UPDATED: Kenny Wayne Shepherd is no longer a candidate for this year’s Blues Music Awards, due to controversy over his replica of the “Dukes of Hazzard” car and his images of the Confederation flag, which were recently released by concerned and angry members of the sponsoring Blues Foundation organization .
The Blues Foundation also announced that Ken Shepherd, the artist’s father, has been asked to step down as a member of its board of directors.
The movements followed statements by prominent figures in the blues community who indicated they planned to disassociate themselves from the organization because of praise this year for Shepherd, a previous winner of the Blues Awards. Muddy Waters’ daughter, Mercy Morganfield, said she was resigning from the board because of support for Shepherd. Supporting Morganfield, Kim Wilson, famous for his work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, said he asked that his own nominations be terminated.
However, Shepherd said late Thursday afternoon that he saw his mistakes “years ago” and deactivated the “Dukes” car and its flag, agreeing that the images were painful for blacks and that he apologized for having them. perpetuated.
Shepherd once courted publicity for having a Dodge Charger built on a replica of the “General Lee” car from the 1979-85 series, which included a Confederate flag painted on the roof. The show and its signature vehicle have continued to be popular with large groups of southerners to the present day. He also posed with a guitar that adopted the logo and image of the custom car he dubbed “Xtreme Lee”.
In a statement sent to Variety Last Thursday, Shepherd said: “I just heard that the Executive Committee of the Blues Foundation’s Board of Directors made the decision to terminate my nomination for the 2021 Blues Rock Artist of the Year award. We were told that this decision was made because , in the past few days, concerns have arisen about one of the cars in my muscle car collection.
“The car was built 17 years ago as a replica and a tribute to the iconic car from the television series ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’”, continued the musician. “That CBS program was one of the most popular and most watched programs of its time, and like millions of others, I watched it every week. In the show, one of the central ‘characters’ was a muscle car that displayed a Confederate flag on its roof. Years ago I put that car in permanent storage and some time ago, I made the decision to permanently cover the flag of my car because it was totally against my values and offensive to the African American community that created the music that I love so much and I apologize to anyone that I have hurt unintentionally because of that. “
Shepherd concluded: “I want to make something very clear and unambiguous; I completely condemn and oppose all forms of racism and oppression, and I have always done that ”.
Although Shepherd says he hid the car years ago, some who have raised the issue in the blues community say that photos and videos promoting the car have only been deleted from social media in the past few days.
In a 2015 vehicle profile in the Wall Street Journal, Shepherd said people of all races loved the car. “The Confederate flag may be controversial, but not in this case,” Shepherd told WSJ at the time. “I get approval from everyone, regardless of race. The African American community created the music I play; racism is not part of my DNA. ”He told the Wall Street Journal reporter that he had the idea to build a replica using an old Dodge after seeing a similar recreation at his friend Kid Rock’s house. “The horn sounds the first notes of ‘I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land’, as well as the TV car,” he said.
The warmth that was at the Blues Foundation to distance itself from Shepherd came largely as a result of a long Facebook post by Morganfield, which came with the title “The way my dad looks at a white man winning a Blues music award Foundation as Waving AF ***** g Confederation Flag. ”Although his message was later deleted from Facebook – with many claiming that it was censored by the social media site (Variety was unable to contact Morganfield for comment) – his message was later taken up and republished by many in the blues community.
“The Blues Foundation has terminated the nomination of Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the 2021 Blues Music Awards (BMA) for Best Blues / Rock Artist,” the organization said in a statement on Thursday. “The decision to terminate the nomination was based on continuous revelations of representations of the Confederate flag in Shepherd’s ‘General Lee’ car, guitars and elsewhere. The Blues Foundation also asked Ken Shepherd, the father of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, to step down as a member of the Board of Directors. The Blues Foundation declares that it is determined in its commitment to deliberately address racism and contribute to a more just blues community ”.
In his Facebook post, Morganfield wrote: “Blues Foundation – have you lost your mind? It came to my attention that a winner of the Blues Foundation Award for Best Blues Something or Other proudly displayed a Confederacy flag on their social media pages and drove with it in their damn car. When this was pointed out to the Blues Foundation, the official statement was ‘We are not a political organization.’ What do you think is the Blues in its essence? In its fundamental roots? If not political? That kind of shit is not just annoying black people; it is irritating many whites who understand the blues on a deeper level than ‘a white man snarling what he thinks sounds like a howling wolf’ ”.
Morganfield continued: “Dad’s biggest rebellion was refusing to return to Mississippi to perform. He avoided the southern states, which worship the Confederate flag. That was before, this is now. What is your excuse? Why didn’t you fall into the Blues Foundation en masse and demand that they terminate the prize for that racist son of a bitch? “
Towards the end of Morganfield’s statement, she added that she had resigned from the board, saying that “I had no bandwidth to manage board participation after my brother and grandmother died. I really believe that my wyte and blk (sic) colleagues on the board have the best intentions of ‘doing the right thing’. I also believe that progressive voices, like mine, are often suppressed by stupid members who have done the same thing, in the same way, for over 20 years and will not hear that the baby they created in 1981 no longer fits the bill 2021. ”
Kim Wilson took Morganfield’s ball and ran with it, writing, “This was brought to my attention today. I’m furios! Is it really 2021? From this moment on I am out of any blues prize competition! I’m asking you to withdraw me from the vote permanently! I’ve worked with the masters my whole life! Muddy was especially generous and a great friend. “
Asked to comment on Thursday night, Wilson said the Blues Foundation had done the right thing and that he was no longer angry with the organization. “I told my manager to call” the Blues Foundation, Wilson said, “and if it is true that they have terminated, then they need not terminate mine”.
Wilson (who sang on blues-rock hits from Thunderbirds, including “Tuff Enuff”) added: “I feel bad for him, but he made a big mistake buying that car. They told me now that he (covered) the car years ago. I don’t know how to feel about it. But there is no room for systemic racism anywhere, and especially in the field of blues music … I played with Mercy’s father and he was a great mentor of mine, along with almost all the masters and inventors of blues music, especially from of the late 1940s, the people who really invented music. I’ve been playing this song for over 50 years. Mercy wrote the play, and I just used my voice to promote her cause. But it is everyone’s cause, or it should be, at least. Wilson added that he is happy to see a black woman at the helm of the Blues Foundation.
Three days earlier, the Blues Foundation had responded with a general anti-racism statement that did not directly address the Shepherd controversy, which did not do much to calm the concern. “The Blues Foundation unequivocally condemns all forms and expressions of racism, including all symbols associated with white supremacy and the degradation of people of color. We will take responsibility, as will all blues musicians, fans, organizations and members of the music industry for racist actions and encourage concrete commitments to recognize and repair the resulting pain. “
As you would expect with the genre, the vast majority of nominees for this year’s Blues Awards are black (see a list of nominees here), as well as the list of great living and dead names scheduled to be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame this summer (listed here). The Foundation’s full statement on Shepherd can be read here.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that Shepherd had used the “Xtreme Lee” brand on a product line that included elements of the flag. Although the musician was photographed with a branded guitar, the representatives say there was never a “Xtreme Lee” product brand.