Kenny Wayne – Biography, Songs, Albums, Discography & Facts

Kenny Wayne Biography

Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter from the United States. As a blues performer, he has released several studio albums and achieved substantial financial success. Shepherd was born in the Louisiana city of Shreveport. Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport was his alma mater. He describes himself as “totally self-taught” and does not read music. Shepherd’s father (Ken Shepherd) was a local radio personality and concert producer who grew up with a large music collection. Shepherd got his first “guitar” when he was three or four years old, when his grandmother bought him a series of plastic guitars using S&H Green Stamps, which Shepherd says he “gobbled up like candy.”

Shepherd, who is 13 years old, was requested to play guitar onstage by blues musician Bryan Lee. Shepherd’s debut performance, at the Red River Revel Arts Festival in Shreveport, resulted in demo cassettes and a video. This video performance was enough to persuade Giant Records CEO Irving Azoff to sign Shepherd to a multi-album deal.

Shepherd has seven Top 10 songs since 1995, and with Trouble Is…., he holds the record for the longest-running album on the Billboard Blues Charts. Shepherd began working with vocalist Noah Hunt in 1996, and Hunt provided the vocals for Shepherd’s hallmark tune, “Blue on Black.” Shepherd has garnered two Billboard Music Awards, two Blues Music Awards, and two Orville H. Gibson Awards, and has been nominated for five Grammy Awards.

Shepherd played guitar on the animated film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker’s end title theme in 2000.

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Series Stratocaster, designed solely by Shepherd, was released in September 2008 by Fender Musical Instruments Corp. In 2007, he published 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads, a critically praised and two-time Grammy nominated DVD–CD effort. This film follows Shepherd as he travels across the United States, jamming with and interviewing the last of the true blues musicians. Shepherd and members of the Double Trouble Band perform with a slew of blues greats on the road, including Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Bryan Lee, Buddy Flett, 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 Shepherd received a Grammy nomination in 2010 for Live in Chicago, which featured Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Buddy Flett, and Bryan Lee. Shepherd’s seventh album, How I Go, was released in 2011 on Roadrunner Records.In 2014, he released “Goin Home” in Europe on Mascot Label Group and in the United States and the rest of the world on Concord Records. Shepherd released “Something From the Road Vol. 1,” a live special for Record Store Day in the United States, in 2015.

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band went into the studio in January 2017 with producer Marshall Altman to make a new album called Lay It On Down, which was released on August 4th (July 21 in Europe on Mascot Label Group). The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band’s eighth album, Lay It On Down, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart.

Shepherd founded The Rides with Stephen Stills (Crosby, Stills & Nash) and Barry Goldberg (Electric Flag) in 2013. On August 27, 2013, they released their debut album, Can’t Get Enough. “The blues band of my dreams,” says Stills of the group. The band toured the United States in support of their debut album in 2013, ending in an appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. In 2015, the three reassembled for a follow-up album, Pierced Arrow, which was released in Europe in 2016 on 429 Records and Mascot Label Group.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s nomination for the 2021 Blues Music Awards for Best Blues/Rock Artist was canceled by the Blues Foundation in March 2021.The decision was taken because of Confederate flag imagery on Shepherd’s “General Lee” automobile replica from The Dukes of Hazzard, according to a statement from the organization.

Kenny Wayne Discography

The TravelerSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
The Place You’re In SpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Live! In ChicagoSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Live OnSpotifyAppleYouTube
Ledbetter HeightsSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Lay It on DownSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
How I GoSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Goin’ HomeSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
10 Days Out: Blues From the BackroadsSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who Originally Wrote The Song Of Kenny Wayne Shepherd?

The song “Kenny Wayne Shepherd” was originally written by country singer Hank Williams Jr. However, it was made popular by blues rock artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who recorded a cover version of the song in 1995. Shepherd’s version of the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and remains one of his most well-known songs.

What Is The Famous Song Of Kenny Wayne Shepherd?

The famous song of kenny wayne shepherd is “Blue on Black”.

What Is The Best Album Of Kenny Wayne Shepherd?

The best album of Kenny Wayne Shepherd is “Trouble Is…”. It was released in 1997 and features the hit single “Blue on Black”.

What Is Genre Of Kenny Wayne Shepherd?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a blues-rock musician.

Most Searched For Kenny Wayne Songs

Blue On BlackSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
True LiesSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Diamonds & GoldSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Deja VoodooSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Dark Side of LoveSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
AberdeenSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon
Woman Like YouSpotifyAppleYouTube
Oh WellSpotifyAppleYouTubeAmazon