E-mail a friendKenny Wayne Shepherd
airdate February 6, 2008
People magazine predicted Kenny Wayne Shepherd "could join the pantheon of blues greats—before he hits 30." The self-taught guitarist was exposed to a variety of music at an early age and began playing at age 7. At age 13, after holding his own on stage with New Orleans bluesman Brian Lee, Shepherd decided on a career. He recorded his debut album at age 17, and it reached a level of commercial success that most blues records never achieve. "Ten Days Out" is the newest project from the two-time Grammy nominee.
Musician tells how he came to love the blues at a young age. (1:16)
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Tavis: Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a talented blues artist whose latest project helps honor the lasting legacy of some of the greatest blues musicians of all time. The project is called "Ten Days Out: Blues from the Backroads," which is up for two Grammys this Sunday night. In a few minutes he'll perform a track with two of the legendary blues artists featured on this project, but first here's a scene from the DVD "Ten Days Out."
[Clip]
Tavis: Kenny Wayne Shepherd, nice to meet you.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Nice to meet you.
Tavis: I'm glad to have you on the program. So another White guy, young White guy, turned on by the blues. How'd this happen for you?
Shepherd: Oh, man, I grew up listening to the blues. I grew up in Louisiana, surrounded by the blues. All kinds of music, not just the blues. I listen to everything from gospel to R&B, funk, country music, rock and roll. But something about the blues just resonated within my soul, man. It's like when I heard it I knew that the music was about the truth, and I think that resonates with everyone.
Tavis: In your case, though, this happened really, really young. How young?
Shepherd: Well, my first blues concert, my first concert ever, I went and saw Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker when I was three years old.
Tavis: Three. (Laughter)
Shepherd: Yeah, so. I know. I don't remember much of it, but know I was there. My dad tells me. So I learned my first song on a toy guitar when I was four years old and I got my first real guitar when I was seven. I had a whirlwind of a career that began at an early age, man.
When I was 13 I did my first performance on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and I did my first demo recordings when I was 14, put my band together when I was 15, and by the age of 16 I signed a major record deal.
Tavis: Take me back to the first time you were onstage - 13, it was?
Shepherd: Yeah, 13 years old.
Tavis: What do you remember about that? On Bourbon Street.
Shepherd: Well, the funny thing is -
Tavis: Can you get on Bourbon Street at 13?
Shepherd: Absolutely. (Laughter)
Tavis: Obviously, you can. At least Kenny Wayne Shepherd can.
Shepherd: You know what? Back then - I don't know how it is now, because I'm 30 now, but back then they just said, "Come on in," and you could be seven years old, they'd let you in down there. (Laughter) And so I went in and I got to play with one of the people that's joining me tonight, Brian Lee. And he had a house gig at this place called the Old Absinthe House bar, which is the oldest bar in the French Quarter, and it had a lot of historical significance in that building.
And so I went in, I played with him. I was only supposed to get up and do two songs because he didn't know who I was, and I played two songs, I was getting ready to step down, and he said, "Hey, wait a minute, don't go anywhere." And so I played for the rest of the night. I ended up playing until 3:00 in the morning and got my first standing ovation, and from that point I was pretty sure that this is what I wanted to do with my life.
Tavis: So what's it feel like these many years later, from 13 until 30, to have him on this show performing on this CD with you?
Shepherd: Well, it's my way of giving back to him, and this project in general is my way of trying to give back to the blues, because the blues has given me so much. The music has been good to me, the fans have been good to me, and this music and these people on this project, along with many others, are the reason why I play the music that I play.
And I just wanted to have some people involved that were involved in my life from early on in my career and then some other people on this project who I was meeting for the first time. And even if you're a big blues fanatic, there are some people on this project, they've been playing the music their entire lives. Some are well into their nineties, and you might not even know who they are.
Tavis: How's that make you feel, that people are getting to know who you are and some of the artists you feature on this project, to your point, 90, and still not known in the way you are, in fact?
Shepherd: Well, that's the thing. To me, some of these people - everyone on this project deserves recognition. And it's not for the lack of talent that you don't know who they are. For whatever reason - I don't know, because I didn't live their lives - but I know that I believe they deserve it, and so that's why I went and sought them out.
And the thing is, these people are so talented and it's a generation of musicians that contributed to American history. Blues is 100% American music. And it's a generation of people that unfortunately, they're not going to be around forever. So we need to enjoy them and appreciate them while they are still here.
Tavis: I want to talk about this project and what it really is in terms of your being out on the road. We'll talk about that in just a second. But to your point now about some of these people not going to be around much longer, did I read somewhere that, like, six people who were on this project have already died since you did the project?
Shepherd: Absolutely. Within the first couple of months that we finished filming the project, we lost the first musician that was part of it - "Wild Child" Butler. Since the project has been done and released, six of the people have passed away, which is something that it's bittersweet. I got really attached to a lot of these artists. Some of them have become like fathers to me.
Another guy who is here sharing the stage with me tonight, Hubert Sumlin, has become like a father to me. But the people that have passed away, it is bittersweet. But I'm just glad that we got them when we did, because if we'd have waited a couple months later to do it, some of these people wouldn't be on the project.
And I hope that this project is something that's going to help create a legacy for these individuals. And the fact that the project's been nominated for two Grammys, this may be their only shot to win a Grammy. So I'm really excited for them to have been a part of it, and very proud for me to have been able to be a part of it.
Tavis: This project, "Ten Days Out," actually means something. "Blues on the Backroads." Tell the story of how you actually put this CD together.
Shepherd: Well, it's pretty self-explanatory. We did the whole thing in 10 consecutive days, and we loaded up a couple of tour buses. And one of the buses, we had a bunch of studio gear that we pulled out of the studio, and then we had another bus with a film crew.
And so we just set out along the south of the United States. We would pull up at these people's houses, man, and we wanted - (laughter) I wanted to find them in their environment. This is the environment where these people live and where they create their music, and this is where the music, the roots of this music, began in the South.
So that's where we wanted to go. It would have been real easy to take these people and put them in the studio, but that wouldn't be unique.
Tavis: So you pulled up, start plugging stuff up, and started recording?
Shepherd: That's right. Whether it was in their living room, on the front porch, in the backyard. A couple of times we found a neighborhood blues bar, and we just started playing, man. And it was all - everybody had to rise to the occasion. I had the guys from Stevie Ray Vaughn's band, Double Trouble, as my rhythm section. Very talented musicians. But on a daily basis we were playing with new artists every day, in new environments every day, and we were doing new material every day. And there was no rehearsal. So everybody had to rise to the occasion, and everybody did a great job of doing that.
Tavis: Indeed they did, and what comes out of that is the new CD from Kenny Wayne Shepherd called "Ten Days Out." You understand that title now. "Blues from the Backroads." I think you get that now. Up for not one but two Grammy awards this year, it's a wonderful piece of work and certainly deserving of both of those nominations this weekend. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, nice to meet you.
Shepherd: Thank you, man.
Tavis: I'm glad to have you on. It's my pleasure. Up next, Kenny will be joined by two blues legends on this project for a special performance. You don't want to miss that. Stay with us.
From the Grammy-nominated CD "Ten Days Out" and accompanied by blues greats Brian Lee and Hubert Sumlin, here is Kenny Wayne Shepherd performing "Tina Marie." Enjoy.
[Performance]
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