CD REVIEW: SONNY LANDRETH – Recorded Live In Lafayette

Shane | 25 July 2017 | Reply

CD REVIEW: SONNY LANDRETH – Recorded Live In Lafayette
Mascot Label Group
30 June, 2017
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

Celebrated slide guitarist Sonny Landreth returns to his home town Lafayette with long-time friends and band members Dave Ranson (ukulele bass), Brian Brignac (cajón) and guests Steve Conn (accordion) and Sam Broussard (acoustic guitar) for this career-spanning live retrospective.

Uncertain whether to showcase an acoustic set of old favourites, or his razor-sharp electric band, Landreth went the whole hog and did both.

Disc One features acoustic versions of his own Blues Attack, Creole Angel, Bound By The Blues and The U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile, alongside the classic Key To The Highway.

If you want to know how Landreth has won so many awards and so much praise, and been asked to guest on so many big name albums, here’s how: him and his band make their Cajun gumbo stew of blues, zydeco and more seem so effortless and natural.

The sound on this live recording is crystal, the audience appreciative, and the performances magnificent, and by the time we get to Disc Two’s electric session, the energy in the room picks up somewhat, with a blistering cover of Robert Johnson’s Walkin’ Blues, a shredding version of his own Brave New Girl, and great performances of the instrumental Uberesso and The One And Only Truth.