C. J. Walsh

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

Ridgefield Playhouse – Ridgefield, Connecticut

November 21, 2021

View: 17th Row center

 

Beneath an enormous guitar pick bearing his initials, Shepherd leaned in with Woman Like You, from 2019’s The Traveler. No longer the young buck of blues rock he has a large body of work to draw from, like True Lies and Heat Of The Sun. His highly rhythmic playing remains focused, never meandering. For this tour he’s added a horn section. The good news is they don’t get in the way but complement songs like Buffalo Springfield’s Mr. Soul.

Later, they dialed up I Can’t Hold Out, Elmore James’ tale of phone sex. Their discriminating choice of covers continued with Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well and an epic take of Joe Walsh’s Turn To Stone.

Noah Hunt’s voice has always been the band’s secret weapon, nicely showcased on Blue On Black. Chris Layton of Double Trouble kept perfect time.

The house lights came up after KWS played Hendrix’s psychedelic strat (still upside down) on an incendiary Voodoo Chile.

 

Published in Record Collector Magazine Feb. 2022