Is Kenny Wayne Shepherd still Alive

Kenny Wayne Shepherd is 44 years old today.

A guitarist, singer and songwriter from Shreveport, Louisiana, Shepard has released several studio albums and experienced a rare level of commercial success both as a blues artist and a young musician.

He is a completely self-taught guitarist who does not read music. Growing up, Shepherd's father (Ken Shepherd) was a local radio personality and occasional concert promoter who 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 said 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, using "a cheap Yamaha wanna-be Stratocaster...made out of plywood, basically." He learned 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. He 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."

In 2013, Shepherd, along with Stephen Stills (Crosby, Stills & Nash) and Barry Goldberg (Electric Flag), formed The Rides. The three wrote, recorded and released a CD — Can’t Get Enough — on August 27, 2013. Stills refers to the band as “the blues band of my dreams.” The band toured the U.S. in 2013 supporting their debut record — culminating with an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The three reunited in 2015, writing and recording a new record — Pierced Arrow — released last year.

Shepherd married actor Mel Gibson's daughter, Hannah, on September 16, 2006. They have three children, a daughter born October 10, 2007 and sons born 2009 and March 12, 2011.

Here, Shepard performs “Blue on Black” in 2007

About KWSBand

Twenty five years into his recording career Kenny Wayne Shepherd continues to create genre-defining blues-infused rock n' roll. Shepherd has built an enviable resume as an accomplished recording artist, a riveting live performer and one of the most talented and distinctive guitarists of his generation. Shepherd has sold millions of albums worldwide, received five GRAMMY® nominations, two Billboard Music Awards, as well as a pair of Orville H. Gibson awards, the Blues Foundation's Keeping The Blues Alive award and two Blues Music awards. He's had seven #1 blues albums and a string of #1 mainstream rock singles.

Joe Krown

Joe Krown is a resident and is based in the city of New Orleans. He is a New Orleans styled piano and Hammond B-3 player.  Joe's played the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival every year since 2001 and the French Quarter Festival every year since 1998. He has been nominated twice and won a 2000 New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues category. His trio with Johnny Sansone & John Fohl won a 2004 New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues category. 

Joe held the keyboard chair with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown & Gate’s Express from 1992 until Gatemouth's passing in the fall of 2005. Joe is featured on the chart topping albums The Man (1993), Gate Swings (1997), American Music, Texas Style (1999) and Back to Bogalusa (2001) CDs and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - In Concert: Ohne Filter (2003) DVD. Joe is also featured in Gatemouth's band on Carlos Santana's Carlos Santana Presents Blues At Montreux 2004 (2006) DVD.

In June 2017 Joe joined the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band as the full time piano/organ player. The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band has been nominated five times for a Grammy Award, has received two Billboard Music Awards, two Blues Music Awards and two Orville H. Gibson Awards. The band has had 3 platinum (1 million sold) selling CDs and 1 gold (500,000 sold) selling CD. The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band is a headline act on the modern blues scene, has made appearances on late night TV and been an opening act for major acts like Van Halen, the Rollings, Bob Dylan, Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Joe has performed with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Johnny Adams, Marcia Ball, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint, the North Mississippi All-Stars, Charlie Musselwhite,.J. Chenier, Leo Nocentelli , Nicholas Payton and Marva Wright. 

How old is Kenny Wayne Shepherd today?

How old was Kenny Wayne Shepherd when he did Blue on Black?

Where is the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band from?

Is Kenny Wayne Shepherd a good guitarist?