THE KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND

How I Go

[Roadrunner]

It’s been more than 15 years since a teenaged Kenny Wayne Shepherd burst onto the scene as a hotshot blues savior. In that time he’s continually proven himself as a guitarist and repeatedly shown his respect for tradition as well as a willingness to evolve beyond it. On most of How I Go Shepherd assuredly reaches for a bigger, slicker, harder rock sound. That’s clear from the first blazing licks of “Never Lookin’ Back,” whose title and lyrical story of forward motion may or may not be a veiled message to his fans. Shepherd is still a blues guitarist at heart—his covers of the Beatles’ “Yer Blues” and Albert King’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” smoke. But on tracks like the scorching “The Wire,” the accessibly midtempo “Anywhere the Wind Blows” and the riff-happy “Come on Over,” Shepherd finds safe ground midway between the unadulterated blues of his youth and a more aggressive, forward-looking stance. —Jeff Tamarkin