1. 	Trouble is... (4:27)
2. 	Born With a Broken Heart (4:28)
3. 	Shame Shame Shame (13:03)
4. 	True Lies (5:52)
5. 	Blue on Black (6:23)
6. 	Nothin' to Do With Love (5:55)
7. 	Slow Ride (3:58)
8. 	Deja Voodoo (10:39)
9. 	Everythings Broken (3:52)

B.B. King's The original opened in Memphis in 1991 and has remained a favorite of locals and visitors alike. At BB King's Blues Club we're more than the Blues, we're classic soul, rock and roll, great barbeque, signature drinks that will fill you to the brim. With two levels of dining and a dance floor, our house band, The BB King's Blues Club All-Star Band will have you dancing all night long. ---memphistravel.com

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1. Never Lookin' Back 
2. Come On Over 
3. Yer Blues 
4. Show Me The Way Back Home 
5. Cold 
6. Oh, Pretty Woman 
7. Anywhere The Wind Blows 
8. Dark Side Of Love 
9. Heat Of The Sun 
10. Round And Round 
11. The Wire 
12. Who's Gonna Catch You Now 
13. Backwater Blues 
14. Strut 
15. Butterfly 
16. Cryin' Shame 
17. Baby The Rain Must Fall

Kenny Wayne Shepherd (vocals, guitar); 
Noah Hunt (vocals); 
Riley Osbourne (Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards); 
Chris Layton (drums).

Great guitarists are plentiful in the modern rock world, from blues through to country via metal and more. Typically, they’re members of a band, their contributions constituents of a broad mix that encompasses several elements, ensuring that no individual persistently dominates. When these guitarists fly solo, though, results can be awfully dull. Slash is awesome surrounded by other talents, but woeful when filling the spotlight himself; Joe Bonamassa is undoubtedly gifted, but frequently tedious outside of collaborative projects. (Please, let’s not even start with the whole G3 thing.) Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a similar artist, albeit one yet to present his skills in a non-headlining capacity – he’s only ever released material under his own name. How I Go, his sixth LP, predictably veers from expressive fret-work which entrances to passages of instances of indulgent tripe liable to leave the listener utterly unmoved.

At this point in his career, Shepherd has nothing to prove regarding his ability – the man knows his way around his instrument like few others, and despite not being able to read a note has made it this far with both critical and commercial success attained. All of his previous long-players have topped the US blues chart, and made minor dents on the Billboard 200. So he’s changing his approach somewhat on How I Go, a collection that’s conservative where past collections revolved around prolonged showboating. Flashes of nimble-fingered dexterity are clearly evident, opener Never Lookin’ Back slipping into self-gratifying squeals around the two-minute mark and his otherwise gritty cover of Oh, Pretty Woman soured somewhat by rather too much fret-fiddling; but on the whole this is a case of songs first, showing off later.

Admittedly a number of these songs aren’t Shepherd’s – but his covers are delivered with passion to spare, and they sit neatly enough beside originals which are predominantly tuned to modern pop-country crossover frequencies. One exception is Come On Over, a fairly great rocker that would sound just as sweet in the catalogue of Foo Fighters or Pearl Jam; another, Who’s Gonna Catch You Now?, is a big-voiced ballad which could easily transfer to any contemporary pop style and retain its heart whatever the level of Auto-Tune applied. His cover of Bessie Smith’s Backwater Blues is a treat, too, its ivory-tinkled intro giving way to some excellent six-string howling.

So while not everything here will click with audiences unfamiliar with blues-cum-country fare, despite this artist’s stateside achievements, How I Go is a decent introduction to an artist whose admiration of the likes of BB King and Honeyboy Edwards is steadily producing a comparable catalogue of authentically dusty barroom stompers and unlikely stadium rockers. It’s a set that benefits from its maker’s restraint – more of the same next time and he’ll move closer to the pantheon occupied by Clapton et al. ---Mike Diver, BBC Review

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•  1. Born With a Broken Heart 
•  2. Deja Voodoo 
•  3. Aberdeen 
•  4. Shame, Shame, Shame 
•  5. One Foot on the Path 
•  6. Everybody Gets the Blues 
•  7. While We Cry 
•  8. I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime) 
•  9. I've Had Enough, (Let Me up) 
•  10. Riverside 

Kenny Wayne Shepherd (vocals, guitar)

You would never guess from Kenny Wayne Shepherd's fiery playing that the guitarist is still only in his teens. On his debut, Ledbetter Heights, Shepherd burns through a set of rather generic blues-rock ravers that are made special by his exceptional technique. It may still be a while before he says something original, but he plays with style, energy, and dedication, which is more than enough for a debut album. ---Thom Owens, allmusic.com

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1. Slow Ride 
2. True Lies 
3. Blue On Black 
4. Everything Is Broken 
5. I Don't Live Today 
6. (Long) Gone 
7. Somehow, Somewhere, Someway 
8. I Found Love (When I Found You) 
9. King's Highway 
10. Nothing To Do With Love 
11. Chase The Rainbow 
12. Trouble Is..

