Sonny Landreth

  • Canton, MS
    hometown
  • Blues/Folk
    genre
  • 1973
    started
  • Bio
    full story
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About Sonny Landreth


Southwest Louisiana-based guitarist, songwriter, and singer Sonny Landreth is a musician's musician. The blues slide guitar playing found on his two Zoo Entertainment releases, Outward Bound (1992) and South of I-10 (1995) is distinctive and unlike anything else you've ever heard. His unorthodox guitar style comes from the manner in which he simultaneously plays slide and makes fingering movements on the fretboard. Landreth, who has an easygoing personality, can play it all, like any good session musician. His distinctive guitar playing can be heard on recordings by John Hiatt, Leslie West and Mountain, and other rock & rollers.

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. As a teen, Landreth began playing with his friends in their parents' houses.

"They would ping-pong us from one house to another, and though we were all awful at first, as time went on we got pretty good. It's an evolutionary process, just like songwriting is," Landreth explained in an interview on his 44th birthday in 1995. After his first professional gig with accordionist Clifton Chenier in the '70s (where he was the only white guy in the Red Beans & Rice Revue for awhile), Landreth struck out on his own, but not before he recorded two albums for the Blues Unlimited label out of Crowley, Louisiana, Blues Attack in 1981 and Way Down in Louisiana in 1985. If anyone is living proof of the need to press on in spite of obstacles, it is Landreth. The second of those two albums got him noticed by some 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." More recently, he's worked with New Orleans bandleader and pianist Allen Toussaint (who guests on several tracks on South of I-10, as does Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler).

On Landreth's brilliant albums for Zoo, the lyrics draw the listener in to 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. "When I finally discovered Robert Johnson, it all came together for me," Landreth said, noting that he also closely studied the recordings of Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, and Charley Patton. Landreth finally released an all- instrumental album, Elemental Journey, in 2012, his eleventh solo project. ~ Richard Skelly, Rovi

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Photos

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  • Sonny Landreth
    Jack Spencer

News

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  • Sonny Landreth
    Tedeschi Trucks Band, Sonny Landreth, Jaimoe's Jasssz Band The Wood Brothers Confirmed for Sunshine Blues Festival
    www.jambands.com
    Tedeschi Trucks Band, Sonny Landreth, Jaimoe's Jasssz Band, Bobby Lee Rodgers, The Wood Brothers and Dr. John are among the acts slated to appear at t...
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  • Sonny Landreth
    Peter Frampton to Tour with B.B. King, Sonny Landreth and Robert Cray
    www.jambands.com
    Peter Frampton will hit the road for his Guitar Circus tour this summer. The esteemed guitarist will perform several shows with five-time Grammy Award...
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  • Sonny Landreth
    Frampton's Guitar Circus (Peter Frampton, B.B. King, Sonny Landreth) to Play Musikfest
    www.jambands.com
    stages. Headlining performances will take place at the Sands Steel Stage. The festival will kick off with folk singer John Gorka, the first act to per...
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Tour Dates

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  • May 23 Thursday
    San Francisco, CA, US Yoshis San Francisco
    Buy Ticket
  • May 25 Saturday
    Aptos, CA, US Aptos Village Park
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  • Jun 2 Sunday
    Morgantown, WV, US WVU Creative Arts Center Lyell B Clay Concert Theatre
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  • Jun 6 Thursday
    Auburn Hills, MI, US Callahan's Music Hall
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  • Jun 8 Saturday
    Niagara Falls, NY, US Bear's Den, Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel
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  • Jun 30 Sunday
    Webster, MA, US Indian Ranch
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  • Jul 4 Thursday
    Berwyn, IL, US FitzGerald's
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  • Jul 19 Friday
    Apple Valley, MN, US Weesner Amphitheater, Minnesota Zoo
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  • Jul 26 Friday
    Phoenix, AZ, US Rhythm Room
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  • Jul 27 Saturday
    Visalia, CA, US Visalia Fox Theatre
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  • Aug 7 Wednesday
    Wilmington, DE, US World Cafe Live at the Queen
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  • Aug 7 Wednesday
    Simsbury, CT, US Summer Concerts at Simsbury Meadows
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  • Aug 8 Thursday
    Baltimore, MD, US Pier Six Concert Pavilion
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  • Aug 9 Friday
    Washington, DC, US The Hamilton Live
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  • Aug 10 Saturday
    Atlantic City, NJ, US Trump Taj Mahal
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  • Aug 17 Saturday
    Council Bluffs, IA, US Stir Cove, Harrah's Council Bluffs Casino & Hotel
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  • Aug 18 Sunday
    Kansas City, MO, US Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
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  • Aug 20 Tuesday
    Morrison, CO, US Red Rocks Amphitheatre
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  • Aug 23 Friday
    Las Vegas, NV, US Lvh Theater - Las Vegas Hotel
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  • Aug 23 Friday
    Phoenix, AZ, US Rhythm Room
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  • Aug 24 Saturday
    Los Angeles, CA, US Greek Theatre
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  • Aug 25 Sunday
    San Diego, CA, US San Diego Civic Theatre
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  • Sep 13 Friday
    Des Moines, IA, US Wooly's
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  • Oct 26 Saturday
    Wilmington, DE, US World Cafe Live at the Queen
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Discography

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Next Page
  • Elemental Journey (2012)
    Sonny Landreth
    Elemental Journey (2012)
    LandFall
  • From the Reach (2008)
    Sonny Landreth
    From the Reach (2008)
    Shock
  • Grant Street (2005)
    Sonny Landreth
    Grant Street (2005)
    Sugar Hill
  • The Road We're On (2003)
    Sonny Landreth
    The Road We're On (2003)
    Sugar Hill (Country)
  • Levee Town (2000)
    Sonny Landreth
    Levee Town (2000)
    Sugar Hill (Country)
  • Blues Attack (1996)
    Sonny Landreth
    Blues Attack (1996)
    AVI (REISSUES)
  • South of I-10 (1995)
    Sonny Landreth
    South of I-10 (1995)
    Sony Music Entertainment
  • South of I-10 (1995)
    Sonny Landreth
    South of I-10 (1995)
    Zoo/Volcano Records
  • Down In Louisiana (1993)
    Sonny Landreth
    Down In Louisiana (1993)
    Retroworld
  • Outward Bound (1992)
    Sonny Landreth
    Outward Bound (1992)
    Zoo/Volcano Records
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