It feels as if Kenny Wayne Shepherd has been around forever, in a way, he has. Shepherd, the blues/rock guitar virtuoso who hit the music scene as a teenager in the ’90s, is now the ripe old age of 34. He drops his new album, “How I Go,” on Aug. 2, performs at the Congressional Blues Festival this Wednesday at the National Building Museum, and has a pair of shows scheduled for Rams Head in Annapolis later this summer.
But what makes Shepherd’s music feel timeless is his dedication to blues guitarists who came before him. This is evident on his records, and in supporting events like the Congressional Blues Festival, which is dedicated to raising awareness of one of the most American of music genres.
| Upcoming area Kenny Wayne Shepherd performances |
| Congressional Blues Festival – 6:30 p.m. Wednesday; National Building Museum; sold out; congressionalbluesfestival.org |
| Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis – 8 p.m. Aug. 23; $60; and 8 p.m. Sept. 6, sold out; ramsheadonstage.com |
“It’s a huge part of American history, especially American musical history,” Shepherd said during a recent phone interview.
Shepherd’s last studio album was 2004’s “The Place You’re In.” “Live! in Chicago” came out in 2010, and 2007 saw “10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads,” a critically acclaimed documentary highlighting blues pioneers.
Shepherd wrote and recorded “How I Go” at a leisurely pace. Between overseeing “10 Days Out,” growing his family (he’s married with three young children) and playing live, he said it took him three years to write and a year to record his most recent effort.
“On this album I just decided it was time to get to the middle ground between blues and rock, which is really what people expect from my band the most, a hybrid of blues-based rock or contemporary blues,” he said.
Shepherd released his first album “Ledbetter Heights” in 1995, at the age of 17, and toured the world as a teenager.
“I feel like I really benefited from that,” he said of the experience. “I think that made me a better musician, a smarter businessperson and just an overall more experienced person.”
The seven years since Shepherd’s last album have seen a great shift in the way music is recorded and consumed, but the guitarist still likes making albums.
“I still approach making a record as an entire body of work that should be listened to from the first song to the last so that it’s all cohesive and each song complements each other,” he said. “I’m OK with people wanting to buy one song at a time as well, because I think each song would stand well on its own. But for me, it’s about the album experience. It’s like taking one chapter out of a book instead of reading the entire book. To me, it’s about the entire album.”
Ultimately for Shepherd, it’s about playing live, something he’ll be doing for the next year and a half.
“That’s why I make records,” he said. “I love to record, but the main reason I make albums is so we can go out and play the music for the fans. That’s what we love to do the most, just get on the stage and play for the people.”
