by Brian D. Holland.

Guitarist Sonny Landreth recently released From The Reach on his own label, Landfall Records. Known for a tasteful blend of down-home bayou musical cuisine via an amazing dexterous slide guitar technique, Landreth has certainly come a long way since his early days playing alongside Zydeco King Clifton Chenier. With a polished, original style that’s undoubtedly indebted to those former summits and influences, cultivated in tandem with a potpourri of other tastes, it was only a matter of time before Landreth’s talent would elevate to the level of the other fine guest musicians who add diversity and appeal to this wonderful album. The fact that Sonny was the opening act at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival in the summer of 2007 shows the degree of respect he’s finally obtaining. His previous release, an awe-inspiring live presentation, entitled Grant Street, more than likely pushed those buttons of recognition a little.

One amazing attribute of this record, besides the appearances by Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill, Robben Ford, Dr. John, Eric Johnson, and others, is the manner in which Landreth went about preparing the music. Each song was written specifically for its particular guest performer. Overall, the approach worked so well that one might be compelled to believe that the guest had written the song instead of Landreth. This is evidence of just how much he values the music of his peers and how attuned he is to their styles.

The opener, “Blue Tarp Blues,” is rocked up from the get go. Lyrically concerned with the damage caused by hurricane Katrina, both environmentally and politically, after Landreth sings: “Air Force One had a heck of a view. Looking down on the patchwork of the blue tarp blues,” Mark Knopfler’s stunning lead guitar makes a warm entry. While his playing exudes from the right speaker, Landreth from the left, the song sizzles along in a strong rhythmic stride. Although both guitarists compliment each other wonderfully, vocally as well, Landreth’s slide work is potent and prominent throughout. “When I Still Had You” is a melodic rocker with amazing tradeoff lead guitar work between Landreth and friend Eric Clapton. EC appears to be enjoying it, too, as he soars off in graceful six-string melody throughout, and he injects wonderful vocal harmony into the chorus as well. Clapton emerges again in the slow blues “Storm of Worry.” The polished guitar icon is in his blues element here, a realm he’s been acquainted with for close to 40 years.

Listen to "When I Still had You" from From The Reach

The Robben Ford accompanied “Way Past Long” is no different in the respect that it comes off as a Ford composition, melodically and contemporarily, and it compliments both players nicely. Ford does the lead vocal here as well. Landreth can be a fretboard whiz as much as anyone, and “The Milky Way Home” easily confirms that. Both he and Eric Johnson soar off in skillful sonic tangents in this guitar fronted instrumental. A wonderful balance of showmanship between both performers, Johnson shows that he’s likewise at home in the song.

There’s a trio of flavorsome songs containing contributions by Vince Gill, and a couple of others with Dr. John, Jimmy Buffett, and Nadirah Shakoor, vocalist for Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band and former lead singer of Arrested Development. All of the aforementioned inclusions come together to create an extremely tasteful and contemporary Sonny Landreth release. Since his intention was to insert the style and atmosphere of the intended guest into each song, a goal that was reached successfully, the music is abundantly diverse and brilliantly inspired. While musicians such as Clapton have been known to introduce the blues to contemporary audiences, Landreth appears to be doing the same with Cajun and Zydeco currently, as he skillfully blends those influences with blues and rock to create his own sound. He gets by with a little help from a few friends in From The Reach and the result is a diverse collection of songs with superb melody and brilliant musicianship throughout.

From The Reach Track Listing

1. Blue Tarp Blues – with Mark Knopfler
2. When I Still Had You – with Eric Clapton
3. Way Past Long – with Robben Ford
4. The Milky Way Home – with Eric Johnson
5. Storm Of Worry – with Eric Clapton
6. Howlin’ Moon – with Dr. John and Jimmy Buffett
7. The Goin' On – with Vince Gill
8. Let It Fly – with Nadrah Shakoor
9. Blue Angel – with Robben Ford and Vince Gill
10. Obresso
12. Universe – with Vince Gill

Sonny Landreth – guitars and vocals
David Ranson – bass
Michael Burch – drums and percussion
Steve Conn – keyboards
Sam Broussard – acoustic guitars
Tony Daigle – percussion
Brian Brignac – percussion

Produced by Sonny Landreth with Tony Daigle

Landfall Records – 2008

Links:
Sonny Landreth
From The Reach on Amazon