Clifford Antone's last show before he died was for the Kenny Wayne Shepherd band. Last night (March 17), Kenny played tribute to Clifford with a cast of special guests that just blew away the audience at SxSW in Austin.
Antone's is one of the world's most renowned blues rooms. Over the decades, it has played host to the likes of Muddy Waters and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Clifford Antone died on May 23rd, 2006 at the age 56.As Kenny was the last musician Clifford had introduced at the club, as a tribute on Saturday night, Kenny returned and brought along 95 year old Muddy Waters piano tinker Pinetop Perkins, New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee, Howlin' Wolf's guitarist 75 year old Herbert Sumlin and A-Train's Buddy Fleet.
Kenny acknowledged Lee as the first person to ever let him play on stage. He was just 13 years old at the time.
Maybe something was in the air this night but with Perkins, Sumlin, Lee and Fleet on stage, the Shepherd performance felt like a passing of the torch from Stevie Ray Vaughan to the 29 year old Shreveport guitarist. There was definitely the feeling that both Vaughan and Antone were in the room.
Shepherd recently released the blues '10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads' CD and DVD featuring his documentary traveling the US to the origins of the blues greats of the America.
This Saturday, you can see the Kenny Wayne Shepherd show with Fleet, Sumlin, Perkins and Lee at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
