A few weeks ago, I read for the first time about Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s upcoming new studio album. It brought a big smile on my face. Ironically, this happened in the wake of a Washington Post story with the clever title Why My Guitar Gently Weeps with a cheerful subhead The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care. Care I do. And there is perhaps nothing that gets me more excited than a bit of defiance!
Shepherd, a 40-year-old guitarist from Shreveport, La., is one of several young artists who are keeping blues rock alive. Three other musicians I can think of in this context are Texans Gary Clark Jr. (33), from Austin, and Casey James (35), from Fort Worth, as well as Joe Bonamassa, a 40-year-old hailing from New Hartford, N.Y. James just came out with his latest record Strip It Down, which I previously reviewed here.
Of course, I’m not suggesting all it takes to reverse declining electric guitar sales is a bunch of young blues rockers – BTW, “young artist” in my book means up to 40 years. But I hope, perhaps naively, the more cool guitar dudes are out there, the more young kids will realize there are cool things beyond video consoles and games. And, last time I checked, you can still impress a lady with playing the guitar – just saying!
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