SUNDAY HEADLINER: Back to the source

Former guitar whiz kid tours the South to record and help blues pioneers

BY V. PAUL VIRTUCIO

NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

A well-rested Kenny Wayne Shepherd will take the stage at 8 p.m. Sunday to close out the 18th annual Bayfront Blues Festival.

The 29-year-old blues guitarist is enjoying a more relaxed summer than usual, flying to gigs across the country on weekends and spending weekdays at home in Los Angeles with friends and family.

Shepherd is saving up his energy for what will become a whirlwind of touring this fall when he releases his newest project, "Ten Days Out: Blues From the Back Roads." Early next year he'll head back into the studio to work on his next release, a follow-up to 2004's "The Place You're In."

But Shepherd, who achieved immediate fame as a teen sensation with his 1995 debut "Ledbetter Heights," isn't holding back on sharing his excitement. During the next few weeks of gigs, he hopes to ramp up attention to "Ten Days Out," a pet project that has been more than two years in the making.

"Ten Days Out" features music and a DVD documentary about a 10-day trip Shepherd did through the South, recording music by famous and unknown blues legends. They recorded in living rooms and in backyards -- anywhere the musicians could just jam together in an old-fashioned blues style.

"In this project, Kenny Wayne Shepherd is just the vehicle. Me and the guys from Double Trouble, we're basically the backup band. I'm still doing my thing, playing lead guitar, but 'Ten Days Out' is about their music," said Shepherd.

Proceeds will benefit the Music Makers Relief Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping the pioneers of southern music in their day-to-day living. Recipients of the North Carolina-based group's services -- such as providing musicians with shelter and medical care or helping them record their music -- typically live on less than $18,000 a year.

Shepherd recorded with B.B. King, members of Muddy Waters' and Howlin' Wolf's bands, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (who passed away in 2005), and several lesser-known artists. "Ten Days Out" was Shepherd's opportunity to do a pure blues album because "The Place You're In" was more of a commercial rock project.

"I'm a blues fan, I'm a purist," said Shepherd, who was criticized for taking a turn more toward rock than blues in his last album. "The coolest thing about it all is it was recorded live... We just set up and started playing. We were just jamming. That's how the blues works. I can't even read notes. You just play by ear and feel it."

Shepherd said his next studio album will return to his blues-rock roots and he'll share lead vocals again. In "The Place You're In," he surprised fans by taking on more of those vocals than in his first three albums.

"You know, singing is something that is more of a challenge to me than playing guitar. It's something I want to continue to do and grow as a vocalist," Shepherd said.