Bamboo Room - Sonny Landreth
Friday, November 01, 2013
FRI. 11.01.2013 · 09:00PM · $32, $37
Southwest Louisiana-based guitarist,
songwriter, and singer Sonny Landreth is a musician's musician. His
slide guitar playing is distinctive and unlike anything else you've ever
heard.
Most guitarists rest the slide on the strings over the frets to create a
quavering, fluid sound. They pluck the strings above the guitar's sound
hole. Landreth does that, finger-picking in a Chet Atkins style, but he
also plays chords, as he says, on the "wild side" of the slide — up on
the neck — creating what John Hiatt calls "ghost notes."
"It makes a more complex sound," says Landreth. "It opens up a lot of
colors because you have harmonics and tones on both sides of the glass."
But there's more. Landreth has perfected a tremolo using the palm of
his hand as a baffle over the sound hole, which he combines with the
notes behind the glass. "Kind of an accordion effect," he says. "So you
can manipulate the sound with the motion of your palm."
Sonny Landreth was born February 1, 1951, in Canton, Mississippi, and
his family lived in Jackson, Mississippi, for a few years before
settling in Lafayette, Louisiana. Landreth began playing guitar after a
long tenure with the trumpet. His earliest inspiration came from Scotty
Moore, the guitarist from Elvis Presley's band, but as time went on, he
learned from the recordings of musicians and groups like Chet Atkins and
the Ventures.
After his first professional gig with accordionist Clifton Chenier in
the '70s, Landreth struck out on his own. After recording two albums for
the Blues Unlimited label out of Crowley, ‘Louisiana, Blues Attack’ in
1981 and ‘Way Down in Louisiana’ in 1985 Landreth was noticed by record
executives in Nashville, which in turn led to his recording and touring
work with John Hiatt. That led to still more work with John Mayall, who
recorded Landreth's radio-ready "Congo Square."
For 35 years, Landreth has mostly been known as a sideman — contributing
his distinctive sound to other people's bands and other people's
albums. But he's also released twelve CDs of his own and has worked with
artists such as Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, Vince Gill, Dr. John, Jimmy
Buffet, Mark Knopfler, Allen Toussaint and more.