Episode 21 with Sonny Landreth (John Hiatt, Solo artist)
My guest today is Mr. Sonny Landreth. Sonny is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who is probably the most innovative slide guitar player ever. Just ask Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Robben Ford and his many legions of guitar fans. I first got hip to Sonny when I got a copy of his record called Outward Bound, which is still one of my favorite records of his. He’s had a very long and successful career as a solo artist with many solo records to his name including the recent- “Recorded Live in Lafayette” which we talk about in this podcast.
I’ve known Sonny for a while but in this interview I learn many things about his early years and it was a lot of fun to ask him all this stuff. We talk about his meeting Hendrix, early influences, how he got his Dumble amp, Clifton Chenier, getting the gig with John Hiatt, so much more….oh and he shares a lot of slide secrets in this one. Also there is a lot of playing and equipment chat for you gear nerds.
I drove out to Lafayette, La about 2 hours west of New Orleans on a weekday and got stuck in traffic so I was a little late getting to the studio. I finally walk in to engineer Tony Daigle’s studio where Sonny records most of his records (and where I recorded the overdubs for my tune Mr. Ed with Sonny from my record Dirty Power. I plug into one of Tony’s Fender deluxes and Sonny is plugged into an old Fender Bassman and we let it rip.
How does someone from Breaux Bridge, LA by way of Mississipi become the most original slide guitar player on the planet? Stay tuned and find out.