Thirty years ago, a young Kenny Wayne from Shreveport, Louisiana – armed with a Fender Strat – brought the blues roaring back into the mainstream. With fiery fretwork, pop-rock hooks, and a deep reverence for the genre, Shepherd’s debut album, Ledbetter Heights, became a breakout success - going Gold within months, Platinum by early 1996, and eventually landing the guitarist at No. 3 on Guitar World’s list of top blues artists, behind only B.B. King and Eric Clapton.
“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.”
Originally recorded while Shepherd was still in high school, Ledbetter Heights was the culmination of years spent absorbing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix licks on cassette, then translating them into a sound all his own. He wrote or co-wrote nearly every track on the record - uncommon for a teenage blues guitarist at the time - and named the album in honor of a historic neighborhood in his hometown, paying tribute to local blues legend Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter.
The album catapulted Shepherd into the national spotlight and set the tone for a career that’s seen him tour with the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, and Lynyrd Skynyrd; earn five GRAMMY nominations; and release a string of chart-topping albums that bridge blues tradition with modern rock swagger.
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