{"id":6574,"date":"2019-07-10T05:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T05:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=6574"},"modified":"2019-07-06T06:47:11","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T06:47:11","slug":"kenny-wayne-shepherd-the-traveler-provogue-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=6574","title":{"rendered":"Kenny Wayne Shepherd \u2013 The Traveler (Provogue Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Not many guitar players can get away with 3 names, it takes a special kind of player to pull it off. Like his hero Stevie Ray Vaughn before him, Kenny Wayne Shepherd proudly wears his three names across his catalogue of music.<\/p>\n

Since bursting onto the scene in the mid-90s, Kenny Wayne has put out album after album of guitar-heavy, Texas-tinged blues rock. He wears his influences on his sleeve and that\u2019s ok because he always puts a spin on things that is distinctly his own.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a fan of Kenny for a long time and I\u2019ve spent hours jamming along to his records and trying to capture that incredible Stratocaster tone he produces. His latest offering, The Traveler is no exception.<\/p>\n

From the first listen of opening track Woman Like You<\/em>, I\u2019m hooked. Kenny always starts his albums with an up tempo rocker and this track stands strong to kick off proceedings. Sticking with the hard and driving feel, Long Time Running<\/em> keeps my head bobbing. Vocalist Noah Hunt sounds on top form and Kenny\u2019s guitar player is just excellent as always. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve heard this guy play a bad note.<\/p>\n

From listening to his back catalogue and seeing him live, I always feel his playing takes on another level in some of his more spacious and slower songs. The third track I Want You<\/em> has a long guitar solo, but who cares? When someone is playing like that, it can go on for as long as they want it to. It\u2019s full of soul, heart and fire.<\/p>\n

Tailwind<\/em> and Gravity<\/em> follow up with a dip in tempo to a nice, chilled acoustic lead section of the album. It might feel like the band are taking a breather here, but these songs still kick some serious ass. The chorus of Tailwind<\/em> was just written to be sung by a room full of music lovers. Gravity<\/em> is just full of gorgeous melodies and a guitar solo that could make a grown man cry. How he coaxes those notes from a guitar no one will ever know.<\/p>\n

I feel that this album offers a bit more head bobbing rockers than the last album from Kenny and co. We All Alright<\/em> keeps us thundering along with it\u2019s thumping drums and huge chorus.<\/p>\n

Take It On Home<\/em> is one for the lovers in the house. A tender ode to coming home to the place and person you love. Kenny spends a lot of the year on the road so you can certainly believe every word he sings on this track. And yes, I do keep saying it\u2026 but wow\u2026 what a guitar solo!<\/p>\n

Mr. Soul<\/em> might sound like a familiar riff. It\u2019s very much a Stones influence. I mean, it\u2019s from the right era. Originally written in 1967 by Neil Young for Buffalo Springfield, this riff has given listeners over the years many hours of ahem\u2026 Satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Every album has got to have one song that makes the listener say \u201cthat\u2019s about me!\u201d. It\u2019s that feeling of relating that keeps us coming back to our favourite tracks. Better With Time<\/em> for me, is that track. It\u2019s an ode to growing up, loving, losing and learning. Like a fine wine, life sometimes gets better with age as we grow older and wiser. Kenny and the band have captured that exact feeling.<\/p>\n

The album closes with the Joe Walsh penned Turn To Stone<\/em>, this has all the southern stomp you need to get on down. Infectious grooves fill the song before the wah-drenched lead guitar epic that kicks in before the second verse. This is only a short lead burst though; Kenny is saving his ammo for the big shootout in the middle of the song. \u00a0From 2 minutes and 10 seconds in, the vocals are out. We\u2019re reminded firmly why we came here, to listen to some damn fine guitar playing. For the next 2 minutes, we belong to Kenny Wayne Shepherd as he takes us on a journey through loud and quiet, up and down, fast and slow before bringing the album to a crashing close.<\/p>\n

The Traveler has taken me on a journey. Pack your bags, it\u2019s your turn now.<\/p>\n

Buy The Traveler Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Leigh Fuge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not many guitar players can get away with 3 names, it takes a special kind of player to pull it off. Like his hero Stevie Ray Vaughn before him, Kenny Wayne Shepherd proudly wears his three names across his catalogue of music. Since bursting onto the scene in the mid-90s, Kenny Wayne has put out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2627,1818,2628,2629,2052],"class_list":["post-6574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-kenny-wayne-shepherd","tag-new-album","tag-provogue-records","tag-the-blues","tag-vinyl","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6576,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6574\/revisions\/6576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}