Goin' Home,
Kenny Wayne Shepherd's seventh studio album, is all about going home in more ways than one. Now well closer to 40 years old than he is 30,
Shepherd isn't the hot kid electric guitar prodigy he once was, but an experienced player who has taken his considerable guitar skills all around the globe and back again, back home to Shreveport, Louisiana, to be exact, his hometown, and where this set was recorded. After flirting with a more contemporary, pop-influenced sound a couple of albums ago,
Shepherd has firmly settled back into playing the blues, and on
Goin' Home he pays tribute to his influences in that arena, covering songs by
Albert King (the
William Bell and
Booker T. Jones-penned "Born Under a Bad Sign," "Breaking Up Somebody's Home"),
Muddy Waters ("Still a Fool"),
Magic Sam ("Everything Gonna Be Alright"),
Stevie Ray Vaughan ("House Is Rockin'"),
Bo Diddley (the
Willie Dixon-penned "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover"),
Freddie King ("Boogie Man," "Palace of the King"), and
B.B. King ("You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now"), all backed by an all-star band of drummer
Chris Layton (Double Trouble), bassist
Tony Franklin (
the Firm), and keyboardist
Riley Osbourn (
Willie Nelson), and featuring a host of guest spots from
the Rebirth Brass Band,
Keb’ Mo’, Ringo Starr,
Joe Walsh,
Warren Haynes, and
Robert Randolph, that make this release feel as much like an event as an album.
Shepherd delivers blistering guitar leads, doesn't fuss over his vocals (admittedly his weakest musical component), and delivers a comfortable, warm, and perhaps wise return to where it all started. ~ Steve Leggett