Home Read Classic Album Review: Sonny Landreth | Grant Street

Classic Album Review: Sonny Landreth | Grant Street

This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


Nobody plays quite like Sonny Landreth. That is both a compliment and a simple statement of fact.

You see, the Louisiana blues guitarist is gifted with the ability to finger the fretboard while playing slide — a distinctively unorthodox approach that has made him a first-call sideman for everyone from John Hiatt to Gov’t Mule. Where Landreth really shines, though, is onstage and on his own — which makes his new live disc Grant Street his purest and most dynamic release to date. Recorded over two nights at a club in his southern stomping grounds, this 11-song set simultaneously spotlights Landreth’s staggering technical skill and his swampy authenticity (not to mention the funky power and precision of his rough-and-ready rhythm section). “Enjoy the show,” Landreth sings on the Cajun rocker U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile. Consider it done.