Kilgore's Ally Venable will be joining legend blues-rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd on Feb. 14 at the UT Tyler Cowan Center.

1. Kilgore native living dream as a blues artist, mentored by legends

Valentine’s Day at the UT Tyler Cowan Center will be an evening of blues and rock that will be fulfilling for music enthusiasts, as renowned guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd will perform a concert. He will also be joined by Kilgore’s own Ally Venable.

Labeled as a teen prodigy out of Louisiana, Shepherd is self-taught, and at 13 years old was invited on stage by legendary blues guitarist and singer Bryan Lee.

Shepherd’s 1995’s breakthrough first album, Ledbetter Heights, catapulted him into the global music scene, followed by his career defining second album, ‘Trouble Is…’ in 1997. It featured the No. 1 Mainstream Rock hit “Blue on Black”, which also reached No. 78 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Since then, Shepherd has sold millions of albums with multiple singles making their way into the Top 10.

“I grew up in a household that had a massive palette for music,” Shepherd told Ultimate Guitar. “My dad was a radio programmer/disc jockey. And he did country, he did rock, he did top 40. I mean, every format. So, we listened to everything. From a very early age, I always had a great appreciation for all kinds of music. So even if I might not feel compelled or inspired to go pick up my instrument and try to learn to do what they’re doing, I absolutely can appreciate the talent, the commitment, the level of ability that it takes to do that kind of stuff.”

The five-time Grammy nominee released his most recent album, Dirt On My Diamonds, in November, which has been met with glowing reviews.

“In a 20-year recording career that began when he was just 16, Shepherd has established himself as an immensely popular recording artist, a consistently in-demand live act and an influential force in a worldwide resurgence of interest in the blues,” according to the Cowan Center.

Shepherd’s band consists of vocalist Noah Hunt, drummer Chris Layton, bass guitarist Kevin McCormick and pianist Joe Krown.

Venable, an icon in her right own right at 24 years old, will join Shepherd for the show.

Venable was born and raised in the small town of Kilgore. Her first memories of music are singing in church as a little girl and learning to sing from her grandmother, she said in a 2022 interview with ETX View magazine.

Through her early influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Venable captured the passion and yearning for more in the blues genre, and by the time she was 13, she had her own band. By age 14, she released her first EP and by 2016, she had her first album, No Glass Shoes, followed by another album, Puppet Show. The sophomore album not only started her fanbase, but garnered more radio play and then several East Texas Music Awards.

However, it was 2019’s No. 2 Billboard Blues charting Texas Honey and rocking sets on Ruf’s European Blues Caravan tour that propelled her internationally.

Today, Venable tours around the world as a blues artist. She credits Shepherd as one of her mentors and has toured with him over the years, according to ETX View.

“The camaraderie I have with a lot of the musicians in my genre has been surreal,” Venable told ETX View in September 2022. “I would’ve never expected to have my guitar heroes become my friends. To get to work with somebody you look up to and now you’re in their world, it’s just awesome. I’m very grateful to have them in my corner.”

In her 2021 album, Heart of Fire, Venable performed a guitar duet with Shepherd on Bring on the Pain. Her most recent album, Real Gone, was released last March.

In 2022, Guitar World Magazine named Venable No. 2 on the top 15 ‘Young Guns Making the Gibson Les Paul Cool Again,’ and she received the Road Warrior award from the Independent Blues Music Awards.

For Venable, the stage is where she feels most at home. That’s where she’s most comfortable.

“I feel like that’s what I was meant to do – play music in front of people,” she told ETX View.

The upcoming performance will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 at the UT Tyler Cowan Center, 3900 University Blvd. in Tyler. For tickets, visit cowancenter.org/big-series/kenny-wayne-shepherd-band/ .