Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Kenny Wayne Shepherd ‎- Ledbetter Heights - 1995 - Giant Records

"Ledbetter Heights" is the debut album by American blues guitarist, Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He was 17 years old on its release. Ledbetter Heights is a neighborhood in Kenny Wayne Shepherd's home town of Shreveport, Louisiana. By early 1996 the album had sold over 500,000 copies. In 1996 it was certified Gold by the RIAA and certified Platinum by 2004. Few blues records achieve that level of commercial success, especially by artists who are still in their teens. The album also topped Billboard's blues chart for 20 weeks. Guitar World, in their list of blues artists, voted Shepherd No.3 after B.B.King and Eric Clapton. The album features singer Corey Sterling on lead vocals.
You would never guess from Kenny Wayne Shepherd's fiery playing that the guitarist is still only in his teens. On his debut, Ledbetter Heights, Shepherd burns through a set of rather generic blues-rock ravers that are made special by his exceptional technique. It may still be a while before he says something original, but he plays with style, energy, and dedication, which is more than enough for a debut album. © Thom Owens © 2012 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/ledbetter-heights-mw0000176275

"Ledbetter Heights" is a cracking debut album from Kenny Wayne Shepherd. This is not a groundbreaking album, but full of potential. The playing is amazing for such a young guy. KWS has matured since then, and later albums like "Live On" showed just how good this guy had matured. "Ledbetter heights is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Buy his "The Place You're In" album and support great blues rock [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 118 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Born With A Broken Heart - Danny Tate, Kenny Wayne Shepherd 5:56
2 Deja Voodoo - Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mark Selby, Tia Sillers 6:09
3 Aberdeen - Bukka White 4:15
4 Shame, Shame, Shame - Joe Nadeau, Kenny Wayne Shepherd 6:05
5 One Foot On The Path - Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mark Selby 3:49
6 Everybody Gets The Blues - Angel Michael 5:58
7 While We Cry (Live) - Kenny Wayne Shepherd 6:17
8 I'm Leaving You (Commit A Crime) - Chester Burnett 4:16
9 (Let Me Up) I've Had Enough - Joe Nadeau, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mark Selby 2:43
10 Riverside - Kevin Bowe 3:46
11 What's Goin' Down - Joe Nadeau, Kenny Wayne Shepherd 5:30
12 Ledbetter Heights - Kenny Wayne Shepherd 6:11

MUSICIANS

Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Joe Nadeau - Rhythm Guitar
Will Ainsworth - Bass
Jimmy Wallace - Keyboards, Percussion
Kevin Smith - Drums
Corey Sterling - Lead Vocals

ABOUT KWS

Kenny Wayne Shepherd and his group exploded on the scene in the mid-'90s and garnered huge amounts of radio airplay on commercial radio, which historically has not been a solid home for blues and blues-rock music, with the exception of Stevie Ray Vaughan in the mid-'80s. Shepherd was born June 12, 1977, in Shreveport, LA. The Shreveport native began playing at age seven, figuring out Muddy Waters licks from his father's record collection (he has never taken a formal lesson). At age 13, he was invited on-stage by New Orleans bluesman Brian Lee and held his own for several hours; thus proving himself, he decided on music as a career. He formed his own band, which featured lead vocalist Corey Sterling, gaining early exposure through club dates and, later, radio conventions. Shepherd's father/manager used his own contacts and pizzazz in the record business to help land his son a major-label record deal with Irving Azoff's Giant Records. Ledbetter Heights, his first album, was released two years later in 1995. Ledbetter Heights was an immediate hit, selling over 500,000 by early 1996. Most blues records never achieve that level of commercial success, much less ones released by artists who are still in their teens. Although Shepherd -- who has been influenced by (and has sometimes played with) guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King, Slash, Robert Cray, and Duane Allman -- is definitely a performer who thrives in front of an audience, Ledbetter Heights is impressive for its range of styles: acoustic blues, rockin' blues, Texas blues, Louisiana blues. The only style that he doesn't tackle is Chicago blues, owing to Shepherd's home base smack dab in the middle of the Texas triangle. 1998's Trouble Is... earned a Grammy nomination; Live On followed a year later. In 2004 The Place You're In was released on Reprise Records, the first album that featured Shepherd doing the majority of the lead vocals (singer Noah Hunt handled the lead vocals on the previous two albums). Shepherd's next project saw him traveling in the American South with a documentary film crew and a portable recording studio as he backed up several veteran blues players on their home turf. The resulting album and film, 10 Days Out (Blues from the Backroads), appeared in 2007. Live! In Chicago followed in 2010. © Steve Huey © 2012 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved

BIO (WIKI)

Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst, June 12, 1977, in Shreveport, Louisiana is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced a rare level of commercial success both as a blues artist and a young musician. Shepherd graduated Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport, Louisiana. The guitarist is "completely self taught", and does not read music. Growing up, Shepherd's father (Ken Shepherd) was a local radio personality and some-time concert promoter, and had a vast collection of music. Shepherd got his first "guitar" at the age of three or four, when his grandmother purchased a series of several plastic guitars for him with S&H Green Stamps, which Shepherd has said he would "go through like candy". Shepherd stated in a 2010 interview that he began playing guitar in earnest at age seven, about six months after meeting and being "pretty mesmerized" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, in June 1984, at one of his father's promoted concerts. His self-taught method employed a process of learning one note at a time, playing and rewinding cassette tapes, utilizing "a cheap Yamaha wanna-be Stratocaster...made out of plywood, basically", learning Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Albert Lee licks from his father's vast music collection. At the age of 13, Shepherd was invited on stage by the New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee. After proving his abilities, he decided on music as a career. Demo tapes were made and a two-camera video was shot at Shepherd's first performance at the Red River Revel Arts Festival in Shreveport. It was this video performance that impressed Giant Records chief Irving Azoff enough to sign Shepherd to a multiple album record deal. From 1995 on, Shepherd took seven singles into the Top 10, and holds the record for the longest-running album on the Billboard Blues Charts with Trouble Is.... In 1996, Shepherd began a longtime collaboration with vocalist Noah Hunt, who provided the vocals for Shepherd's signature song, "Blue on Black". Shepherd has been nominated for five Grammy Awards, and has received two Billboard Music Awards, two Blues Music Awards and two Orville H. Gibson Awards. In September 2008, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. released the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Series Stratocaster, designed exclusively by Shepherd. In 2007, he released a critically acclaimed and two time Grammy nominated DVD–CD project, 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads. This documents Shepherd as he travels the country to jam with and interview the last of the authentic blues musicians. As they tour the backroads, Shepherd, with members of the Double Trouble Band, play with a host of blues greats including Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Bryan Lee, Buddy Flett (with whom he jams at Lead Belly's grave), B. B. King, blues harp master Jerry "Boogie" McCain, Cootie Stark, Neal Pattman, John Dee Holeman, Etta Baker, Henry Townsend with Honeyboy Edwards, and a concert session with the surviving members of Muddy Waters' and Howlin' Wolf's bands, including luminaries such as Hubert Sumlin, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Pinetop Perkins. In 2010 Shepherd was nominated for a Grammy for Live In Chicago which featured performances with Hubert Sumlin, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Buddy Flett and Bryan Lee. In 2011, Shepherd released his seventh CD entitled How I Go on Roadrunner Records. Shepherd married actor Mel Gibson's eldest daughter, Hannah Gibson, on September 16, 2006, and they have three children, a daughter born October 10, 2007, and sons born 2009 and March 12, 2011.