Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh 19th April 2023

The original tour was meant to promote the then-new ‘Traveler’ album but the dates had morphed into the ‘Trouble is…25’ tour by the time the event actually took place. Kenny first released his breakthrough 2nd album ‘Trouble is…’ in 1997. A lot has changed since then but Noah Hunt, who sang on the original, has been part of the band ever since and he’s there on the stage for the whole evening, switching to tambourine, rhythm guitar and backing vocals when KWS takes over on lead vocals for a couple of tunes.

After the instrumental title track, then ‘Somehow, Somewhere, Someway’ and ‘Chase the Rainbow’, Kenny takes time to talk with his audience to thank them for their patience and support, explaining that the band will perform the whole of the album but with the running order changed to better suit a live performance. The current incarnation of the KWS Band features Kevin McCormick on bass with his familiar head-nodding and foot-shuffling gait and Sam ‘Freight Train’ Bryant on drums, along side a phenomenal performance on Hammond Organ and keyboards from Joe Krown, who really steals the show, especially on (Long) Gone, with some great interplay between him and KWS.

The album includes three cover versions. Kenny’s empathy with Hendrix is well documented and he’s impeccable on Jimi’s ‘I Don’t Live Today’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘Everything is Broken’. The surprising third cover is played after the band deliver a faultless performance of their own ‘I Found Love (When I Found You)’ which features a sultry vocal from Noah and a short but sexy guitar solo from KWS. Fans have often told Kenny that they’ve used this as their wedding song but it’s not clear if he played it at his own wedding to Hannah, or if his father-in-law, Braveheart actor Mel Gibson, likes the song. The next track is most definitely not suitable for a wedding song as it is a cover of ‘Nothing to Do with Love’, originally released by Bonnie Tyler in 1995 but co-written by Scotland’s own Frankie Miller with Jerry Lynn Williams. The album’s best-known track ‘Blue on Black’ was a massive radio hit in the USA back in the day and has itself been successfully covered by Five Finger Death Punch (with cameos from KWS and Brian May) to raise funds for US First Responders.

Having dutifully played the whole of the album, the band return after a short break to bring things right up to date with a short five-song set that demonstrates just how Kenny’s song-writing has got even better over the years. ‘Woman Like You’ from ‘Traveler’ is probably the most accessible and commercial song in the set and a second track from that album ‘I Want You’ gives Joe Krown another chance to show off his Hammond chops to great applause. Kenny sings lead vocal on the latter track and again on ‘Diamonds and Gold’ before Noah takes over again for the slow-burning ‘Heat of the Sun’.

The set finishes in sensational style with BB King’s bitter-sweet (but mostly bitter) ‘You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now’ where Kenny really lets loose on the fretboard and also holds a note for a very long time Parisienne Walkways style. Like all good shows, it leaves the audience wanting more. Apparently, Kenny first appeared here as a young man supporting Eagles at Murrayfield in 1996 and he definitely played the much-missed ABC in Glasgow in 2015 and the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival in 2019, so hopefully we’ll get a chance see him again soon as there’s a new album due later this year.