Lemuel Sheppard is a folk musician with rare abilities. His first performances were under Dr. Eva Jessey, internationally acclaimed choral director for George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess", who came to Pittsburg State University as Kansas Ambassador to the Arts, and Artist in Residence, in 1978. Lemuel was saxophonist and guitar accompanist with the "Eva Jessey Choir", who performed at the Kansas Folklife Festival that year, and was subsequently invited to return the following year for his first solo engagement, at age 21. His preparation for this engagement has led Lemuel toward pursuing a lifelong interest in researching African-American music.
Lemuel carries an appreciation for a wide range of vocal music he refers to as African-American traditional song. This, combined with his ability to perform many historical and geographical blues styles has gained him a reputation as an authority on African-American folk music. Despite his reputation for being a scholar, Lemuel feels his cultural heritage is his greatest asset as a performer.
Lemuel began playing guitar at the age of nine in Kansas City's rich jazz and blues atmosphere. The self-taught guitarist developed many natural abilities to perform this music. Lemuel is not only an interpreter of African-American folk music, but composes much of his own repertoire. Lemuel states, "So much of the blues is about personal expression, an artist should be able to connect with the audience and share something about their life and time."
In 1999, Lemuel Shppard was nominated by a congressional committee to represent the state of Kansas in a solo performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. That performance was presented live over the Internet and can still be viewed there on the Kennedy Center's Web Page. Lemuel prefers to define some performances as "short-term diplomatic duties." Whether one is representing a discipline, one's background and training, or a presenter, the audience should leave with an understanding of the kind of artist one is, as well as be entertained. The U.S. Embassy in Brazil referred to Lemuel as "the perfect touring artist...talented, flexible, interested in the local culture, and knowledgeable of his own." The Eisteddfod International Music Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, referred to Lemuel (the first American to perform there) as an example of inter-cultural relations.
