It?s time for Sonny Landreth fans to rejoice. The Louisiana native and slide guitar master is touring nonstop for several months, bringing a fresh vibrant version of his unique blues-laden tunes to fans.
“We have come up with different interpretations through the years,” said Landreth, who recently released his first live album “Grant Street.” “We like to take songs and reinterpret them, make them more like production pieces.”
Landreth recorded the new album this past April at Layfayette?s Grant Street Dancehall to showcase his band?s reinvention of songs from his previous eight albums, including “Congo Square,” and introduce new tracks, including “Port of Call.”
As any Landreth fan knows, a key component of his live shows is his unparalleled bottleneck slide playing. Some of that guitar mastery is now captured on the live album.
“We like to look at songs as production pieces,” said Landreth. “That?s a lot of fun but it puts more pressure on me.”
Not that Landreth ever took the easy way out, studying a host of musical genres as a child and taking up the trumpet at age 10, soon after falling in love with the Delta blues sound. At about age 13, Landreth received his first guitar, adding that to his instrumental arsenal as a way to emulate the sounds produced by his blues heroes. Within a few years, the young Landreth had a fan base of his own.
“I always enjoyed the mix of Creole and Cajun cultures,” said Landreth. “The thing that was common in my jazz heroes and my blues heroes was that they strived to replicate the human voice in their music. I found the slide guitar had a haunting quality.”
Especially the way Landreth plays it. Guitar legend Eric Clapton has said publicly that Landreth is “probably the most underestimated musician on the planet and also probably one of the most advanced.”
That?s why Landreth is always in demand to play with such notable musicians as John Hiatt, Dolly Parton and others.
Jim Ellis, co-founder of the band Waterline, remarked that working with Landreth was a rare experience.
“The intense energy created by Sonny and his band was evident from the first note we recorded,” said Ellis. They are “incredibly talented individuals.”
IF YOU GO
Sonny Landreth
» Venue: Rams Head Tavern, Annapolis
» Time: 8 p.m.
» Tickets: $32.50, www.ramsheadtavern.com; 410-268-4545
