Kenny Wayne Shepherd

In the wake of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death in 1990, the blues community was hungry for a new guitar hero, and they found one in Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Born in Louisiana in 1977, Shepherd is one of his generation’s most formidable blues artists, having picked up the guitar by age seven and inking a record deal in his early teens. The marriage of Texas blues and classic rock songcraft captured on his first three albums—1995’s Ledbetter Heights, 1997’s Trouble Is... and 1999’s Live On—pushed blues music back into the mainstream. But while modern rock fans have embraced Shepherd, he’s ultimately an old soul, something he demonstrated on 10 Days Out (Blues from the Backroads). The 2007 album and documentary find him barnstorming the United States and jamming with blues and folk pioneers like B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, and Etta Baker. The experience proved transformative, with Shepherd’s subsequent work doubling down on earthy and vintage sounds. In addition to cofounding throwback blues rockers The Rides with Woodstock icon Stephen Stills in 2013, he has dropped albums like 2019’s The Traveler that take a wide-angle view of American roots music.