Looks like heavy metal isn't the only music that goes well with violins and tuxedos. Bluesman Kenny Wayne Shepherd is joining Metallica in the realm of classical collaboration -- the axe-slinging Louisiana blues sensation threw a press conference on Dec. 26 to announce that he would be performing with the Shreveport Symphony on March 19. That public proclamation came just two weeks before Metallica held a press conference to reveal plans for their own symphonic foray. (The metallurgists' shows, to be performed with the Michael Kamen-conducted San Francisco Symphony, will take place on April 21 and 22 at Berkeley, Calif.'s Community Theatre.)

Plans for Shepherd's collaboration were in the works since December of 1997 (Metallica's plans reportedly stretch back a year-and-a-half, for those keeping score), when former Louisiana State Senator, symphony board member and Kenny Wayne Shepherd fan Virginia Shehee approached Shepherd's father/manager, Ken Shepherd, about the hometown symphony doing a set of Shepherd songs from his two platinum-selling albums. Ken Sr. back-burnered the idea until November, when Shehee brought the symphony director over to Shepherd's office for a late lunch and a plan was hatched.

The orchestra will play five or six of Kenny Wayne's numbers, after which the guitarist will return with his band to do his regular set, sans orchestra, for the bluestockings. Ticket prices range from $15-35, with all proceeds benefiting the symphony.

"I think this will be a huge growth experience for Kenny, since he's never played with a symphony before," Ken Sr. said. "Plus, it will be great for the community to hear the two styles of music meshed together." And what does the elder Shepherd think about Metallica's collaboration with their local orchestra? "I think it's great. I told Kenny I would love to be there and see how it ultimately turns out," he said. "Metallica's music is much harder, and Kenny's is much more conducive to a symphony arrangement, but I wish them luck."

Like Metallica, the KWS band will record the show. "Obviously it needs to be recorded, although we're not sure what will happen with it ultimately," says Shepherd's father.

Speaking of recording, Kenny Wayne will enter the studio on April 15 to record his next album with former Modern Lover/Talking Head Jerry Harrison at the helm. "We were really pleased with what he did with the last album, and he and Kenny have gotten real close," says his father. "In fact, when we were in California last week, we spent some time with him."

Kenny, who just got off the road on Monday (Jan. 11), will continue writing songs for his third album, interrupted only by a two-week run of shows in the Southeast at the end of the month.

JAAN UHELSZKI
(January 12, 1999)