Having started off playing on plastic guitars in the early 80’s as a child, the self-taught prodigy who can’t read music, Kenny Wayne Shepherd is back with his band for another album. Is his release as timeless as we’d hope?
Having toured solo, with bands both of his own formation and as a guest, to say Shepherd is a veteran of the circuit is an understatement. With a recording career spanning back to 1995, how has his style fared with his most recent album, Lay It On Down.
The album opens up with Baby Got Gone, and it thunders straight into your ears. Subtly underlined with organ slides and a tambourine, the massive bluesy guitar riff and simple drum beat stamp a marker of Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s prowess straight onto the musical landscape. The unmistakable southwestern ‘drawl’ from the vocals and Shepherd’s hugely impressive self-taught guitar ability show a raw nature to the song that amidst all the polished releases from the USA, really stands out. The same, swaggering, self-assured spirit can be found in Nothing But The Night. With vocals that could be attributed to the late great Chris Cornell and a unique and complex riff Diamonds & Gold follows on and is without a doubt, one of the more unique tracks on the album. With a backing brass band behind him on this track providing a steady focal point behind Shepherd’s wild and unpredictable guitar ‘solo’ (I use the word with no sense of surety as it lasts half the track; as he still sings), the track shows exactly where the B comes from in modern RnB.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter.
Not content to be constrained to the rockier side of blues, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and his band can show the full emotional force of the genre in Lay It Down (there’s a fully acoustic version tucked away at the tail-end of the album as well). With gentle strums and a simplistic rhythm, the vocals tell the story, as is often done so well in blues. It’s of course, about a girl, but would you expect anything less? The solo is less West Coast shred than previously heard in the album, but no less accomplished. Want more from the ‘about a girl’ sub-section of Blues, look no further than Hard Lesson Learned a few tracks later.
The following song however She’s $$$ (read She’s Money) is a little more confused lyrically. A couple of times round and I’m still not 100% sure on whether he’s singing about a car he’s overly fond of, or just objectifying a woman. There may be references to red high heels that seem to give it away, but call someone a well-tooled driving machine as well? I’m a little lost. That said, the song, like Down For Love a couple of tracks on, is still a pacing, talented beast of a song that demands attention even if just to let it transport you to the Southern States.
Having been influenced by (and latterly, played with) many a legendary guitarist, Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s sound is influenced largely by Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the only other artists who’s managed to play blues and place it squarely in the charts. Whilst this sound is ever-present across Shepherd’s work, there are also nods and tributes to others. Louisiana Rain is the bluesy cousin to November Rain from Guns N Roses, with Slash being an influence of Shepherd’s the song is a slow, heartfelt ballad replete with standout solo. Whilst it lacks the same pomp and flair of the well it was drawn from, it’s no less impressive and still fantastic in its own right.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd seems to have found the working formula over his long and impressive career. Like the ’69 Charger referenced in the album, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. The album may not be massively varied, but it provides that result which music often seeks but rarely achieves; escapism. The album will succeed in transporting you away from your current state, and placing you squarely in the song you’ve chosen. The album is well produced and feels intimate, as though you were listening in a bar and just so happened to have stumbled on the band. Overall, it’s fantastic and demands attention.
Author: Steve, Southgate Store
