Sonny Landreth (Page 1 of 2)

I was bummed that Sonny only brought a few CDs to the show; I missed out on getting one signed but I tracked down a copy of his "From the Reach" CD this morning. It will get a fair bit of listening to over the weekend!

Two of those were a couple of faves "USS Zydecomobile" and "Pedal to the Metal"; both are on his "Grant Street" CD. Great live album.

Hopefully Libby can get that video of Anderson Hall doing "Have you ever loved a woman" posted up on youtube before too long. It was incredible!

10/24/08 - The Coach House

My first Sonny Landreth experience.  Wow. 

I had been forewarned, by several friends........ "Oh my God, you are going to LOVE Sonny," "You have to WATCH his hands," and "he is THE BEST slide guitarist on the face of the planet."  Also, each time I asked if he was NICE, I was met with, "NICE?? Oh yeah!!..... Sonny is the nicest guy in the world!!"  I swear to you..... they ALL said the EXACT same things, like it was the official Sonny marketing mantra.  Hmmmm  ......   okay  ........  I certainly HOPED he was that good  ..........   I DO trust my friends, but I still wasn't SURE just WHAT I was in for.

I'm glad I wasn't sure, because I never would have been able to believe it anyway.  Really.  My first thought, and my recurring thought, OVER and OVER as I watched him was, "WHAT was THAT???!!!", followed up with "I've NEVER seen ANYTHING even closely related to THAT in my LIFE," and again, "What was THAT???!!!!!"  Sheeeeesh.  My brain could not even begin to wrap around it - the sounds, and the VISUALS were intense and so....... NEW for me. 

I can't give you a technical review - a review about exactly what Sonny does that sets him apart - nor am I an experienced enough fan to compare him to other slide guitarists......... but I don't think that I have to be to KNOW that what I experienced last Friday night was the absolute PEAK and PINNACLE of slide guitar ability.

One of my friends asked me, "Did he do any of his behind the slide tricks???"  I chuckled to myself when I read that.  I don't know!!!  Like I said, I didn't have ANY idea what he was doing!!!  "WHAT WAS THAT???!!!"  I can tell you this...... I'm not sure that I've ever seen anyone have such complete independent control over his fingers.  They were doing 16 different things at any given moment.  Sometimes they worked with individual precision, and sometimes in complete harmony with the rest.  He picked, he strummed, he spanked and slapped, he slid and slipped and wrapped and snuck behind and in front of and....... well....... are you getting the picture??  His hands were ALL OVER that guitar.  Like he was giving it a full body massage!!!
   
Sonny's vocals are smooth and consistent.  I never heard him miss a note.  Lovely to listen to, really.  Not hard driving or gritty, as I sometimes like and NEED my vocalists to be - but, much like his guitar playing - he has tremendous command of his other "instrument", his beautiful voice. 

Steve and I had the opportunity to meet JB Forum member Tom (RicJunkie) for the first time that night.  WHAT a nice guy!!  Tom has been in So. Cal. on business for a while and had asked for my recommendation for gigs in the area...... I mentioned a few things, including Sonny.... he got a ticket and then I was able to move him to our table.  And Danny, my friend Danny - well, Danny just HAD to see Sonny - I mean really, how could a young guitarist MISS an opportunity like that??  How could he NOT see Sonny??  So, Danny joined us too.  What fun we all had, visiting, talking Forum stuff (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and whiskey, and guitars, and music, and Joe, and life in general.  I have to tell you, that I turned around and looked at Danny, several times during Sonny's performance.  THAT show....the "Danny show", the LOOK on HIS face, was NEARLY as priceless as Sonny's performance.  He was ENTHRALLED.  He was ENTRANCED.  He was ASTOUNDED.  He was RAPT.  He was in HEAVEN.  How glad I was that he was able to come. 

BTW Tom, this was the second time we've seen the opening act, Anderson Hall.  Joe should be well aware of them because they've opened for him, right THERE at the Coach House.  Spring of ' 07, I believe.  We were there then too, and, unbeknownst to us at the time, so were Shred (Dave), his wife and their son.  It was nice to see the band again - I really like their originals, and I was able to shoot a nice video of them performing Freddie King's "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (one of my FAVORITES).  I'll post it as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, I was asked NOT to shoot video of Sonny, and so, I can't share that VISUAL MAGIC with you.  Alas. 

When I met Sonny, after the show, I told him what my friends had said about him...... and that some of them are guitar players, and some not..... but that they all had one thing in common...... they are all Joe Bonamassa fans.  His face lit up and his eyes opened widely with appreciation at the mention of Joe's name and then, after thanking me, he said something like......"well then....... they WOULD know their guitar then, wouldn't they??"  Yes, they would.  They do, indeed. 

All in all..... it was a great night...... in one of my favorite places, with new and not so new friends.......and Sonny Landreth.

Watching Sonny play SO brilliantly was such a UNIQUE experience that I wondered if he might be an alien living among us.  I should say that I wondered about that only UNTIL I felt him leave a few pieces of his very human soul on that stage.  He is gentle and fierce.  A wild man with incredible control.  He is one of a kind.  He is Sonny Landreth - slide guitarist extraordinaire - and, by the way, I'm happy to report, a VERY, very nice man too.

  Libby 

Here's about the best pic I got.  I hate using flash (although I guess most artists get used to it) and the ambient light wasn't great.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll17 … 0_1291.jpg

Can't believe that I had to go back till November to find an actual Sonny topic!

For shame, people. Sonny is a major artist (or should be) imho! I've been playing his Live at Jazzfest 07 non-stop for two days now - particularly getting off on I-10.

Maybe Eva or Gunter could give us a report on what they saw?

(My long rage planning is now building around Joe at the Opera in Wilmington and Sonny two days before at the Ram's Head - on April 10.

(wrong month)
(sheesh, editor edit thyself) *blushes*

A good question. The same sort of question like 'why does Rolling Stone ignore Joe?'. What Eric actually said (according to Wiki) was: "probably the most underestimated musician on the planet and also probably one of the most advanced."

Which is exactly what was said about Little Feat in the 70's.

I'll look forward to the picture, and to the unexpected....and to my first Sonny show next April 16th.

It's about time this thread saw the light of day!

Here´s the setlist from Coach House finally -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N02/3897373635/

He played my three favourite songs all in a row - Storm of Worry,  The Milky Way Home and Blue Tarp Blues. Sonny´s playing is fantastic and like I said in the other thread - his fingers are really scary. Each of them has its own life...
The way he played reminded me of a classical player rather than of a Bluesrock player - and he does all these little tricks and gets these weird noises out of his guitar ... he might really be a musician´s musician, but that´s not a bad thing to be.

Eva