Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a former teenage guitar prodigy who has defied convention by successfully forging a career performing epic bar room boogie and blues well into adulthood.

History has determined that many teenage stars have had a rocky introduction to the entertainment industry after their initial foray in stardom, not Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Shepherd is still making records to a loyal fanbase and his Australian audience is among his most favoured.

“I love Australia,” he said.

“Some of my fondest early tour memories are from like the very first trips over to Australia, I even got a tattoo when I was over there during my first trip… and my wife is Australian.

“I love coming to the country…  my goal is to come back on a regular basis because so many people really don’t, cause they just, you know, it’s just complicated.

“But to me it means a lot, like I want to build on whatever’s fan base we had there which I think is pretty significant.

“I want to build on that and you can only do that by continuing to come back and establishing that relationship with the fans and giving them what they want, which is playing the music for them.

“So, it’s my goal for us to come back way more frequently than we have been and probably more frequently the most bands do.”

The reason for the opportunity to chat to Shepherd is due to his new for 2019 studio release, The Traveler.

Responding to the question that the album could be a career defining statement for the revered bluesman, Shepherd said that each release was indicative of where he was at as an artist and should be taken as a snapshot of a moment in time of his career.

“I feel like every album kind of represents a different frame of mind, a different period of time, it’s just a snapshot of where I am and who I am in that moment as an artist,” he said.

“I’m obviously very proud of it, I think every song on the record is great (and) I think our performance on the record is great, otherwise I wouldn’t have put it out.

“I’m certainly proud of it and I’m certainly up excited for people to hear it but you know, is it my favourite? Is it my best? I mean all that is subjective, and everybody will have their own opinion.”

The Traveler is available May 31^st via Concord.