He’s back.
Yes, Sonny Landreth, known as the king of the slide guitar, had area gigs canceled because of snow this past winter, but he’s back on the road much to the delight of his all-ages fan base.
If you go
Sonny Landreth with special guest Tom Principato
Venue: The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Info: $25; ticketmaster.com. (This show is rescheduled from Feb. 5; all tickets for the Feb. 5 show honored for this show.)
“We are getting more of a broad cross section, with a lot of fans between 30 and 40 and a lot of younger kids, young guitar players,” Landreth said. “People come now and bring their kids. A lot of the kids are downloading my music.” Not surprising when you consider everyone from Eric Clapton to Johnny Winter are in Landreth’s fan base thanks to his incredible slide guitar mastery. So many guitarists seek to work with him, those in the industry liken Landreth to Frank Sinatra.
Those who have seen Landreth in action know his playing is something magical that seems to come from a place deep within the artist.
“I do better when I don’t think,” Landreth said of his thoughts while on stage. “The magic happens in that moment when you are really open to it. If I am in the flow, in the zone, that is when it happens. It is really a form of self-hypnosis. That is where the possibilities are endless.”
Landreth began playing trumpet at about 10 and quickly became fascinated with the Delta blues sound. At age 13, he began to play guitar in an attempt to copy his blues heroes.
“I have no idea how it all came together. That’s the bliss of youth, you have no limitations and tons of energy,” Landreth said. “I took some lessons but I was bored because I realized all you get is the approach. I quit after about a month and learned more form the older kids listening to Chet Atkins and others.”
Now Landreth is looking ahead to an all-instrumental album that he hopes to release later this year. Although Landreth isn’t sure if he’ll have guests on the album, he does know he wants to music to push boundaries via chord changes, extra rhythm and plenty of textures.
“The best thing of all is when the [creativity] pushes me in certain directions,” he said. “I also have done [quite a few collaborations] so I don’t want to overdo a cool thing.”
