Born Kenny Wayne Brobst on June 12, 1977, in the state of Louisiana…Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced a rare level of commercial success both as a blues artist and a young musician
He is “completely self taught”, and does not read music. Shepherd got his first “guitar” at the age of three or four, when his grandmother purchased a series of several plastic guitars for him. His self-taught method employed a process of learning one note at a time, playing and rewinding cassette tapes, learning Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Albert Lee licks and riffs
At the age of 13, Shepherd was invited on stage by the New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee. After proving his abilities, he decided on music as a career. Demo tapes were made and a two-camera video was shot at Shepherd’s first performance at the Red River Revel Arts Festival in Shreveport.
From 1995 on, Shepherd took seven singles into the Top 10, and holds the record for the longest-running album on the Billboard Blues Charts with Trouble Is….
In 1996, Shepherd began a longtime collaboration with vocalist Noah Hunt, who provided the vocals for Shepherd’s signature song, “Blue on Black”. Shepherd has been nominated for five Grammy Awards, and has received two Billboard Music Awards, two Blues Music Awards and two Orville H. Gibson Awards.
In 2007, he released a critically acclaimed and two time Grammy nominated DVD–CD project, titled 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads. This documents Shepherd as he travels the country to jam with and interview the last of the authentic blues musicians.
In 2010 Shepherd was nominated for a Grammy for Live In Chicago which featured performances with Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Buddy Flett and Bryan Lee. In 2011, Shepherd released his seventh CD entitled How I Go on Roadrunner Records.
Shepherd is married to actor Mel Gibson’s eldest daughter, Hannah and they have three children.
Source: Wikipedia