 THE
REEL BLUES FEST
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
with Ernie & the Automatics
with special guests
Jim Belushi and James Montgomery
Cape Cod Melody
Tent, Thursday, July 26, 2007
live music and
film all in one night |
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| - Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Ernie & the Automatics - Jim Belushi - James Montgomery - Ten Days Out - |
KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD
 Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born June
12, 1977) is an American Blues guitarist. Shepherd was born
in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he attended Caddo Magnet High
School. Self-taught, he began playing at age 7, learning Muddy
Waters licks from his father's record collection. At the age
of 13, he was invited onstage by the New Orleans bluesman Bryan
Lee. After proving his abilities, he decided on music
as a career.
Using his own contacts in the record business, Shepherd's
father and manager helped his son land a major-label record
deal with Giant Records. His father, Ken Brobst Sr., had
been a long-time Shreveport radio personality as "Ken Shepherd";
"Shepherd" had been the last name of his ex-wife,
the mother of Kenny Wayne. Because his father already
had established contacts within the recording and promotions
industry as "Shepherd," Kenny Wayne adopted it as
his stage name as well.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd has sold millions of albums worldwide,
with two Grammy nominations, three straight No. 1 blues albums,
a string of No. 1 mainstream rock singles and two Billboard
Music Awards. He was also awarded the 1998 and 2001 Orville
H. Gibson Awards for Best Blues Guitarist.
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JIM BELUSHI
 Jim is back. Jim Belushi was
there for the 2001 original The Reel Blues Fest, which was performed
in the theater on the Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod. And he's
back again to sit in with Ernie & The Automatics with James
Montgomery. Hey, he can sing and blow a mean harp.
James Belushi was born June 15, 1954 in Chicago but
grew up in Wheaton, Illinois. He is the third of four children
of Adam Belushi, an Albanian immigrant who left his native Qytezë
village in 1934 at the age of 15, and Agnes, who was born in
the U.S. of Albanian immigrants. A high school
teacher, impressed by Jim's improvisational skills while giving
speeches, convinced Jim to to be in a school play. After that
he joined the school's drama club. Today if asked why he got
involved in acting, he will jokingly say "Because of girls.
In the drama club, there were about 20 girls and six guys. And
the same thing with choir....more girls!".
He attended the College of Dupage and graduated from
Southern Illinois University with a degree in Speech and Theater
Arts. From 1976-80 he became a resident member of Chicago's
famed Second City. In 1979, write-producer Garry Marshall saw
Jim performing for 2nd City and arranged for him to come to
Hollywood and co-star in the TV Pilot "Who's Watching the
Kids" for Paramount, and then for a role in the television
show "Working Stiffs" (co-starring Michael Keaton).
Later, in 1983, he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for
2 years.
Jim came to national attention through his role in
Edward Zwick's film "About Last Night" with Rob Lowe
and Demi Moore, playing the role he originated in the Chicago
Apollo Theatre's production of David Mamet's Obie-award winning
play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago".
He has come a long way from 2nd City, SNL, and his
early role in the TV series "Working Stiffs". His
feature credits since then show an extraordinary range: He was
James Woods' spacey DJ buddy, Dr. Rock, in Oliver Stone's "Salvador";
the mentally handicapped dishwasher befriended by Whoopi Goldberg
in the Andrei Konchalovsky film, "Homer and Eddie";
and the defiant high school principal standing up to drug dealers
in "The Principal." In 2000 Belushi co-starred in
MGM's "Return to Me," directed by Bonnie Hunt and
starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver, and he received rave
reviews for his work with Gregory Hines in Showtime's "Who
Killed Atlanta's Children? As his popularity grew over the years,
so did his roles in film, theater, and television.
Belushi has performed on Broadway in Herb Gardner's
acclaimed "Conversations with My Father" at the Royal
Theatre, off-Broadway in "True West," at the Cherry
Lane Theatre in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production
of John Guare's "Moon Over Miami," and for Joseph
Papp as the Pirate King in "Pirates of Penzance."
In addition he does numerous voiceovers for film, television
and for commercials.
Music? Well, when Dan Aykroyd asked him to join the
Blues Brothers Band as Brother Zee. Belushi has never fronted
a blues band but was, as always, ready to take on any task that
would keep in in front of a live audience. To prepare, Belushi
got together with The Sacred Hearts, the House of Blues house
band (Jim is an investor in the House of Blues), o
test it out. He's been a Blues Brother as well as performing
and recorded as Jim Belushi and The Sacred Hearts ever since.
Jim has made a major commitment as founder and member
of the board of the John Belushi Scholarship Fund, which supports
college and college-prep students pursuing performance and visual
arts education. A dedicated husband and
father he resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Jennifer, and
their two sons and a daughter. Jim is currently starring in
his own sitcom, titled According to Jim, which can be seen at
it's regular time slot on the ABC network and 5 days a week
in syndication.
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 THE
FILM
10 Days Out…Blues From
The Backroads documents the voyage
of blues guitar great Kenny Wayne Shepherd as he travels the
country to jam with, interview and generally pay homage to the
last of the authentic blues greats. Beginning in New Orleans
and ending with a grand finale concert at Acoustic Sounds' own
Blue Heaven Studios in Salina, Kansas, Shepherd's pilgrimage
is a perfect lens into blues history and with absolutely exceptional
cinematography and editing. This is a major-league production
about what all too often is treated as a minor-league genre.
The
guitar-slinger Shepherd, along with the Double Trouble rhythm
section of Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton, begins in New Orleans,
where they meet with Clarence "Gatemouth Brown" and
Bryan Lee. Their tour busses rumble north to Shepherd's hometown
of Shreveport where he and Buddy Flett jam at Leadbelly's graveside.
They continue on into Mississippi to perform with B.B. King
in his hometown of Indianola. Then it's over to Alabama to visit
the home of Jerry "Boogie" McCain. The tour continues
into rural North Carolina to meet with the Piedmont blues masters
Cootie Stark, Neil Pattman, John Dee Holeman and Etta Baker.
They turn West to jam with the great Henry Townsend in his St.
Louis living room along with Honeyboy Edwards, who came down
from Chicago for the session. Finally, the production ends at
Blue Heaven Studios in Salina, KS (www.blueheavenstudios.com).
There, Kenny performs with surviving members of Muddy Waters'
and Howlin' Wolf's bands. The concert included Pinetop Perkins,
Bob Margolin, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, Willie "Big
Eyes" Smith, Henry Gray and Hubert Sumlin along with guests
Wild Child Butler, Lazy Lester, Jimmy D. Lane, Double Trouble
and Noah Hunt. The performances are absolutely legendary and
the beauty of the old church sanctuary with a revved up "congregation"
is truly something to behold. 10 Days Out... is a no-brainer
for any blues fan, but it's also the perfect introduction to
the blues. And consider for historic sake that since this filming
in June 2004, six of the legends documented within have died,
making 10 Days Out... a crucial artifact in all future generations'
explorations into such an integral part of American music history.
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The
Reel Blues Fest, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated
to helping musicians receive access to medical care and to
supporting the work of independent filmmakers. Proceeds from
events will be distributed to eligible 501 (C) (3) organizations
pursuant to the guidelines established by The Reel Blues Fest,
Inc.
For
more information call 508-495-FILM |
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