Kenny Wayne Shepherd (vocals, guitar); 
Noah Hunt (vocals); 
James Cotton (harmonica); 
Jay Blakesberg (piano); 
Jimmy Wallace, Reese Wynans (keyboards); 
Sam Bryant (drums, cymbals); 
Chris Layton (drums); 
Stephanie Spruitt, Patricia Hodges (background vocals).

Instead of breaking from his high-energy, high-voltage blues-rock, Kenny Wayne Shepherd offers more of the same on his second album, Trouble Is... While the record lacks the surprise and impact of Ledbetter Heights, it's clear that Shepherd is growing as a guitarist, developing a cleaner, more nuanced technique. He still suffers from the lack of an original voice, plus a lack of strong material, but his growth as a guitarist compensates for what's missing. ---Thom Owens, allmusic.com

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1. Alive 
2. Be Mine 
3. Spank - (with Kid Rock) 
4. Let Go 
5. Ain't Selling Out 
6. Believe - (with Noah Hunt) 
7. Place You're In, The 
8. Hey, What Do You Say 
9. Get It Together 
10. Burdens - (with Noah Hunt) 
11. A Little Bit More (instrumental)

Kenny Wayne Shepherd (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); 
Noah Hunt, Kid Rock (vocals); 
Marti Frederiksen (guitar, Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards, bass guitar, percussion, background vocals); 
Mikal Reid (guitar); 
Jim Cox (piano, Clavinet, Hammond b-3 organ); 
Brian Tichy (drums); 
Pat Hodges (background vocals).

Five years separate Live On and its successor, The Place You're In, and the time allowed Kenny Wayne Shepherd to grow as both an artist and as an individual. He's not only writing the majority of his material, he's singing most of it as well. His guitar playing has become more nuanced, and he's moved squarely into the world of album rock from his blues-rock background. Even the cover and publicity photos reflect the difference, showing a darker, decidedly grown-up Kenny Wayne Shepherd. In addition, the producer/mixing team of Jerry Harrison and Tom Lord-Alge (who did both Live On and Trouble Is) has been replaced by Marti Frederiksen and Andy Wallace, who give the album a more muscular sound. This album is tailor-made for rock radio with its big guitar sounds and recycled classic rock riffs, and Shepherd sounds very comfortable in this setting. The lyrics are a bit weak in places, but most of the songs have solid hooks and fine guitar solos. There are some very nice touches throughout the album, like the backward guitar and restrained solo that appear on "Let Go" (which recalls some of Steve Winwood's work) or the gospel backing vocals and excellent outro of "Hey, What Do You Say." "Ain't Selling Out" is a bit of a misstep: a forceful chugging rocker over a monotonous hook, and the Kid Rock guest shot ("Spank") may sell an extra copy or two, but the song is pretty unremarkable. Overall, The Place You're In is a solid album that shows Shepherd continuing to grow as an artist, but whether he can develop a more personal voice remains to be seen. --- Sean Westergaard, allmusic.com

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1. In 2 Deep 
2. Was 
3. Them Changes 
4. Last Goodbye 
5. Shotgun Blues 
6. Never Mind 
7. You Should Know Better 
8. Every Time It Rains 
9. Oh Well 
10. Wild Love 
11. Losing Kind 
12. Live On 
13. Where Was I? 
14. Electric Lullaby

Kenny Wayne Shepherd (vocals, guitar); 
Noah Hunt (vocals); 
Keith Christopher (bass); 
Sam Bryant (drums). 
+
Stephanie Sprail, Pat Hodges (vocals); 
Bryan Lee (guitar); 
Warren Haynes (slide guitar); 
James Cotton, Mickey Raphael (harmonica); 
Reese Wynans (keyboards); 
Tommy Shannon, Arion Salazar, Les Claypool (bass); 
Chris Layton (drums).

Being a teenage blues guitar prodigy is a double-edged sword. Stunning technique brings attention, but also criticism that it's all style and no soul. This criticism plagued Kenny Wayne Shepherd since his popular debut album, Ledbetter Heights, and it's warranted to a certain extent. It didn't help that Shepherd so strongly recalled Stevie Ray Vaughan. It also didn't help that some of his material was a little too slick, appealing as much to album rock as to blues-rock audiences. By the time of his third album, 1999's Live On, he had begun to reconcile these two sides of his personality, but the best thing about the record is that it's tougher and stronger than its two predecessors. There's still a fair amount of crossover -- a Hendrix cover and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" -- but Shepherd not only seems to be developing a style of his own, the playing of his band has become grittier, or at least it's being captured better on record. Shepherd can still fall prey to excess, but not as often as he used to. He's figuring out how to restrain himself, and his music is all the better for it. --- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com

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