Wait a minute. It wasn’t that long ago that Kenny Wayne Shepherd was the hot young guitar gunslinger on the blues scene. Can it possibly be true that he’s well on his way now to elder statesman?

“As long as I’m still alive and making music, it’s certainly trending that way,” said Shepherd, laughing in response to the question. “It’s interesting. I was always thrown into the category of the young guns, and now as time passes, there’s another generation of young guns coming up.”

“Which is fine,” he said. “I’m glad to still be alive and making music and to be considered an old guy.”

OK, he’s not that old, at 46. But Shepherd, who’ll play at the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre on July 19 before returning to the Mobile Saenger Theatre on July 20, has at least reached a point in his career where some retrospection is natural. His most recent album, “Trouble Is … 25″ is a re-recording of 1997′s “Trouble Is …,” the 1997 album that delivered the hit that became his biggest single and an enduring signature song: “Blue on Black.”