| As a musician/fan with a long and vested
interest in the state of blues guitar playing, I was quite eager to get a chance to see
Kenny Wayne Shepherd do his thing live and in the flesh. For the two or three people out
there who are not familiar with KWS, he has been touted in the press over the last few
years as the young white heir to the blues/rock guitar throne vacated some years back by
the death of Stevie Ray Vaughn. To then find out that SRV’s rhythm section Double
Trouble (bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton) would be opening the show and
jamming with Kenny made the deal even sweeter. The show would be a fine way to check the
pulse of one of my favorite musical styles and to witness a whole lot of guitar
slingin’.
 Double Trouble took the stage first and quickly showed
the sold-out crowd that they were not interested in merely rehashing the moves and music
of their late, great leader. DT has expanded to a seven-piece lineup at this point and has
developed a sound that is at least as much southern rock as it is blues. Their sound is
now based in a twin guitar and Hammond organ mode that brings to mind a slightly edgier
version of Little Feat than the 3- man dynamo they were in their old life. While their set
was (of course) competent and rocking, it lacked the personality and guitar hero charisma
of the late Mr. Vaughn. Now I know that those are gigantic boots to fill and maybe
it’s unfair of me to make the comparison but, having seen them with SRV twice at
their prime, my mind couldn’t stay away from it. Shannon and Layton are still an icon
of a rhythm section, to be sure, and albino lead singer Malford Milligan was a big-voiced
shot of white lightning when he was onstage, but at the end of the day they are now just
another really good band. Shannon, Layton, and Vaughn…that was magic.
 Kenny Wayne Shepherd was up next and
came out with his Stratocaster blazing. Dressed in a black and yellow t-shirt, black
cowboy hat, and blue jeans, KWS was a bundle of blue energy onstage and immediately took
the show to the people. Kenny is a born performer and he worked every part of that stage
so that no portion of the crowd was denied the chance to see him lay it down. His set
encompassed mostly tunes from his albums like "Somehow, Somewhere, Someway",
"(Long) Gone", and his radio hit "Blue On Black". As much as people
compare him to SRV, Kenny’s set proved that he is his own man. Nowhere to be found
were the psychedelic Hendrix-isms that were so much a part of Stevie’s sound.
Instead, Shepherd shot straight from the hip with a sound rooted in electric blues and
roadhouse rock and roll. He even had the stones to display a slightly poppy side of
himself with the soulful ballad "The Last Goodbye". No matter what he does,
Shepherd will always be measured against the other Guitarist With Three Names but I really
think that is something out of his control. He does his own show and I give him a lot of
credit for that.
 The final portion of the show was the
encore in which Double Trouble came out and jammed with KWS on some Stevie tunes. The
first tune they did was "Crossfire", which is one of Vaughn’s best. In the
most telling gesture of the night, Shepherd played the whole song note for note off the
record. It was a fitting tip of the hat to SRV and his band and I thought it was a classy
move. Shepherd has been handed a legacy to uphold whether he wants it or not. Watching him
play Vaughn’s licks with Vaughn’s band, it was clear that he has the proper
respect for the audience he inherited from Stevie and for the power of Stevie’s
music. It will be interesting to watch Shepherd develop over the next 10 years or so and
hopefully become a mature and unique artist. Right now he seems to be a combination of the
players who have come before him, and while that may not cut much artistic ice, it still
makes for a pretty good rock and roll show.
More Photos:
All Photos Provided by Dan Locke DLL Productions
© 2001
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