Kenny Wayne Shepherd always gives credit to Bryan Lee. A mentor to the five-time Grammy nominated blues-rock star from Shreveport, Lee died at 77 on August 21 in Sarasota, Florida. Before his move to Florida in 2013, Lee lived in New Orleans for three decades, performing nearly half of those years at the Old Absinthe Bar on Bourbon Street.

In 1990, Lee invited the then 13-year-old Shepherd to ...