| Kenny
Wayne Shepherd project |
Kenny Wayne Shepherd to record and produce a documentary highlighting
the great blues players of our time. Proceeds will benefit Music
Makers Relief Foundation.
“It is from the blues that all that may be called American
music derives its most distinctive characteristic.” –
James Weldon Johnson
Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s objective is simple – to record
and produce a musical and narrative piece of history. Slated to
be a television special, the project will include an Audio/DVD
featuring performances with Kenny and some of the greatest blues
players of our time – all the while, raising some money
for the Music Maker Relief Foundation.
This project will allow knowledgeable blues fans to enjoy a compilation
of the purest blues talent in the country, and at the same time,
enable new fans to experience the traditional blues genre.
The artists involved in this project include both legends and
lesser-known musicians, but all are essential and historical blues
players – performers that reflect Kenny’s reverence
for his musical roots.
Kenny, along with long time friends Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon
of Double Trouble, Noah Hunt, Joe Nadeau and Jimmy Wallace will
travel to the hometowns of some of these artists in June 2004
to record sessions in their own environment, be it a local juke
joint, club or on the artist’s own front porch. They will
begin in New Orleans, Louisiana, and end up in Salina, Kansas
to record a show at the Church at Blue Heaven Studios with several
members of both Muddy Waters’ and Howlin’ Wolf’s
original bands. Filmmaker Noble Jones will capture each stage
of this project on film. The producer of Kenny’s “Trouble
Is…” and “Live On” albums, Jerry Harrison
(Talking Heads) will produce the audio.
Artists that Kenny will be featuring include Bryan Lee, Gatemouth
Brown, B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, Bob Margolin,
Jerry McCain, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Sam Lay, “Wild
Child” Butler, Henry Townsend, Honeyboy Edwards, Cootie
Stark, Essie Mae Brooks, John Dee Holman, Neal Pattman, Etta Baker
and Buddy Flett among others.
The Music Maker Relief Foundation www.musicmaker.org
will be receiving a substantial share of the profits from the
sale of the Audio/DVD. MMRF is a remarkable foundation offering
assistance to the pioneers of the Southern music tradition, ranging
from food and shelter to medical care. They record, produce and
distribute recordings by their artists as well as assist in obtaining
tour dates or simply buying a new instrument for an artist to
play. |
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