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- Sonny Landreth
The Road We're On
Sugar Hill Records
- By William Michael Smith
 In a Blues Access interview
in 1995, slide guitar virtuoso Sonny Landreth discussed his intention
to shift away from what he called "the guitar-hero sound"
of 1992's Outward Bound. The album had been a singular
blues-rock record with huge artistic scope and inventive guitar
prowess, so my first thought was "Sonny, don't do it!"
But South of I-10 (1995) and Levee Town (2000)
clearly showed the former Clifton Chenier protégé
deliberately moving beyond his zydeco/swamp boogie origins, progressively
broadening his range and stretching himself as a songwriter.
Both albums featured sweeping mystical Southern epics like "Great
Gulf Wind" and "Deep South" that relied more on
atmospherics and complex production than on Landreth's natural
raw boogie drive.
With the searing The Road We're On, Landreth returns
to his Louisiana roadhouse upbringing like a sinner swept up
in the spirit of a revival meeting. Recorded in Lafayette with
longtime collaborator R.S. Field, these crisp no-frills tracks
flow like the last set on a Saturday night in Abbeville or Opelousas,
where the only requirement is to fuel the party. Backed by a
killer rhythm section that includes 30-year musical companion
bassist David Ranson, Landreth propels his aural swampmobile
through some nasty bends at breakneck speed on smoking boogie
tracks like "Gone Pecan," "Gemini Blues,"
and the title track. "Gone Pecan" in particular is
a vapor trailing rocket.
Landreth's tutelage in classic blues has always been evident
in his playing and writing, and he begins with guitar and vocal
riffs that echo slide master Elmore James. He also exhibits a
jones for minor key blues that recalls B.B. King on tracks like
"A World Away" and "Fallin' For You." Landreth
wrote "Fallin' For You" with the intention of pitching
it to King, who could surely make the most of lines like "I'm
gonna take my leave and leave this with you / sometimes, baby,
everything ain't all about you / yeah, the rest of my life ain't
gonna be all about you."
No doubt blues purists will laud the economy and directness
of The Road We're On. Other than "Natural World,"
a tense, blistering rocker that forebodes environmental melt-down,
the songs lead straight back to Landreth's influences: Lazy Lester,
Slim Harpo, Sonny Boy Williamson, Junior Wells, and King. The
former John Hiatt and Mark Knopfler sideman's genius is that
he is able to take his cues from these influences, reprocess
them in his well-read cranium, run them through his spidery fingers,
stroke them lovingly with a piece of glass bottleneck, pass them
through a warm tube amplifier, and present an energetic musical
statement bearing the indelible stamp: "Made in the 21st
Century." According to Landreth, the biggest surprise about
the album is that it doesn't sound as gut-bucket as he originally
thought it might.
All hail the return of the guitar hero. Let the good times
roll.
* Buy this one! www.sugarhillrecords.com or www.sonnylandreth.com
Contact William Michael Smith at wms-at-rockzilla.net
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