Sonny Landreth
| Sonny Landreth | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Born |
February 1, 1951 Canton, Mississippi |
| Genres | Blues, country blues, zydeco |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Associated acts | Jimmy Buffett, John Hiatt, The Goners, Mark Knopfler |
| Website | sonnylandreth |
Clyde Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
Landreth is known as "the King of Slydeco" and plays with a strong zydeco influence. Guitarist Eric Clapton has said that Landreth is one of the most advanced guitarists in the world and one of the most under-appreciated.
Landreth is best known for his slide guitar playing, having developed a technique where he also frets notes and plays chords and chord fragments by fretting behind the slide while he plays. Landreth plays with the slide on his little finger, so that his other fingers have more room to fret behind the slide. He is also known for his right-hand technique, which involves tapping, slapping, and picking strings, using all of the fingers on his right hand. He wears a special thumb pick/flat pick hybrid on his thumb so that he can bear down on a pick while simultaneously using his finger-style technique for slide.
Landreth is known for his use of guitars and Dumble Amplifiers. He is also known to use Demeter and Fender amplifiers on occasion. Landreth uses Jim Dunlop 215 heavy glass slides and Dunlop Herco flat thumb picks. His guitars are fitted with DiMarzio and Lindy Fralin pickups, a special Suhr back plate system, and D'Addario medium nickel wound strings gauges 0.13 - 0.56.
Landreth first played in Clifton Chenier's Red Hot Louisiana Band, as the only white member of the band. After Chenier's death, Landreth played in John Hiatt's band, and with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.
Vince Gill stated that "Tell Me Lover" was based in part on Landreth's song, "Congo Square".
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