BATON ROUGE — Mike Shepherd, the driving force behind The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame since 2003, passed away in Baton Rouge on June 13 at the age of 77, his family said.
“The world knew Mike Shepherd as a champion of Louisiana music, but I knew him simply as Grandpa. He taught me the importance of preserving history, standing up for what you believe in, and loving people fiercely,” Shepherd’s granddaughter Blyss Winters told UWK.
The Shreveport native was raised in Baton Rouge and had a long history in the music and audio/visual industries. His journey began playing clarinet and saxophone in local bands, but he was eager to get more involved in the growing live music scene around him.
Shepherd was active in booking, promoting and staging many concerts, festivals and large club shows regionally in the ‘60s and ‘70s, with many memorable shows at Baton Rouge’s Independence Hall as a partner in Montel Productions with Mickey and S.J. Montalbano…