His name might not roll off your tongue when naming the best blues-rock guitarists to ever grace the planet, but 27-year-old guitar wunderkind Kenny Wayne Shepherd definitely has his share of devoted fans, as was obvious by the full house at his recent Vegas gig. Shepherd, accompanied by his five-piece band, aptly named the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, played to a full house of diverse and enthusiastic 20- to 40-somethings at the House of Blues Saturday night.
Coming onstage in blue jeans and a black-and-white jersey T-shirt, he sported a shorter, more modern 'do, as opposed to his old long-hair, Southern rocker-boy look. Shepherd burst into song with "Be Mine," the No. 2 track off his latest album, The Place You're In. The song, which has Lenny Kravitz-like robust vocals and gritty guitar riffs, soon had the rowdy crowd moving and grooving.
Noah Hunter, who has performed as lead vocalist for Shepherd on previous recordings, followed the opener on vocals with an obvious crowd favorite, "In 2 Deep."
Delivering an enlivening two-hour performance that kept the audience clamoring for more, Shepherd and Hunter took turns heading up the mike.
The band performed numbers from each of Shepherd's four albums, including "Déjà Voodoo," "While We Cry" and "Somehow, Somewhere, Someway"—which the audience joined in singing—and nearly every track from his latest release, such as "Alive," "Hey, What Do You Say" and of course, the album's title song, "The Place You're In."
Shepherd and Hunter's high-energy delivery kept the audience rocking out, and at one point, Shepherd earned a massive outpouring of screams and applause when he put his guitar behind his head and continued playing without missing a chord.
There were several songs in which Shepherd and Hunter joined together in singing lead, and it was apparent that Shepherd's vocal confidence waned in comparison to his guitar playing, as he kept looking to Hunter as if to make sure he was on the mark.
That's not to say that Shepherd's average vocal ability isn't viable, but it was obvious that it's lean and he needs to work on being more confident at the mike. With confidence comes strength, and once Shepherd develops his voice, he will be a force in the blues-rock world, perhaps taking a seat next to Clapton, Thorogood and Stevie Ray.