Ledbetter Heights

''Ledbetter Heights'' is the debut album by American blues solo artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, released on September 19, 1995, when Shepherd was 18 years old. The album's name refers to a neighborhood in Shepherd's hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. It also featured lead singer Corey Sterling on vocals.

''Ledbetter Heights'' was an immediate hit, selling over 500,000 copies by early 1996. It was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1996 and certified Platinum by 2004, and achieved an unusual level of commercial success for a blues album, especially considering Shepherd's young age at release. ''Ledbetter Heights'' also spent 20 weeks topping Billboard's blues chart. In their list of blues artists, ''Guitar World'' voted Shepherd #3 after B. B. King and Eric Clapton.

Album title

The Ledbetter Heights neighborhood, formerly known as "St. Paul's Bottoms" and traditionally referred to as "The Bottoms", is one of the earliest parts of Shreveport to be settled outside the original downtown district, dating back to the 19th century. For almost all of its history, it has been predominantly African-American. In the early 20th century, there was a red-light district with legal prostitution within this neighborhood, and musician Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, after whom the neighborhood is now named, lived and performed there. The renaming of the neighborhood to Ledbetter Heights in the 1990s was part of an effort to rehabilitate the area's image, as it had become known as an economically depressed and crime-ridden area.

Shepherd named his debut album after this neighborhood as an homage to the blues tradition of his hometown.

Writing credit

Kenny Wayne Shepherd wrote/co-wrote all but four songs found on the album.

The album track "I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime)" is incorrectly credited on the album to Howlin' Wolf. Although Howlin' Wolf was the first to record the song on his album ''The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions'', it was written by James Oden, although writer Bill Janovitz says otherwise on AllMusic. The title is also incorrect, because "I'm Leaving You" is a completely different song by Howlin' Wolf. This song was originally titled "What a Woman!", but was released after Wolf's death as "Commit a Crime" on his 1984 album ''All Night Boogie''. Five years later, in 1986, musician Stevie Ray Vaughan included a version of the song on his own album, '' Live Alive''. It is likely the title used was an honest mistake, since the song begins with the lyrics, "I'm leaving you, woman, before I commit a crime." When Shepherd recorded the song for his own 1995 album ''Ledbetter Heights'', he carried on the mistake and used Stevie Ray Vaughan's title for the song, also incorrectly crediting Wolf as the writer.

Critical reception

In ''Christgau's Consumer Guide'', Robert Christgau relegated the album to his list of " honorable mentions". While highlighting "Born with a Broken Heart" and "I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime)", he wrote in summary that Shepherd "plays better blues readymades than he writes ndwrites better blues readymades than his front man sings". AllMusic's Thom Owens later said that "Shepherd burns through a set of rather generic blues-rock ravers that are made special by his exceptional technique. It may still be a while before he says something original, but he plays with style, energy, and dedication, which is more than enough for a debut album."

Track listing

Charts

Album – Billboard (United States)

Singles – Billboard (United States)

References

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1995 debut albums
Kenny Wayne Shepherd albums
Culture of Shreveport, Louisiana
Giant Records (Warner) albums