SlideLines, Vol.
10
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And
the Grammy nominees are …
Props from the Top of the Pops
A little help from The Kings of Rhythm
Strong persuaders
Pick up a private lesson
One-man “Blues Attack”
Good Medicine
And
the Grammy nominees are …
Here’s
hoping after they ask for “the envelope, please” they’ll
announce that “The Road We’re
On” has picked up
a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Recording.
The nomination is Sonny’s first, voting is underway, and ballots
must be received in Los Angeles by Wednesday,
Jan. 7. So if you’ve
got a ballot, please consider voting in Field
13, Category 65, for nominee 3.
“Whoa! This feels every bit as good as I’d ever hoped and
imagined,” Sonny
says. “Everyone who worked on this project did a great job – I’m
proud of them all.”
Sonny received
the news in Key West while working on a new Jimmy
Buffet album. “It was kind of funny because
after the announcement in the studio and after
all the cheering Jimmy told me I’d have to buy the drinks that
night. It wasn’t
until an hour later that we discovered Jimmy
had also been nominated with Alan Jackson for ‘It’s Five
O’Clock
Somewhere.’ We
were both more than glad to have the opportunity
to split the tab.”
Props
from the Top of the Pops
“He’s
probably the most underestimated musician on the planet and also probably
one of the most advanced.” – Eric Clapton
Many thanks to Michael Prager of the Boston Globe
for tracking down that quote for his late August feature on Sonny advancing
the band’s appearance at the Rhythm and Roots festival in Rhode
Island.
In that same piece, Warren Haynes opines that Sonny
is “nothing less than truly great. … He has a unique slant
on slide-guitar playing, in that he has come up with some different
tunings and ways of playing them that give him his own voice.”
Sonny joined Haynes and Gov’t Mule onstage
at The Saenger Theater in New Orleans during Jazz
Fest 2003 for the recording of “The Deepest End” CD/DVD. Sonny can be heard
on “32/20 Blues” and heard and seen on “On Your Way
Down.”
The project is part of an ongoing multi-artist
tribute to the band’s late bassist (and Haynes’ fellow Allman
Brothers alum) Allen Woody. “It was packed, it was late,” Sonny
recalls. “I was really impressed with the way Warren and his wife
Stephanie organized such a big event. Backstage there were great musicians
at every turn, which was inspirational and made it a memorable night.”
A
little help from The Kings of Rhythm
Sonny’s
2003 solo tour of Japan took an interesting twist when Ike Turner,
who was also on the bill, wasn’t allowed into the country. “The
promoter asked me to become the headliner, and of course I was honored,” Sonny
says. “Still, I felt somewhat concerned about following an eight-piece,
kick-ass horn band. As it turned out, though, they sat in with me
and vice versa. The next thing I know, The Kings of Rhythm joined
me for ‘Congo Square’ and it was awesome. The band and
the audience had a lot of fun.”
Another noteworthy musical connection took place
in June in Alexander City, Ala., when Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
invited Sonny to join them during their set. “There were thousands
of people on this beautiful property out in the middle of nowhere. I
love the opportunity to play with amazing musicians like that. It pushes
me and keeps me on my toes. Béla and I played together with Little
Feat on Columbus Day 2002, but this was the first chance I’d had
to work with the whole band jamming on their songs.”
Strong
persuaders
In recent
months Sonny has also played a lot of dates with
John Hiatt and The Goners, including many co-bills at home and abroad
with the Robert
Cray Band. “I first met Robert and his band back in the late ’80s
with Hiatt,” Sonny relates. “It’s been a kind of
reunion and a chance to hang out with each other
again. He’s
one of the best. Such a huge, soulful voice and guitar.”
Pick
up a private lesson
Thanks
to Andy Ellis and everyone at Guitar Player magazine
for the eight-page illustrated spread on Sonny in their July issue. “Andy’s
so insightful,” Sonny says. “He has a real gift for getting
at the technique and translating it to the readers
without losing sight of the significance of the actual music.” Pick
up some tunings, licks and technique by ordering a back issue, which
is available
by calling (800) 444-4881, or, if you’re outside the U.S., (785)
838-7500.
Thanks, too, to Guitar One magazine for their April piece on Sonny, part of
their ongoing “Under
the Influence” feature on musicians and their inspiration.
One-man “Blues
Attack”
Check our
Lagniappe section for a new
mp3 from the archives. This solo acoustic version
of “Blues Attack” was
recorded on Sept. 30, 1997, during a Baton Rouge
Blues Week interview with David Dye
for World Café. Engineer extraordinaire Tony Daigle was at
the helm at Johnny Palazzotto’s studio.
“This song ended up being the title track for the
album recorded in 1980, released in ’81, which sort of bridges
my stint with Clifton Chenier and my work with
Bayou Rhythm,” Sonny
says. “It’s also one of the few tunes I’ve ever written
that came to me all at once. I woke up one morning
with this song in my head and literally wrote it on the way over to
the studio in Crowley.”
“This version is completely stripped down
with just vocal and my old National resonator guitar,
which
gives it more of the Delta vibe,” Sonny explains. “The
guitar is tuned to open G [normally D-G-D-G-B-D
low to high] but the difference here is I took
the sixth string and tuned that sucker all the
way down to a low G, an octave below the fifth
string. The good news is you get that big low pedal
tone. The bad news is it flops around. But it does
give an edge that I like for country blues. Of
all the incarnations of ‘Blues Attack,’ this
is the only one like this on tape.”
Good
Medicine
On Saturday,
Dec. 27, 2003, Sonny will play a hometown set
with the rest of The Goners (bassist Dave Ranson
and drummer Kenneth Blevins) before joining
The Traiteurs onstage for the finale of Medicine
Show 7 at Grant Street Dancehall in Lafayette,
La. The annual holiday show is a benefit for
the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Memorial Endowed
Fund for Traditional Music, and the entire
evening will once again
be broadcast live beginning at 8 p.m. Central
Time on KRVS 88.7 FM locally and worldwide via
www.krvs.org.
Hope you can make it out or tune in and support
the cause. Tickets - and donations - may be charged by
phone by calling the Acadiana Arts Council at (337) 233-7060.
Thanks for your support, and please spread the
word about SonnyLandreth.com and SlideLines.
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