CLEVELAND, Ohio — For Kenny Wayne Shepherd , Cleveland has always held a certain kind of magic.

Long before platinum records, Grammy nominations and three decades on the road, he remembers pulling into town as a teenager and stepping onto the stage at the Odeon, the legendary Flats club that once pulsed with live rock and blues.

“I remember it being one of those places we’d play early on, and the room was just packed,” Shepherd told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

“I was so far from home, and it opened my eyes to the reach we were having with that first album.”

That first album was “Ledbetter Heights.” Released in 1995, it was the sound of a 17-year-old kid from Shreveport, Louisiana, pouring fire and soul into his guitar with no idea what would happen next.

The record was all o

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