Before there was Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, there was Top Topham. The original guitarist in one of the most famous, guitar-hero filled bands in rock history, Topham was the guitarist who started it all. Though his tenure with the band was short lived, being only 15 years old at the time his parents had issues with his late nights spent jamming in clubs, his influence can still be felt to this day.
When one hears the words “one-man band,” they often get a comical picture of a cartoon like character dancing around with a bunch of instruments strapped to his back. While this may work for the movies or in TV shows, it is musicians like Claude Hay that take this term and turn it into an art form. Utilizing modern technology such as loop pedals and effects, Hay is able to bring together multiple layers of instruments and sounds into his songs, both in the studio and live, all without hiring a band. He is a DIY musician in the purest sense.
There have been many young guitarists over the years that have burst onto the scene at an early age, only to burn out after one or two albums and fade into obscurity. Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an artist who defied this trend by taking the momentum gained from his Platinum selling debut record Ledbetter Heights and growing it into a long and successful career. Only 33 years old, Shepherd has three platinum and one gold album to his credit, as well as an armful of major award nominations and wins, and yet it seems that he’s just getting started, 16 years after his first release.
With five Grammy Awards, 23 W.C. Handy Awards [the most of any artist], 65 albums, a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and disciples like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy ranks as one of the music legends of our time.
Though the Blues was born and raised in the U.S., the genre has grown and spread out to be a truly global phenomenon. While the first generations of blues musicians cut their teeth in Chicago, Austin and the Mississippi Delta, since migrating across the pond back in the ‘50s,
Louisiana-born Kenny Wayne Shepherd grew up on the blues. From the age of seven he had a guitar in his hands and kept at it until five years later he was on stage with Jump Street Five blues group guitarist Bryan Lee.
The legendary bluesman looks back over his long career and talks about Muddy Waters, Clapton, SRV and others.
