Where is sonny landreth from

Landreth has worked steadily for decades and amassed a following among his fans and peers. On it, the Louisiana-based slide guitar wizard does something unprecedented in his body of work, as he collaborates with five of the greatest guitar players on the planet — Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson and Vince Gill — for some jaw-dropping performances. Also making a house call is legendary New Orleans pianist and singer Dr. Each of these performances is an extraordinary showcase of brilliant players reacting to each other in supremely inspired fashion.

Every one of them wanted to do it, so that really fired me up. I grew up listening to Eric and Mark, and these other players have influenced me along the way. Not only that, but we all came up listening to a lot of the same music, so we had common ground to work with. Once someone would say yeah, then I had to come up with songs that were worthy of them. Landreth spent a year writing these songs, and another year putting the album together—a logistical feat of some magnitude considering the fact that every one of the principals, including Landreth, spends considerable time on the road.

The process for most of the recording involved two stages. After Landreth had a particular song written, he went in the studio with his band and longtime engineer Tony Daigle and completed the basic tracks, leaving space for the guests. Daigle then sent his mix of the tune to the guest to contribute his or her parts. The exceptions were the tracks with Gill, which were cut face to face in Nashville, and the one featuring Dr. John, which was recorded in New Orleans.

On Landreth 's brilliant albums for Zoo, the lyrics draw the listener into the sights, sounds, smells, and heat of southwest Louisiana, and a strong sense of place is evident in many of Landreth 's songs. Although his style is completely his own and his singing is more than adequate, Landreth admits that writers like William Faulkner have had a big influence on his lyric writing.

The fact that it's taken so long for academics at American universities to recognize the great body of poetry to be found in the blues concerns Landreth as well. Robert Johnson is Landreth 's big hero when it comes to guitar playing. Landreth finally released an all- instrumental album, Elemental Journey , in , his 11th solo project that wed blues to classical and jazz stylings with a full orchestra.

Landreth and a trio toured hard over the next year in preparation for a new recording, and signed to Provogue. He decided on a simple, back-to-blues-roots offering. He entered the studio with drummer Brian Brignac and bassist David Ranson in late , and emerged with Bound by the Blues , a set of some of the earliest blues standards he ever learned to play, as well as original material.

The album was released in June of the following year. Landreth released the concert album Recorded Live in Lafayette in In , Landreth issued Blacktop Run , a ten-song set that reunited him with producer R. Field , who helmed the sessions for the guitarist's breakout Zoo Entertainment records during the '90s. The program consisted of electric and acoustic blues, as well as the jazz-rock-tinged "Groovy Goddess.

AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully. Daigle then sent his mix of the tune to the guest to contribute his or her parts.

The exceptions were the tracks with Gill, which were cut face to face in Nashville, and the one featuring Dr. John, which was recorded in New Orleans. The final stereo mixes feature Landreth on the left and the other players on the right.

Current technology brought virtually unlimited flexibility to the recording process, but in the end what matters is that the performances truly feel in the moment—even if that moment was actually separated by time and physical distance. The guests then had a chance to flesh the concepts out. I really wanted to make sure we captured each of their individual voices on the guitar, and I feel like we did that.

John in mind for it. Steve Conn, another regular, is on keyboards. Aside from the obvious meanings, it can refer to a body of water. What would happen if I invited all these people; where would this take me? I literally reached out to them, and they graciously came on board. Then there was the impact locally of Hurricane Katrina.

So the title is the result of all of the above. The same could be said of everything this one-of-a-kind artist has done in his single-minded career. He was twelve or thirteen, and he went to a party in Lafayette where the budding virtuoso, a whole year older, was playing with his band.

These guys are good. That collection opens with its title cut, a mythic tale of an Atchafalaya Basin flood, and the album pulls roots influences from Clifton Chenier to Duane Allman through tales of zydeco trail rides, romance, and the mysterious allure of the Deep South. His guitars, vocals, and lyrics speak in rhythmic slurs by turns floating and biting. Writing the title cut triggered a circle of inspiration for the acclaimed songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, bandleader, and producer.

And I had this whole idea about a setting in and around a fictitious town based on those in our area, about all these characters, about them and their experiences in and around this town. And it just seemed to offer, you know, a lot of potential. And I really wanted to stretch the seam with the solo sections of the songs, and with the narrative form of the songs, which—what that amounts to for me—is a lot more words.

The trio comes out blasting on the title cut, which features Hiatt on backing vocals and a two-minute outro guitar solo, one of several such eruptions on the disc. From there, the record runs through roots rockers, ballads, and a pair of full-tilt instrumentals, picking up backing vocalists Herb Pedersen and Jennifer Warnes early on, and closing out with saxophonist Jon Smith and trumpeter Steve Howard on two cuts. When nearly two years of touring behind South of I wound down in , Landreth had only two new tunes written and needed to regroup.

Session work with a variety of artists, writing, and a tenth anniversary reunion with Hiatt and The Goners all piled on the plate, and Levee Town began rolling down a serpentine path from La.