it; there’s a lot of uncertainty and you just have to roll with it.”
When “Ledbetter Heights” was released circa. 1995. little did a young Kenny Wayne know that he would be part of the cycle that is blues music; something he looks back on fondly today.
“I agree with everything you said, blues are cyclical,” he was quick to agree, “I’ve been alive long enough to have seen it happen a few times myself. Like you mentioned, back in the ’80s with Stevie Ray and the Thunderbirds and whoever else were bringing it to the forefront, Gary Moore and people like that and then again in the ’90s with my generation, yeah, I was at the forefront of all of that. The name “Ledbetter Heights” from my first album is a multifaceted title because it pays tribute to Lead Belly, “King of the 12-String Blues Guitar.” Lead Belly lived in an area in my hometown and he’s buried just outside of town and they named this part of the downtown Shreveport area in honor of him, Ledbetter Heights. So, it was a nod to him, my appreciation of blues and the artists who inspired me such as him and also representing my hometown of Shreveport and my debut record; there is a lot that went into that being the title of that record.”
As mentioned earlier, he was very young when he signed his first recording contract which led to a unique arrangement with all involved, especially his high school.
“We did it at a place in Memphis that was known as Kiva Recording Studios and as we were making “Ledbetter Heights” there, they were transitioning the studio from being called Kiva to it being named House Of Blues Studio. We were the first album done in there under the House Of Blues Studio name and that studio is no longer in existence in Memphis anymore but it was cool because what I did was, I went to school Monday through Wednesday and I’d get out of school on Wednesday and we’d get in the car and drive the five-and-a-half hours up to Memphis and then I’d record Thursday, Friday, Saturday and then drive back home on Sunday and we did that every week until the record was done and until I graduated. We had an arrangement worked out with my high school and they excused my absences; if you’re absent too much then they can fail you. So, they gave me my school work and said, as long as you turn in your school work on time and completed then we’ll excuse your absences. So, it was pretty cool, there was a lot involved in helping me make that record at that time.”
The tour kicks off in Dallas on February 19 and has been extended through to June 13 with a show in Shreveport and the schedule features very little downtime. Here in New Jersey, there will be shows on March 10 in Englewood at the Bergen PAC and then again on March 12 in Morristown at The Mayo PAC and Shepherd promises they will be everything his fans have come to “Expect.”
“It’s shaping up to be a really great tour. This is the first leg of the tour and so there will probably be more dates announced and we’ll probably extend it, maybe through the end of the year if it goes well; right now we have an exciting list of cities that we’ll be bringing this show to. Ithink our fans have come to expect a full fledged concert and that’s what we’re known for, we put on great shows and try to pack them full of material. Doing one album live in concert, I don’t know what the running time is but it can’t be much more than an hour of music; I think people would be disappointed if they showed up and we only gave them an hour’s worth of music. We did a similar thing with the twenty-fifth anniversary of my second album “Trouble Is…” where we played the whole “Trouble Is…” record and then we did a whole other set of music and it went over really well and it was at least a two-hour show and I think the fans have come to expect that kind of performance out of us. So, we’ve never done this whole album live before, we’ve never done every song off of this record before in concert. So, we’re excited about that and we’ve recorded a brand new version of the record with Noah (Hunt) singing it and some of the songs we’ve kind of reimagined a bit. So, it’s an interesting thing, we’re gonna release that record too and a lot of people will get to hear that album with Noah singing on it and a few of the songs have a little different treatment to them and so they’ll have a new experience when they listen to that version of the record and they are gonna get to experience it live in concert and for me, it’s a win-win for everybody. Our fans, for a lot of them, this was where they first heard my music and first got introduced to me as an artist and this is the album that put me on the map and so it’s a very special record for me and I think for a lot of our fans; 30 years is a monumental kind of anniversary for something like that so, I think it’s a great time to celebrate it.”
“Ledbetter Heights” is one of those works that has withstood the test of time and the evidence is the buzz this tour has generated three decades after its release. When asked if that was a good feeling, Kenny answered without hesitation.
“It is and the thing that makes me most happy about it is that when I first started making music, I wasn’t trying to be a pop star and I wasn’t chasing the latest trend. My goal was to write and record music that people could listen to and enjoy for many years to come and the fact that we are able to do this tour and say 30 years of “Ledbetter Heights” and the fans are this excited about the tour tells me that we accomplished what we set out to accomplish.”
Something he’s also accomplished is that of being a father and family man; especially at the end of the day.
“I have six wonderful kids with my wife and it would be a nice thing to hopefully leave behind a positive example and a good legacy for them to be proud of, that’s where I’m going, you know what I’m saying? My kids are very aware but I’m still just dad to them, ya’ know? I have this American flag that’s framed in one of the rooms of my house that was gifted to me by the military. There is a certificate that’s in it that says, this flag was flown over this base in the Middleeast in honor of me and my daughter is like, “Why did they do this for you? What have you done?” I’m like, OK (Laughs) because for her, she just can’t wrap her mind around why somebody would do something like that for me because I’m just her dad; it’s kind of funny but that’s how it should be because at the end of the day, I am, just her dad.”
To discover more about Kenny Wayne Shepherd and/or the “Ledbetter Heights 30th Anniversary Tour,” please visit https://www.kennywayneshepherd.net/ledbetter-heights-tour or https://www.kennywayneshepherd.net/tour