Sonny Landreth fans should prepare for a special treat at his local concerts this week. Now working on his first all-instrumental recording, the Louisiana-born king of the slide guitar will play some of his newer all-instrumental songs that he plans to soon release as a new album. In crafting the album, Landreth had plenty of material from which to choose, but said he has spent more time tweaking the songs than he expected, thus slowing the project a bit.
“So far we have cut about 13 songs,” he said. “I could probably do three instrumental projects in a row if I wanted to [because of all the material I have]….I have actually gone in pretty deep, compositionally speaking, with how I would like it to relate to the voice of the guitar and the concept.”
| Onstage |
| Sonny Landreth |
| Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Road, Vienna |
| When: 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday |
| Info: $25; 1-877-WOLFTRAP; wolftrap.org |
The album has been a labor of love for Landreth who said the sound moves away from roots music in his catalog and embraces the jazz influences with which he grew up. Count Basie, Dave Brubeck and Duke Ellington are just some of the jazz greats Landreth counts among his idols.
He so admired them that he took up the trumpet at age 10. It was at about age 13 that Landreth heard Chet Atkins and other great guitarists and decided to learn that instrument too.
“I played rock, blues, jazz, Cajun, Zydeco,” said Landreth of forming his lifelong attachment to various formats. “There was a real vocal quality about the slide that hooked me. I also played trumpet…because I had my jazz heroes. Whatever I play, I’m always striving to get the human voice in my instruments. The more I get into it, the more I find.”
Although he’ll showcase new songs in the upcoming concerts, Landreth will play a good amount of the roots based music that has won him acclaim from everyone from Eric Clapton to Johnny Winter.
Fans will have a chance to find out more about Landreth and his music when he chats with fans and signs autographs after the shows.
“We get fans from all walks of life, so to speak. It is always touching that they are so sincere,” said Landreth saying that fans’ questions range from questions about his technique to gear to lyrics. ” They have bought my work and know it intimately and that is really a powerful thing.
