Ever since his recorded debut a few short years ago, people have
\nbeen calling Kenny Wayne Shepherd the reincarnation of the late
\nStevie Ray Vaughan. Stylistically, the two guitarists have much in
\ncommon – and excuse me for a minute for referring to Vaughan in the
\npresent. Both are absolute masters of the Stratocaster – a guitar
\nwhich some pros say is the toughest to totally control. Both know
\nhow to pull the most beautiful notes out of their guitars. Both
\nhave crack backing bands to support them.<\/p>\n
The main difference between Vaughan and Shepherd is that Vaughan
\nwas more of a blues purist, while Shepherd is not afraid to dip his
\ntwenty-something hand into the waters of pop rock.
\nLive On<\/i>, the third release from the Kenny Wayne Shepherd
\nBand, illustrates this magnificently – although the tried and true
\nformula starts to wear thin near the end.<\/p>\n
Before we continue, a quick memo to all record labels: Any time
\nyou send out an advance like the one I’ve been listening to on and
\noff for the last five months, please make sure you tell the writer
\nin the press kit which songs the guest musicians play on. All I can
\ntell the reader is that the guests on this disc include members of
\nDouble Trouble (Vaughan’s old backing group), James Cotton and Les
\nClaypool… but I have no frickin’ idea which tracks they perform
\non. ‘Nuff said.<\/p>\n
Shepherd’s backing band is one main reason why
\nLive On<\/i> is such a special disc. Noah Hunt’s vocals are as
\nmuch a distinct part of the sound as Shepherd’s guitar work;
\nseparate the two, and the magic is greatly diminished. The rhythm
\nsection of bassist Keith Christopher and drummer Sam Bryant might
\nnot always be the center of attention, but their solid rhythmic
\nbackbone helps to lay down a solid foundation for Shepherd to come
\nin and add the guitar highlights.<\/p>\n
Tracks like “In 2 Deep,” “Was” and the Allman Brothers-tinged
\n“Last Goodbye” (written by the late Jeff Buckley) all quickly show
\nanyone who thought that “Blue On Black” (from Shepherd’s last disc
\nTrouble Is…<\/i>) was a one-hit wonder will be in for an
\neye-opening surprise. Even the covers – namely, Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh
\nWell” and Buddy Miles’s “Them Changes” – are inspired, though “Them
\nChanges” is an admittedly curious choice.<\/p>\n
But there are a few times where Shepherd seems to be trying way
\ntoo hard to follow Vaughan’s footsteps. “Shotgun Blues” is one
\nexample; at times, it’s almost like Shepherd is playing with the
\nghost of Vaughan, and is trying to trade solos lick for lick
\nagainst a force we can’t hear. Likewise, on “Electric Lullaby,”
\nShepherd doesn’t quite seem to know just what to do with the gentle
\nmoment of the album, and it feels a little too heavy on the guitar
\nend.<\/p>\n
The first half of
\nLive On<\/i> is the strongest, with the songs hitting like rabbit
\npunches to the midsection. But the second half of the disc almost
\nsags under its own weight. Tracks like “Wild Love” and “Losing
\nKind” probably would have stood out had they been placed anywhere
\non the album, but it’s almost like they get lost in the shuffle at
\ntimes. A notable exception to this is the title track, which is
\ngiven every opportunity to shine. Shepherd’s guitar work here is
\nnothing short of magnificent.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that Shepherd is both a talented musician and
\nsongwriter, and if anyone has a claim to the throne once occupied
\nby Vaughan, he’s got the strongest one. But Shepherd should try and
\nbe more free-thinking with some of his music – something he is
\nstarting to do with tracks like “Live On” and the cover of “Last
\nGoodbye”. After all, it’s one thing to emulate arguably the
\ngreatest blues guitarist of this generation. It’s another to take
\nhis legacy and build upon it by branching out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6291],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-36539","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kenny-wayne-shepherd","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36539"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36539"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}