Live On

by

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

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To hear Kenny Wayne Shepherd's new single, "In 2 Deep", as well as "Them Changes", you might think he had abandoned his blues roots altogether. These are two smoking hard-rock tracks, bordering on metal. But there is plenty of blues on "Live On", his best, most consistent release so far. Of course there are the standard blues shuffles in "Shotgun Blues" and "Losing Kind." "Last Goodbye" is a mid-tempo blues tune reminiscent of the lighter side of the Allman Bros. "Never Mind" and "You Should Know Better" are up-tempo blues with the familiar KWS swagger, and then there's the scorching cover of Peter Green's classic, "Oh Well." Ex-Allman Warren Haynes adds some slide guitar to "Every Time It Rains." The mood mellows considerably toward the end,and this is where "Live On" shines the brightest. The title track is an anthemic blues ballad with a gospel feel. The track features great background vocals by Stephanie Spruil and Pat Hodges. "Where Was I?" is a brisk soft-rock tune punctuated by Shepherd's bluesy soloing. The cd closes with the appropriately titled instrumental, "Electric Lullaby." A new addition to the KWS Band is bassist Keith Christopher, who plays on several albums by the hard-edged country-rock band Shaver. ("Unshaven:Live" is a great 5-star cd worth checking out.) Unfortunately missing from the KWS band is keyboardist Jimmy Wallace, who contributed greatly to the band's first two releases.

My initial impression of this disc is that KWS needs to learn the value of subtlety. Sometimes it sounds like a wall of sound. His first disc (Ledbetter Heights) sounded to me like he had a lot of stuff he needed to get out RIGHT NOW. It had a lot of tasty licks in it as well as volume. The second one (Trouble Is...) sounded like he was hitting his stride. This disc sounded like he sort of mailed it in. There's just too many needless overdubs that sound like they're there just to fill up space. I've seen him live and he doesn't need overdubs. He can fill up more than enough space by himself without overdubs. BTW, Noah Hunt can flat out sing. That boy just wails in concert. All this being said, I would rather listen to this disc than almost anything else out there. It's probably as much my problem looking for perfection in KWS and not finding it. This guy has so much talent and someday soon he will make the perfect kick ass blues record.