Ledbetter Heights

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Ledbetter Heights
Studio album by Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Released October 1995
Recorded 1994-1995
Genre Blues/Rock
Length 60:55
Label Giant Records
Producer Kenny Wayne Shepherd,
David Z.
Professional reviews
Kenny Wayne Shepherd chronology
Ledbetter Heights
(1995)		 Trouble Is...
(1997)

Ledbetter Heights is the debut album by the blues solo artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He released it in October 1995 when he was 18 years old. Its name refers to a neighborhood in Shepherd's home town of Shreveport, Louisiana. Ledbetter Heights was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1996, and certified Platinum by the RIAA in 2004.

[edit] Title of album

The Ledbetter Heights neighborhood, traditionally known 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 "Leadbelly" 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 home town.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Born With a Broken Heart" (Shepherd/Tate) – 5:56
  2. "Déjà Voodoo" (Selby/Shepherd/Sillers) – 6:09
  3. "Aberdeen" (White) – 4:15
  4. "Shame, Shame, Shame" (Nadeau/Shepherd) – 6:05
  5. "One Foot on the Path" (Selby/Shepherd) – 3:49
  6. "Everybody Gets the Blues" (Michael) – 5:58
  7. "While We Cry" (live) (Shepherd) – 6:17
  8. "I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime)" (Howlin' Wolf) – 4:16
  9. "(Let Me up) I've Had Enough" (Nadeau/Selby/Shepherd) – 2:43
  10. "Riverside" (Bowe) – 3:46
  11. "What's Goin' Down" (Nadeau/Shepherd) – 5:30
  12. "Ledbetter Heights " (Shepherd) – 6:11

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1995 Heatseekers 1
1995 Top Blues Albums 1
1995 Top Blues Albums 2
1996 The Billboard 200 108

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1995 "Déjà Voodoo" Mainstream Rock Tracks 9
1996 "Aberdeen" Mainstream Rock Tracks 23
1996 "Born With a Broken Heart" Mainstream Rock Tracks 15
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