Getting In His Licks

Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a better scenario.

At the age of 7, Kenny Wayne Shepherd attended a concert in his native Louisiana by blues-rock master Stevie Ray Vaughan. The son of a radio programmer, Shepherd was allowed to view the guitar virtuoso from a privileged perch atop an onstage amplifier.

Six months later, the thoroughly inspired tyke had convinced his parents to buy him a guitar. Less than a decade later, a 16-year-old Shepherd was fielding offers from virtually every major record label in the country. Industry executives saw in the gifted guitar-slinger a possible heir to Vaughan, who died in a helicopter crash in 1990.

Shepherd, who performs at the Galaxy Concert Theatre tonight and Wednesday, subsequently signed with Giant Records (since renamed Revolution Records) and at 19 is now considered by some to be a star in waiting.

“Yeah, that’s the way it happened,� Shepherd confirmed. Though, technically, the tale begins before his encounter with Vaughan. “Actually, I’ve been surrounded by music all my life. My dad’s been in radio since before I was born. So . . . I’ve been surrounded by every kind of music you can think of. I’ve got pictures of me when I was 5 years old, with a plastic guitar, running around the house. I had an interest even way back then. But seeing Stevie . . . the impact he had on me every time that I saw him perform . . . that’s what really spoke to me.�

Shepherd’s been on tour for more than a year promoting his 1995 debut album, “Ledbetter Heights� (Revolution). He and his band have crisscrossed the United States numerous times. They’ve also opened for the Eagles during the European leg of the veteran group’s reunion tour and performed on the same bill as B.B. King as part of a traveling blues festival. Most recently, Shepherd accepted an offer to join guitar heroes Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson for several of the trio’s West Coast performances.

His new life as itinerant musician seems to fit Shepherd like a glove. The idea of winning over new audiences while seeing the world clearly excites the wunderkind. Regardless of the size of the crowd, he said, he never experiences stage fright. Of course, it doesn’t appear Shepherd has much to be frightened about. His flashy instrumental gifts alone seem to assure that many customers will leave impressed.

“Ledbetter Heights� topped Billboard’s blues charts for four months. His guitar-driven music has also been endorsed by King and soul godfather James Brown, who even wrote an effusive message supporting Shepherd that’s included in the “Ledbetter� CD booklet.

Despite the adulation, Shepherd comes across as a polite and grounded young man. He’s not taking anything for granted.

“It seems like every day there’s crazy and amazing things happening to me,� he said by phone from a Northern California tour stop. “Before the record deal was signed, my dad was, like, ‘Don’t get your hopes up. You never know what’s going to happen.’ If things happen, then they happen. This is all coming from somewhere else anyway. I’m not like some genius or something. God has a lot to do with it.�

A self-taught musician who cannot read music, Shepherd didn’t immediately make heads spin with his guitar pyrotechnics; that process didn’t start until the ripe old age of 12 or 13. He laughs when he recalls how his mother and sister initially complained about his making “noise.�

“I remember looking at them and thinking, ‘One day this will sound good. You’ll see.’ �

*

By his early teens, Shepherd was playing clubs in Louisiana. He dazzled most. But he acknowledges that some “old school� blues veterans might have been skeptical of this skinny, young, blond kid playing their music. He also said some of his peers in school didn’t understand his affection for the blues.

Other kids “thought it was a little weird,� he said with a Louisiana drawl. “The standard response is, ‘Oh, that’s old people’s music.’ Back then they were listening to all the pop stuff. I heard that too because my dad worked in radio, but that stuff never really grabbed me. There’s just more of a message and soul in this kind of music.�

After Vaughan turned him on to the blues, Shepherd was inspired to learn the music of other artists long identified with the genre, such as B.B. and Albert King and Muddy Waters. When he was 16, he played on posthumous releases by Albert King and Willie Dixon. In both cases, he added his own guitar parts to tracks recorded by the two artists before they died.

Because of the large role Vaughan had in inspiring him and shaping his guitar style, Shepherd is most often associated with the Texas legend. Yet he feels no burden to be the next Stevie Ray or to be a blues savior. (Unlike Vaughan, Shepherd does not handle lead vocal duties.)

Vaughan signed the guitar prodigy’s first Strat with the message, “Kenny, just play it with all your heart.� Now it’s Shepherd’s turn to motivate future generations.

“When we do outdoor shows, parents bring little kids with them,� he said. “I’ve autographed a lot of guitars for little boys. . . . This music has been around longer than just about any other kind of music, and it needs to be around a lot longer. I can take advantage of my age and try to put it in front of a younger audience. That’s what you need to keep it going.�

* Kenny Wayne Shepherd appears tonight (with Raging Sun) and Wednesday (with Third Verse) at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. $21.50. 8 p.m. (714) 957-0600.