Kenny Wayne Shepherd has it good.
Ever since this Louisiana native turned 18 and released the modern classic Ledbetter Heights, he's been dropping gold and platinum blues albums that usually hit the No. 1 spot on their assigned Billboard chart - just like his new How I Go.
Shepherd, now 34, is a self-educated guitarist (no formal music lessons) whose intuitive nature and brazen independence eventually found him producing a film, the 10 Days Out (Blues From the Backroads) documentary in 2007.
"I just do what feels right," Shepherd says, commenting on his adventurous level of instinct.
He's a father, a handsome young man, and currently is touring with Southern fried legends Lynyrd Skynyrd. How blue can he be?
"Ah, that's where the blues get a bad rap," Shepherd jokes. "My blues have never been just about misery. There's joy in there, too."
The stories Shepherd tells and sings (at least the poppier ones; co-lead vocalist Noah Hunt handles the growling soulful stuff) come from personal experiences good, bad, happy, and sad. "No matter what, my songs are always about passion - my passion for life, my family, and for playing the music I love."
His own songs have that impassioned life-affirming vibe. Raised to be the best and most persistent at whatever he chose ("that's what gave me the confidence to do and play things I wasn't educated in"), Shepherd exudes a clarity and assuredness of instrumental tone and lyrical bliss that go beyond blues' muddy-water ethos.
He's open to new ideas, like working with producer Jerry Harrison, on his most recent spate of albums including How I Go. "When my A&R guy first suggested Jerry, I didn't figure what a Talking Head knew about the blues," Shepherd says. "But I listened to his other productions and found he's got a great background in the blues. He even played in a blues band when he started. Plus he has a clear and gutsy sound and has made more than a few great suggestions for covers."
Shepherd covers Albert King's saber-sharp and sensual "Oh, Pretty Woman" and the Beatles' blustery "Yer Blues" on his new album. There's just as much sunshine as there is rain on those deep cuts. But on occasion, as when Shepherd tackles Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues" on his new CD, he speaks to the woeful worries of besieged Louisiana towns like those he came from. "When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night/Then trouble's takin' place in the lowlands at night" goes the blues classic. "Listen to the lyrics," Shepherd enthuses. "They speak to the current problems in the levees and such. They could have been written yesterday. But words like those - they come from the hard times that I remember from my past as well."
Now that's bluer than blue.