I guess for alot of musicians, they feel the need to take the safe road, following in the exact footsteps of their favorites, and it has alot to do with fear of failure, and how the rest of the world sees us. While generally we learn from our mistakes, it sometimes happens that we take a small failure (or percieved failure) too seriously, where it kind of throws us off track mentally, (where we are afraid to improvise.) I think its safe to say that we've all been there as musicians, and it takes alot of courage to get past that point, and trust our instincts in bringing our personality to its level of completeness.

However, I think you guys are been a bit too critical with Sheppard and Lang..Seriously, Ive watched Kenny Wayne Sheppard up close, and this kid does have passion, (hes very meticulous when it comes to covering his favorites), and thats good, to a certain extent, but of course when covering a song its important to find a way to add some of your own elements (which always makes it more interesting.)I guess from analyzing his chops, there are some very obvious similarities to some of the greats from the past, (i mean if you really knit pick), but there aren't many young musicians today who really have enough feeling for the blues, and I really commend Kenny Wayne Sheppard for following his heart.

-Joseph